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The Girl in 419 (1933) with James Dunn, Gloria Stuart, David Manner, Shirley Grey, Jack La Rue, and Clarence Wilson
Long before she sailed the Titanic in that oddly successful 1997 movie mess, Gloria Stuart had been a very pretty leading lady in the 1930s. So it's no surprise to see her pop up as the singular desire of one man in the 1933 precode The Girl in 419.
What is maybe a bit surprising, though, is its story, which is so confused and silly that you can feel the writers and director desperately trying to dig their way out of a hole several times while also trying to extend the short movie so that it will be feature length.
It's odd, too, that the general premise is one that's still used regularly today, albeit in TV shows. It's set in an "Emergency Hospital" in the "Police Division" where James Dunn plays the brilliant head doctor and resident lothario, "MeTooing" his way through the nursing staff.
For our modern sensitivities, which have been highly calibrated to see s*xual abuse everywhere – even when mutual consent is present – the scenes of Dunn and a nurse happily kissing in his office and then going to work together are culturally jarring.
The story wrinkle here is a new patient, a young, beautiful blonde – Stuart – who was viciously beaten and is now unconscious (and unmarked or visibly injured in any way despite the "vicious beating") being cared for by Dunn, who begins falling in love with the comatose cutie.
Hanging around the hospital's "Police Division" are several reporters and cops who banter and battle with Dunn and the staff as everyone has a job to do, which can put them at cross purposes. Basically, it's the plot that most cops and medical shows cycle into episodes regularly.
The movie has the stock sassy and sarcastic switchboard operator, the hard-working and dopey orderly who is in love with one of the hospital's cooks, and an assortment of nurses ranging from faithfully devoted to always complaining.
In Dunn's orbit are an "art dealer," played by William Harrigan, who proves not to really be an art dealer, a handsome resident, played by David Manner, who idolizes Dunn, and Shirley Grey playing the latest nurse conquest of Dunn who bitterly doesn't want to be replaced by Stuart.
You get all the scenes you expect, but they don't quite work as well as they should: reporters cajoling doctors for information; the staff gossiping about each other and, of course, the big man Dunn; and the police sometimes nicely, sometimes bullyingly, trying to question patients.
Since movies need plots, Stuart, in room 419, is the focus of police attention as they think she is involved with the mob. Dunn, though, for no reason whatsoever believes in her innocence – pretty girls can't be criminals, good God – and tries to protect his comatose crush from the police.
Eventually, Stuart wakes up, the mob tries to "silence" her, the police try to investigate her, and Dunn tries to romance and protect her, leading to a lot of arguments, a climactic g*n battle, and some very rough precode justice that is morally fair but would never fly under the Code.
It's almost hard to understand why, but with all that going on, the movie feels a bit slow at only sixty-seven minutes even with its good cast. Dunn, a fine actor, doesn't quite have the charisma here to lift the story above itself, but he is engaging.
Stuart underwhelms in a tough role as she's asleep for more than half of it. That's not her fault, but she's not that beautiful that you want to watch her sleep. Manners, as always, is fine if uninspiring, playing the female eye candy.
Toss in a few classic character actors – including Clarence Wilson playing a bureaucratic hospital supervisor and Jack La Rue (once again) as a s*distic gangster – and there's no shortage of talent, but it all adds up to just okay.
The Girl in 419 needed more work before and after the cameras rolled. The script required tightening and the directing needed to do better at keeping the stories straight and the tension building, instead of ricocheting it up and down almost randomly intra- and inter-scenes.
For the old movie fan, especially the precode fan or a fan of one of the leads, it's worth watching once, plus it's neat to see what today has become a standard TV plot – unidentified comatose person involved in some sort of police drama – in an early incarnation.
