My relationship with Alpha Video is like having a co-dependent relationship with a drug addict. You want to hate the person, but there's something that keeps on bringing you back...despite common sense. Alpha Video specializes in producing DVDs mostly from public domain films and is very consistent in quality...bad. You never get any worthwhile extras, there are never captions or closed captions and the print quality is usually (but not always) bad. Many times, the sound is so bad that I feel like screaming--and those missing captions sure would help! But, despite promising myself never to watch another Alpha DVD, I find myself coming back because in many cases they are the only ones who produce certain films--such as silents, old-time comedies and movie serials--the sort of odd fare I often like. My rule of thumb is that if I can find the movie from a free public domain download, I skip Alpha--the print quality can't be any worse than Alpha's in most cases! In this case, I simply could find no other DVD other than Alpha's, so I bore with the typically bad print and sound. I am glad in hindsight that I did, as it was a dandy film--most enjoyable and clever.
Edmund Gwenn and Wendy Barrie star as a father-daughter team who have hit financial rock bottom. They have nothing...just when Gwenn's latest money-making scheme is about to be realized. How can you impress potential investors when the lights have been turned out and you have no food to feed them? Into this conundrum comes Robert Donat. He plays a guy who lost his fortune during the Depression and now has a job turning off the power of clients behind in their payments. However, he hates this job and feels sorry for Barrie and Gwenn and turns their power back on and hangs about for a bit because he is smitten with Barrie. While making time with her, he discovers that a thief had hidden $100,000 on his person! He fully intends to take this to the police--but Barrie and Gwenn convince him to wait until AFTER their business meeting. Why? So Donat could flash the money in front of the potential investors--thus piquing their interest in funding the project. Well, it turns out the investors truly are tepid on working with Gwenn...until they see the money. Then, they practically throw money into the scheme.
What happens next is pretty funny, clever and unexpected--making this a film well worth seeing...even with Alpha's lousy DVD. See this film--excellent acting and writing make this a very nice and brisk comedy.
Edmund Gwenn and Wendy Barrie star as a father-daughter team who have hit financial rock bottom. They have nothing...just when Gwenn's latest money-making scheme is about to be realized. How can you impress potential investors when the lights have been turned out and you have no food to feed them? Into this conundrum comes Robert Donat. He plays a guy who lost his fortune during the Depression and now has a job turning off the power of clients behind in their payments. However, he hates this job and feels sorry for Barrie and Gwenn and turns their power back on and hangs about for a bit because he is smitten with Barrie. While making time with her, he discovers that a thief had hidden $100,000 on his person! He fully intends to take this to the police--but Barrie and Gwenn convince him to wait until AFTER their business meeting. Why? So Donat could flash the money in front of the potential investors--thus piquing their interest in funding the project. Well, it turns out the investors truly are tepid on working with Gwenn...until they see the money. Then, they practically throw money into the scheme.
What happens next is pretty funny, clever and unexpected--making this a film well worth seeing...even with Alpha's lousy DVD. See this film--excellent acting and writing make this a very nice and brisk comedy.