Why would the Lombard character go for the loser MacMurray when Ralph Bellamy is such a great guy? This has always bothered me about this movie--it really ruins it for me, because it seems like such an insult to disabled people. It's as if Bellamy couldn't even be CONSIDERED as a love interest, because after all, he's in a wheelchair, so he can't be a real man! And Lombard's character, instead of seeming charming, seems incredibly dense and shallow because of this.
shareI think Fred is meant for Carole since the beginning because they are both kind of goofy in the same way, and they enjoy each other's jokes. It was probably to show that her original plans (marry for money, the safe marriage being embodied by Bellamy) could go out the window as soon as she would meet someone that would click with her instantly. There was great chemistry between these two, whereas Bellamy's rapport with Carole was more fatherly. I think he understood, in the end, that Fred and Carole were more suited to each other in the same zany way (I love how he drags her out of the room at the end, always cracks me up).
shareAgreed. I know it was Regi's lesson to learn that money isn't everything which is why she ended up with Ted but Allen was a much more likeable character. Didn't find anything appealing about Ted. Maybe it was the way MacMurray played him.
“Let's be crooked, but never common”
Ralph Bellamy may just have been the friend-zone's earliest pioneer!
shareSpoiler--as if you couldn't figure out the ending anyway. :)
Crippled or not, this is the movie lot-in-life for Ralph Bellamy who has trouble getting beyond fiance status. He did as poorly in His Girl Friday. Carole's character treats him as her best friend who is lucky to have so much, rather than as pitiful and unmanly. It's not because he's disabled that she doesn't go for him. She makes no allowances for his condition, not even avoiding talking about things he can't do anymore. In short, she behaves in an open and caring way. There's just no chemistry.
He might suit YOU but you are not a fictional Depression era zany blonde manicurist who thinks she is a gold digger when in fact she is a dyed in the wool romantic, a fool for love, just like her parents. I hope she isn't doomed to the same poverty and misery they had, but perhaps she is because she didn't choose the sensible fellow but instead chose someone like her who is fun and unpredictable.
This would be an insult to the disabled if she married him because she felt sorry for him, or if she wanted his money and planned to take a lover, rather than turning him down for someone who suited her better. That would have been a Joan Crawford drama not a Carole Lombard comedy.
Why aren't you instead outraged over the horribly-named (actor and character)and grossly-servile Snowflake? Now that portrayal really WAS insulting.
You didn't disappoint, Skidoo. After reading what came across as a condescending remark to another comment...when i got to the bottom of your comment here, as valid as your point is, you're now 2 for 2.
shareOkay, Skidoo, then tell me this: What was the dramatic justification for putting Ralph Bellamy's character in a wheelchair at all?
And as far as Snowflake--well, that just didn't happen to be my point this time. One day we should go through all the movies made in the thirties and forties and complain about each racist reference...it should only take about fifty years...But then again, as many, MANY classic movie lovers have pointed out, we need to watch these films in their cultural contexts.
I see nothing wrong with skiddoo's comments. Lombard simply chose MacMurray because she loved him. At no point in the movie did she indicate that she pitied Bellamy because he was in a wheelchair. She chose love over money. Apparently not everyone here agrees with her choice.
shareRalph Bellamy and Snowflake were about the only people in the movie that I didn't hate. I couldn't stand Fred and Carole's "aren't we precious?", self-involved hijinks, that were usually at the expense of other people. Haha, take William Demarest's candy and watch him bounce down the apartment stairs, that's swell.
shareI completely agree with you; I was appalled by this film, by far my least favorite Lombard movie and she's one of my favorites. I was shocked how inconsiderate her supposedly nice character was to the Ralph Bellamy one, an acknowledged golddigger but wouldn't even consider any sort of a romance with him due to his being handicapped. She's supposed to be a smart cookie yet only a fool would not know when someone clearly has romantic feelings for them when they are as blatant as Bellamy's (what did she think he really wanted a manicure that much??) Meanwhile, Fred MacMurray is a real jerk in this, blatantly cheats on his fiance who whom he has absolutely no regard. They were two jerks who in a way deserved each other. And I really like both Carole and Fred!!
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