Have a Heart (1934)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

James Dunn was one of the finds of 1931, his performance in "Bad Girl" as a young husband trying his best to give his wife everything she needed was a revelation. He should have gone to the top but by 1934 he was suddenly in the limelight again as Shirley Temple's favourite co-star - he made three of her best films that year. "Have a Heart" shows what a sensitive heart felt actor he was, given the right material. His co-star was Jean Parker who, until she got to show her zippy, exuberant side in the late 30s, early 40s, seemed made to order for weepy sentimental heroines. Their roles in "Have a Heart" were both perfect for them even though Dunn must have felt a little "deja vu" with the names Jimmy and Sally - he had already made a picture of that name the year before. Jean Parker plays Sally who runs a children's dancing class (cute Juanita Quigley is the little girl who has an embarrassing accident). Her fiancé Joe (Paul Page) is already showing his true colors when he forbids her from continuing on with her classes once they are married. The light hearted skylarking at their engagement party takes a shocking turn when Sally falls from a balcony and Joe, being the prince he is, can't wait to ditch her especially when he visits her in hospital and sees she has to wear an orthopaedic boot!!!Back at the flat she settles down to life as a doll maker and repairer and catches the eye of the local "Have a Heart" ice cream man Jimmy (James Dunn). She is impressed with his winning ways with the neighbourhood kids and the fact that he hates cruelty toward animals. Of course she tries to keep her affliction from him but even when he finds out he still thinks he is the luckiest man in the world. When Jimmy is returning a car to the ice cream factory late one night he walks in on a robbery. Of course he is blamed for the theft and when Sally hands over the money she has saved for her operation hoping it will put things right with his boss he feels frustrated, thinking the chance of finding the real thief has gone. The only clue he has is a silver dollar imprint on the robber's hand.This is such a sweet lovely movie and yes, I cried heaps during it. Jean Parker was sweet without being syrupy and James Dunn bought his usual tough sensitivity to his role as the ice cream man who wanted more from life. Rounding out the cast was Paul Page, only a couple of years before he was a bland leading man, now he was perfect as a first class heel. Una Merkel was perfection as usual as Sally's loyal pal. Without her Sally wouldn't have achieved much!! Stuart Erwin was Una's hapless boyfriend, yearning to be a racketeer but settling for the police force as a step in the right direction!!

The plot of this lovely movie is set in motion by a shocking event, which takes the viewer by surprise: Jean Parker, at an impromptu engagement party, runs to a fire escape, which gives way beneath her, hurling her to the street.She survives but has injuries that necessitate her wearing very realistic looking orthopedic shoes, the more disturbing as the movie has opened with her teaching children to dance and with her own lighthearted dancing.The plot get s a bit complicated, but basically it is about four honorable people: Parker, her friend Una Merkel, Merkel's beau the always appealing Stuart Erwin, and James Dunn.Dunn drives a truck for the Have a Heart ice cream company and falls in love with her because of her sweet face. She tries to hide her disability from him but he is not the shallow type to be put off by it.This could make a stone cry (speaking as a stone.)

This is a romantic comedy that is funny in parts, but the romance story does not hold up well. Jean Parker plays a young woman who has an accident which causes her fiance to run out on her. James Dunn is the hero who woos her next and is not turned off by her "handicap" (according to the film). A very busy plot that was too melodramatic to hold my interest all that well. Una Merkel (fast-talking cynical dame) and Stu Erwin (country bumpkin oaf) are the comic relief, and they are as good as ever. But otherwise poor acting. Still, well worth seeing once - I caught it on TCM.

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies I saw this film today. Una Merkel is billed below Jean Parker, but of course she steal the show without even trying. She's just that kind of actress. Jean Parker plays her younger sister and they sound amazingly alike in accent and inflection. I checked on IMDb to see if they were really sisters. They are not. Good performances by everyone, including James Dunn as Jean's Love Interest and Stuart Erwin, who, along with Una, have the best lines in every scene. Besides the credited actors, the movie is full of great supporting actors you'll instantly recognize: Edward Brophy, Tom Dugan, and Pat Flaherty, among others.