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You & Me
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by Universal Studios
Sales Rank: 18302
Price: $14.98
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A truly offbeat proto-noir crime comedy directed by German film pioneer Fritz Lang at the start of his Hollywood tenure. George Raft and Silvia Sidney co-star as star-crossed lovers who meet while working in a large New York department store whose president believes in hiring ex-cons as a way to help them socially rehabilitate themselves. Raft is an ex-felon whose probation has just ended, and he feels that now, at last, he can find love and marriage. What he doesn't know, though, is that his bride, Sidney, is *also* an ex-criminal, and when she discovers his distain for "female jailbirds," she goes to great lengths to hide the truth from him. As a result, Raft hardens again, and finds himself drawn again towards the criminal lifestyle. The film mixes elements of dark drama and screwball comedy, even mixing in an avant garde sensibility in a few odd musical sketches. There interludes are provided by composer Kurt Weill, also in Hollywood exile, and stand out, not unpleasantly, in a most bizarre fashion from the rest of the film. Also noteworthy is the kooky, deliberately anticlimactic ending, in which Silvia Sidney teaches the crooks, literally *teaches* them, the lesson that that "crime does not pay." In dramatic terms, the film is uneven, but as an experimental work, it's quite fascinating. Definitely worth checking out.
Viewer Reviews
This time it's rehabilitating ex-cons, in the almost forgotten, You & Me, from 1938. No reviews for three years. George Morris (Harry Carey) is the altruistic owner of a department store & he hires ex-cons. George Raft is an employee, a former tough guy but apparently rehabilitated.
He has just gone off of parole & is really free. Free to travel, go where he wants, see who he wants & fall in love. Everyone knows he's an ex-con & his old gang members are trying unsucessfully to suck him back into a life of crime. Helen (Sylvia Sidney) has no such luck. She is also an employee still on parole, but no one knows except Mr. Morris & her P.O. She's young, attractive & vulnurable. She's not allowed to hang around with low-lifes like Joe or fall in love, with anybody. But she does of course, with Joe. At first, no one notices. They are co-workers after all. Then Joe quits, prepared to leave & start a new life in California. But for her he stays. Now her deceptions begin. They hang out, get married & move in together, all violations of her parole. Joe discovers Helen's secret & leaves her, apparently falling in with a plan to rob the store. The members of this gang are pretty pathetic. They inspire derision rather than fear. Anyway, Helen shows strength of character & smarts heretofore unknown to prevent the crime & saves the gang from jail. Everyone concludes that Joe is nuts if he lets Helen go. A happy ending. Joe & Helen's crimes are never mentioned. A much better movie that I expected & I can give it **** easily.
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You & Me
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