Hands Across the Table

Last updated
Hands Across the Table
Hands Across the Table poster.jpg
Trade advertisement
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Screenplay by Norman Krasna
Story by Viña Delmar
Produced by E. Lloyd Sheldon
Starring
Cinematography Ted Tetzlaff
Edited byWilliam Shea
Music by Friedrich Hollaender
John Leipold
Heinz Roemheld
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • October 18, 1935 (1935-10-18)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Hands Across the Table is a 1935 American romantic screwball comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen and released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Carole Lombard as a manicurist looking for a rich husband and Fred MacMurray as a poor playboy, with Ralph Bellamy as a wealthy ex-pilot in a wheelchair. The teaming of Lombard and MacMurray was so well received, they went on to make three more films together, The Princess Comes Across (1936), Swing High, Swing Low (1937), and True Confession (1937).

Contents

Plot

Fred MacMurray and Carole Lombard in Hands Across the Table Hands across the table.jpg
Fred MacMurray and Carole Lombard in Hands Across the Table

Brought up in poverty, hotel manicurist Regi Allen wants to marry a rich husband. Her new client, wheelchair-using hotel guest Allen Macklyn is immediately attracted to her and becomes her confidant. Despite his obvious wealth, Regi does not view him as a potential husband, and has no qualms about telling him about her goal in life.

Exiting his penthouse suite, she encounters a man playing hop-scotch in the hallway, and declines his invitation to join him. He makes an appointment for a manicure as Theodore Drew III, scion of a socially prominent family. Unaware that the Drews were bankrupted by the Great Depression, she accepts his invitation to dinner.

They have a good time, but Ted drinks too much and tells Regi that he is engaged to Vivian Snowden, heiress to a pineapple fortune. When Regi is unable to wake him from his drunken slumber, she lets him sleep on her sofa. He explains to her that he was supposed to sail to Bermuda last night (a trip paid for by his future father-in-law) and that he has nowhere to stay and no money. Regi reluctantly lets him live in her apartment until his boat returns from Bermuda, at which time he can return to sponging off of Vivian. Ted and Regi confess to each other that they intend to marry for money.

Ted and Regi play pranks on each other. In the first one, Ted frightens away Regi's date by pretending to be her abusive husband. Later, in order to convince Vivian that he is in Bermuda, Ted persuades Regi to telephone Vivian while posing as a Bermuda telephone operator. When Regi repeatedly interrupts in a nasally voice, Ted hangs up to avoid laughing in his fiancée's hearing. However, this backfires, as Vivian discovers that the call came from New York when she tries to reconnect. She hires private investigators to find out what is going on.

In the course of their stay together, Ted and Regi fall in love. On their last night before the boat returns, they admit their mutual love, but Regi ends the relationship, insisting that Ted would resent having given up his chance to be wealthy if he were to marry her. Early the next morning, Ted leaves without saying goodbye.

Vivian has a nasty confrontation with Regi at the hotel. After Regi leaves and Ted shows up, Vivian makes it clear that she knows what happened, but is still willing to go through with the marriage. Ted, however, asks to be released from their engagement. Meanwhile, Regi goes to her regular appointment in Allen's suite, but breaks down in tears. Allen had intended to propose to her, but he secretly puts away his engagement ring after she confesses she has fallen in love despite herself. When Ted finds her there, she agrees to marry him. On a bus, Regi and Ted discuss what they should do first: eat lunch, get married, or find a job for Ted. They toss a coin to decide; Ted jokingly says he will get a job if it lands on its side. Sure enough, it does when it gets wedged in a manhole cover.

