Fashions of 1934 [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Classic film buffs that you and I are, we're so used to seeing Bette Davis as this powerhouse dramatic actress that we tend to blink whenever one of her old (and rare) comedy ventures hits the screen. I admire her fire and steeliness, but I really get a kick out of those moments in which she lets her hair down. I think I've seen most, if not all, of her more frivolous efforts, from Jimmy The Gent (Remaster) and The Bride Came C.O.D. (both with James Cagney) to The Golden Arrow (with her frequent cinematic partner George Brent). My two cents is that her three best comedies are The Man Who Came to Dinner, It's Love I'm After (with Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland), and JUNE BRIDE (with Robert Montgomery). And then there's FASHIONS OF 1934, which features her only pairing up with my favorite all-time actor, William Powell. It's a comedy I rate 3.5 out of 5 stars. The plot is a bit hackneyed, the sort of plot of which elements, during that era, were purloined heaps of times. And yet the presence of Powell and Davis makes the thing watchable and, at times, even sparkle.

It says something about William Powell's unflappable, man-of-the-world temperament that he rolls with it when his office furniture is suddenly repossessed, leaving his current shady enterprise in a lurch. Powell plays dapper New Yorker and swindler Sherwood Nash who's always eyeing a new angle. When Lynn Mason (Davis), a comely fashion designer, steps into his office, that lightbulb goes off in his head. Nash and Lynn are soon off to Paris, these two fashion bootleggers, bilking them gullible marks with stolen designs and sending the haute couture industry into a panic. Except that Nash's cons grow ever more extravagant. And when his latest scam involves a fake Duchess (Verree Teasdale) with whom he shares a past and a musical revue and the cornering of the ostrich feathers market, he may end up losing his loyal but increasingly fed-up assistant Lynn (who's only in it for the guy and not the greed).

Bette Davis, at this juncture of her career, was feeling underappreciated and marginalized. She'd been clamoring for more serious roles. She'd been stumping to be loaned out to RKO for a role in Of Human Bondage. Instead Jack Warner plonked her in FASHIONS of 1934, a decidedly less prestigious affair. Bette Davis had to endure getting made over into a glamourous platinum blonde type àla Greta Garbo or Jean Harlow, a look with which she professed to have been very ill at ease. Nevertheless, onscreen, she exhibits her patented spunk and spine, making the most of her thankless role. She finds moments to shine. I love her banter with Powell, especially when they exchange fond endearments (he refers to her as his lieutenant, she gazes at him with those big, big eyes and calls him "My Captain"). William Powell is the center of attention and he is flawless and casually urbane, predictably. It's a fun supporting cast that includes Frank McHugh (and his distinctive breathy laugh) as Nash's sidekick and Hugh Herbert as Nash's ostrich feathers financier. Busby Berkeley submits a lavish musical number or two, choreographing a wide-ranging gaggle of models who flaunt Orry-Kelly gowns as they navigate those sumptuous art-deco sets. It's too bad the tunes aren't so memorable.

Again, it's not so much about the fashion stuff or the Busby Berkeley spectacles or even the plot. It's about watching two film icons delightfully bouncing off each other. While Bette Davis was lukewarm to her role in the film, she at least must've had a riot working with William Powell, how could she not? On the scale of one to awesome, Powell was freakin' awesome. In any event, Bette Davis soon after was cast in OF HUMAN BONDAGE. And then her days of being underappreciated were forever in the rear view.