Blech!

What an excellent review. The movie had the makings of a witty bedroom farce, but it was simply ignorant, annoying and painful. The writer/director hit us audience members more than the cast members hit each other. Blondell's character was simply annoying in the way a young girl who wants her parent or teacher's attention. There is never an adult exchange between the two. Anyone could predict divorce without needing any controversy over domestic violence.

But it reminded me of quotations I read recently that come from Church leaders after the death of Jesus, as the Christian, then Catholic, then Protestant Churches gained a foothold in the lives of men, leaders, and in society. Joan Blondell's character is exactly what they warned people that women were, at the core of their beings. Dating from the Garden of Eden to the death of Christ, women's natures were to be selfish, evil, stirring up trouble, following the snake instead of obeying God's instructions, and her husband's requests.

In this movie, I felt those old-fashioned excuses for domestic violence toward women hiding behind the dialogue from the very first exchanges--sending a message that women want to be slapped around--deep inside their hearts they know that they need it......because they are descendants of Eve, and will hurt mankind if allowed to do as they want...they are such childish, stupid, irresponsible immature creatures if not controlled and taught to be better by the men in their lives. It stems from the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. The Catholic Church's reaction to this myth that exists in many cultures and beliefs has permeated the centuries right past the millennia!. For thousands of years, women have been demeaned as devils that must be controlled to avoid the fall of mankind again. Women are untrustworthy, not capable of higher thought. They are emotional, jealous creatures who are attracted to naughty things (inappropriate clothing such as backless dresses) as children are, and must be strictly punished and kept in line. From earliest post-Jesus times Church leaders sought to teach their subjects about women--tho their factual sources for information about women were very limited. But even as it was ignorant, and not based on facts, what these ancient scholars sought to teach mankind about women is still repeated often. Thirty-year-old men will refer to a woman as a snake who cannot be trusted as late as 2115. Presidential candidates like anger at a candidate's ignorant statements to blood from her eyes menstrual blood.

Modern preachers tell women members to subjugate themselves to their husbands...It's in fundamentalist protestant sects like Quiverfull, fundamentalist Catholic sects like Opus Dei, Orthodox Jewish sects, and fundamentalist Muslim groups....they expect females to defer to men because they supposedly are inferior to men emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually and men must control the women to prevent utter disaster. While it begins as encouraging females to voluntarily subjugate themselves, it makes clear the need for men to force righteousness on unwilling females.

Spanking is the light joking sexually suggestive form it takes, but, in reality, it escalates soon into what this movie demonstrated--hair pulling, face slapping, etc. Eventually, women are beaten, and men kick the abdomen of pregnant women...L Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, is reported to have done this to his wives, in an attempt to cause miscarriages, and who knows why, Charles Manson did this to his female cult members, and ordinary men also do this as a common form of striking out at females....anger at women possessing uteruses?

Stupid movies such as this encouraged the behavior to appear mainstream, when, actually, it dates back so long ago and was intentionally created to subjugate women--who control the propagation of the species...women had to be controlled to perpetuate the myth of man as superior. It was not created by average men, everyday husbands. Rather it was the church leaders who urged men to control their wives. Who taught them that it was necessary or women could again cause terrible things to happen, as Eve had.

Below are just a few of the oldest quotations after Christianity was founded, Eve's behavior with the serpeant as the cause of all sin, the reason for Christ having to die on the cross--woman is responsible for the fall of mankind and man being thrown out of the Garden of Eden, for the death of Jesus, for the constant fight against our want to sin, for all the pain of menstruation and childbirth.... It's so important that her husband control her, punish her if she gets out of hand (and she knows it and teases him to be certain he will be there and do his job to slap her down should she misbehave)--she could bring about all sorts of catastrophes--wearing backless dresses just to annoy her man is only the first step, you see! This ignorant backwards thinking began the minute men decided that religious leaders should live lives secluded from females--they lost track of what women were really like. The filled in their many blanks with fantasy. One of which was that women wanted to be subjugated, abused. That it turned on women the way it turned them on... So here are a few quotations--there are so many more right up to present day church leaders.

"In pain shall you bring forth children, woman, and you shall turn to your husband and he shall rule over you. And do you not know that you are Eve? God’s sentence hangs still over all your sex and His punishment weighs down upon you. You are the devil’s gateway; you are she who first violated the forbidden tree and broke the law of God. It was you who coaxed your way around him whom the devil had not the force to attack. With what ease you shattered that image of God: Man! Because of the death you merited, even the Son of God had to die… Woman, you are the gate to hell." –Tertullian, “the father of Latin Christianity” (c160-225): On the Apparel of Women, chapter 1

"What is the difference whether it is in a wife or a mother, it is still Eve the temptress that we must beware of in any woman… I fail to see what use woman can be to man, if one excludes the function of bearing children." –Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius (354 – 430): De genesi ad litteram, 9, 5-9

"Woman is a misbegotten man and has a faulty and defective nature in comparison to his. Therefore she is unsure in herself. What she cannot get, she seeks to obtain through lying and diabolical deceptions. And so, to put it briefly, one must be on one’s guard with every woman, as if she were a poisonous snake and the horned devil. … Thus in evil and perverse doings woman is cleverer, that is, slyer, than man. Her feelings drive woman toward every evil, just as reason impels man toward all good." –Saint Albertus Magnus, Dominican theologian, 13th century: Quaestiones super de animalibus XV q. 11


"As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence." –Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, 13th century: Summa Theologica I q. 92 a. 1

P.S. Edward Everett Horton's character seems terribly unhappy with such shallow friends as these--made me happy to think he went on to play sidekicks to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, much more deserving of his talents (I love that man!).

I agree. And I knew a woman who was a little like this. There was a psychiatrist (I forget his name) who formed a theory that in relationships humans are either adults, parents, or children. Depending on the people involved, the roles can be appropriate or inappropriate. Here instead of a healthy adult-adult relationship, you have Blondell's character playing the child to William's adult.

Nobody gets to be a cowboy forever.

I have to agree. I watch a lot of old movies and am usually able to put aside political correctness but Smarty takes the cake. Joan Blondell (whom I love) plays a character who is so smarmy and distasteful that I kept looking at the time counter to see when this putrid story would end. (Thankful it's only 64 minutes.) Here was not one character who had an ounce of decency except (maybe) Edward Everett Horton with one tablespoon. And not only was the premise disgusting but it just wasn't funny or charming or cute. There were no laughs and there was no great pre-code writing either. It's also easy to figure out how the movie will end although I was surprised at Smarty's glee when it all came together. I'll never watch this one again.

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OP makes good points about this movie, with which I agree. It's about a cute, charming young woman who plays emotional games with men to manipulate them, and seems to take great joy in doing so. In the end, we're invited to accept the premise that the point she's trying to make with all of this is that if a man really loves a woman, he'll show it by slapping her around once in a while. The entire story is ridiculous; however, the writing is clever, and Blondell, William, Horton, and McHugh are irresistible to me--I enjoy watching them regardless of the nonsense of the plot. Claire Dodd was very good too, and should have been a bigger star. I've been blessed with very strong powers of suspension of disbelief and suspension of disapproval, so I was able to enjoy the movie in spite of its flaws. I was disappointed, though, that we never got to find out why the mention of diced carrots always made Tony blow his top.