Cast

Production

The film was intended primarily as a vehicle to promote Lombard's comedic acting abilities. [1] She had originally wanted Cary Grant in the role of Theodore Drew III, but scheduling conflicts made him impossible to get. [1]

MacMurray was not known for his comedic acting abilities and found it difficult to be humorous enough for the role. Director Mitchell Leisen and Lombard both worked extremely hard to get the performance they wanted out of him. Lombard at one point sat on MacMurray's chest, pounding on him with her fists and yelling, "Now Uncle Fred, you be funny or I'll pluck your eyebrows out!" [1] Lombard and MacMurray were unable to create the chemistry that they had with various other on-screen partners. Leisen said, "The main problem with Fred in those days was that he didn't project much sex, aside from being very good looking. In the scene where he says 'Aren't you going to kiss me good-night?' Carole was supposed to walk in and kiss him, then walk out of the frame. Well, she came out past the camera, just looked at me and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, 'So what?' Poor Fred!" [1] Lombard and MacMurray liked each other immensely, Lombard going to parties at the MacMurrays' house and vice versa. With Leisen's direction, they were able to project their genial relationship onto the screen. Of the scene in which MacMurray calls his fiancée and Lombard continuously interrupts stating "Bermuda calling," Leisen said, "When they finished the take, Carole and Fred collapsed on the floor in laughter; they laughed until they couldn't laugh any more. It wasn't in the script, but I made sure the cameras kept turning and I used it in the picture. It is so hard to make actors laugh naturally – I wasn't about to throw that bit out." [1]

Critical reception

The New York Times reviewer Andre Sennwald called it "an uproariously funny romantic comedy, with a brilliant screen play", with "some of the best dialogue that has come out of Hollywood in many months". [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carole Lombard</span> American actress (1908–1942)

Carole Lombard was an American actress. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Lombard 23rd on its list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred MacMurray</span> American actor (1908–1991)

Frederick Martin MacMurray was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film leading man began in 1935, but his most renowned role was in Billy Wilder's film noir Double Indemnity. From 1959 to 1973, MacMurray appeared in numerous Disney films, including The Shaggy Dog, The Absent-Minded Professor, Follow Me, Boys!, and The Happiest Millionaire. He starred as Steve Douglas in the television series My Three Sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June Haver</span> American actress (1926–2005)

June Haver was an American film actress, singer and dancer. Once groomed by 20th Century Fox to be "the next Betty Grable," Haver appeared in a string of musicals, but she never achieved Grable's popularity. Haver's second husband was the actor Fred MacMurray, whom she married after she retired from showbusiness.

<i>Mr. & Mrs. Smith</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Alfred Hitchcock

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 1941 American screwball comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Norman Krasna, and starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. It also features Gene Raymond, Jack Carson, Philip Merivale, and Lucile Watson.

<i>Remember the Night</i> 1940 film by Mitchell Leisen

Remember the Night is a 1940 American Christmas romantic comedy trial film starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and directed by Mitchell Leisen. The film was written by Preston Sturges and was the last of his scripts shot by another director, as Sturges began his own directorial career the same year with The Great McGinty.

<i>The Princess Comes Across</i> 1936 film by William K. Howard

The Princess Comes Across is a 1936 American mystery comedy film directed by William K. Howard and starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, the second of the four times they were paired together. Lombard, playing an actress from Brooklyn pretending to be a Swedish princess, does a "film-length takeoff" on MGM's Swedish star Greta Garbo. The film was based on the 1935 novel A Halálkabin by Louis Lucien Rogger, the pseudonym of Laszlo Aigner and Louis Acze.

<i>Sing You Sinners</i> (film) 1938 film by Claude Binyon, Wesley Ruggles

Sing You Sinners is a 1938 American musical comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray, Ellen Drew, and Donald O'Connor. Written by Claude Binyon, the film is about three singing brothers who go to California to find their fortune. Initially the film was to be titled "The Unholy Beebes" and then "Harmony for Three" before finishing with "Sing You Sinners". Filming took place in April/May 1938 in Hollywood. Race track scenes were filmed at the Pomona Fairgrounds and at Santa Anita using two dozen of Crosby's horses. Sing You Sinners was premiered on August 5, 1938 at the Del Mar racetrack with the New York premiere taking place on August 16.

<i>No Time for Love</i> (1943 film) 1943 film by Mitchell Leisen

No Time for Love is a 1943 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. Written by Claude Binyon, Robert Lees, and Frederic I. Rinaldo, the film is about a sophisticated female photographer assigned to photograph the tough "sandhog" construction workers at a tunnel project site. After saving one of the sandhogs from a fatal accident, she becomes attracted to this cocky well-built man they call Superman. Unsettled by her feelings, she hires the man as her assistant, believing that her attraction to him will diminish if she spends time with him. Their time together, however, leads to feelings of love, and she struggles to overcome her haughtiness and make her true feelings known.

<i>Dynamite</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Dynamite is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford, and Julia Faye. Written by Jeanie MacPherson, John Howard Lawson, and Gladys Unger, the film is about a convicted murderer scheduled to be executed, whom a socialite marries simply to satisfy a condition of her grandfather's will. Mitchell Leisen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

<i>Virtue</i> (film) 1932 film

Virtue is a 1932 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Carole Lombard, Pat O'Brien and Shirley Grey. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

<i>Lucy</i> (2003 film) TV movie about Lucille Ball

Lucy is a 2003 television film directed by Glenn Jordan. It is based on the life and career of actress and comedian Lucille Ball. The film premiered on May 4, 2003 on CBS.

<i>True Confession</i> 1937 film

True Confession is a 1937 American screwball comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, and John Barrymore. It was based on the 1934 play Mon Crime, written by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil. In 1946 it was remade as Cross My Heart.

<i>Fools for Scandal</i> 1938 film by Mervyn LeRoy

Fools for Scandal is a 1938 screwball comedy film starring Carole Lombard and Fernand Gravet, featuring Ralph Bellamy, Allen Jenkins, Isabel Jeans, Marie Wilson and Marcia Ralston, and produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It was written by Herbert Fields and Joseph Fields with additional dialogue by Irving Brecher, and uncredited contributions by others based on the unproduced 1936 play Return Engagement by Nancy Hamilton, James Shute and Rosemary Casey. The songs are by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

<i>Fast and Loose</i> (1930 film) 1930 film

Fast and Loose is a 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and starring Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard and Frank Morgan. The film was written by Doris Anderson, Jack Kirkland and Preston Sturges, based on the 1924 play The Best People by David Gray and Avery Hopwood. Fast and Loose was released by Paramount Pictures.

<i>New York Town</i> 1941 film by Charles Vidor

New York Town is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Fred MacMurray, Mary Martin, Akim Tamiroff and Robert Preston. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was written by Lewis Meltzer and an uncredited Preston Sturges based on a story by Jo Swerling.

<i>No More Orchids</i> 1932 film

No More Orchids is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy-drama film starring Carole Lombard and Lyle Talbot as mismatched lovers, based on the novel of the same name by Grace Perkins.

<i>Swing High, Swing Low</i> (film) 1937 American romantic comedy drama by Mitchell Leisen

Swing High, Swing Low is a 1937 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray.

<i>Man of the World</i> (film) 1931 film

Man of the World is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama directed by Richard Wallace and starring William Powell, Carole Lombard, and Wynne Gibson.

<i>The Lady Is Willing</i> (1942 film) 1942 film by Mitchell Leisen

The Lady is Willing is a 1942 American screwball comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures, starring Marlene Dietrich and Fred MacMurray, directed by Mitchell Leisen.

<i>The Public Menace</i> 1935 film by Erle C. Kenton

The Public Menace is a 1935 American black-and-white romantic drama film starring Jean Arthur, George Murphy and Douglass Dumbrille. A newspaper reporter keeps losing and regaining his job due to a manicurist he is persuaded to marry.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Tatara, Paul. "Hands Across the Table". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  2. Sennwald, Andre (November 2, 1935). "'Hands Across the Table,' a Sprightly Romantic Comedy at the Paramount". The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2015.