"Hard to Get" is not one of the rollicking 1930s comedies written with fast, witty dialog and repartee. Rather, it's a mixture of dialog and antics with a few nice tunes and some excellent acting. The plot is a familiar one for the time – a rich spoiled girl and a nice guy without money or social connections. Only, this film has some extra goodies. Dick Powell stars as Bill Davis and Olivia de Havilland plays Margaret ('Maggie') Richards. The supporting cast is wonderful, and all play superb roles. Charles Winninger has a considerable role as the patriarch of the family, Ben Richards, who made his gazillions of dollars in oil. He's an eccentric given to competition, especially in sports. His valet, Case, is on board primarily as his sparring partner. Melville Cooper plays Case very well, and Ben appears to get quite a workout in his role. Their face-offs are quite funny, and when someone interrupts Ben for a crisis in the family, he invariably gets taken by Case. They box and fence and wrestle their way through the work days. Ben comes up with some nonsensical epithets when interrupted, i.e. "Good Lady Godiva on two white mules." Isabel Jeans plays Mrs. Richards, the epitome of high society snobbery. It struck me as a little strange because they would have been the nouveau rich – having come into their wealth in the past few decades. Such new wealth usually found it long and hard to break into the cream of society that was dominated by the blue bloods of money from the early pioneer period. Rounding out the excellent supporting cast are Allen Jenkin as Bill's friend, Roscoe; Bonita Granville as Maggie's younger sister, Connie; Penny Singleton as the Richards' maid, Hattie; Thurston Hall as Ben's business friend, John Atwater; and Grady Sutton as Ben's office executive gopher, Stanley Potter. Mrs. Richards has some of the funniest lines in the movie. She hopes Maggie will marry Potter. She says, "The Potters are one of New York's oldest families. They came over with the Indians, or turkeys, or something." Connie, "You mean the pilgrims." Ben, "She means the turkeys." Other lesser roles are all played quite well. The movie opens with the wealthy Richards family getting ready to leave New York City for the summer. They are heading for the summer playground of the New York super rich, Newport, Rhode Island. However, Maggie is revolting and doesn't want to go. Ben is on her side, but Mrs. Richards usually wins out. Mrs. Richards, "My dear girl, you're losing your senses. You know perfectly well there isn't a living, breathing soul in New York in the summer time." Maggie, "Except for nine or ten million people, mother." The chauffeur carries in a box with two very tiny dogs in it. Mrs. Richards, "Oh, my poor darlings. You will stop the car occasionally, won't you, and let them run about for a bit?" Chauffeur, "Oh, yes, madam." Mrs. Richards, "That's what Brooks does with me on these long trips and it helps me so tremendously." At a dinner table scene, Hattie has some hilarious lines, posing as the Richards eldest daughter, while Maggie poses as a maid. Dick Powell sang three songs in the movie, including the first pubic performance of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Bing Crosby recorded it later and made it a hit single. Powell also did a very good imitation of Al Jolson's "Mammy" in blackface. This wasn't something incidental to the plot, but his blackface performance allowed him to sneak into an exclusive party. Finally, this is a look at Olivia de Havilland in one of her comedy roles. She is known mostly for her dramatic roles, but she was a very versatile performer who played across the acting spectrum. About 30 percent of her films were dramas; nearly a quarter were comedy-romance; and she made several each of Westerns, mystery-crime films, and action- adventure movies. She also appeared in two musicals and one military flick as well as one horror show. De Havilland doesn't have the funny or quirky humor side that Jean Arthur, Carol Lombard, Barbrara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Irene Dunne or Ginger Rogers had. But what she does have is great dramatic ability. So, when we see her early scenes when Maggie is angry or upset, her role is so superbly played that one thinks she really was angry and vengeful at that moment. She surely is one of the greatest actresses of all time. "Hard to Get" is a very good, entertaining and fun movie that the whole family should enjoy. The younger kids might especially like the funny scenes of Ben and Case fighting in various sports. One last thing of note, that another reviewer commented on. Toward the end of the movie, Ben and Case hunt down Bill who has taken a job as a riveter on a new high-rise building. The scenes are real with men being lifted to the top on steel girders.

This is one of those films from the thirties where no effort is made to have a realistic story or characters, and where the purpose is purely fun. The film is highly amusing, although it has its corny moments. This is a rare glimpse of Olivia de Havilland as she was before GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) changed her career in the following year. Her co-star here is Dick Powell. A very bad makeup person has made Dick Powell all but unrecognisable by excessive makeup round his eyes, and has done no favours for Miss de Havilland either, as she is also made to look somewhat artificial, despite her costumes working very well and showing inspired touches. As is only to be expected, both stars excel in this romantic comedy and spark off each other nicely. The film also contains a wonderful performance by the British actor Melville Cooper as a droll butler, not unlike Jeeves (and probably modelled on him), who is even allowed the last word at the end. Charlie Winniger also gives one of his very good performances (for he could be a bit uneven and 'required direction') as Miss de Havilland's eccentric father. A famous song by Johnny Mercer was written specially for this film, 'You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby' ('… cause, baby, you're beautiful now.') The film also features an amazing scene where Dick Powell in blackface does a marvellous imitation of Al Jolson singing 'Sonny Boy'. This film was certainly unconstrained in its casting about for new ways to laugh. Dick Powell also disguises himself as a woman scrubbing a floor in an office building, descends on a rope down the side of a New York skyscraper to enter an office window, and other antics. At one point Winniger is taken to the top of a skyscraper riding on a steel beam, as 'the elevators are not installed yet'. He holds a business meeting several hundred feet up, balancing on the beams, while Powell inserts rivets. Any wild situation will do for this story! At one point, the action is suddenly interrupted and we cut to Miss de Havilland and Powell sitting in a row-boat together at night, rowing across a lake in Central Park and falling in love. Some linking scenes must have been cut to get them there, but no one seems to mind the lack of continuity. Anything goes! Miss de Havilland starts as a rich spoilt brat who screams when she does not get her way. She falls out with Dick Powell, who works in a garage, over a bill for $3.48. Powell refuses her credit, and says if she were to fail to pay, he would 'not be able to afford lunch for a week'. That says a great deal about the value of money in 1938, if you could eat lunch for a week on $3.48. Miss de Havilland later falls in love with Powell, in a shockingly short period of time and with a lack of motivating circumstances. But she manages to switch from being a fiery-eyed bitch, passing through a phase of being a cunning schemer seeking vengeance, to a doe-eyed and love-struck maiden, with all the ease of an Olympic pentathlete who can do anything and who changes sports without noticing that he has stopped running 100 metres and is now throwing the javelin (or in this case, Cupid's dart). The film was directed by Ray Enright, who started as a gag writer for Mack Sennett, became an editor, and worked his way up to director. He never entered the top ranks but made lots of movies, retiring in 1956. If you want to have some laughs and be entertained, and do not mind films from the thirties, this will do nicely.

When this film begins, you find that Olivia DeHavilland plays a thoroughly obnoxious spoiled brat--too spoiled to be a likable character, as I think they should have toned down her character a bit. Anyway, she stops at a gas station and fills up but has no money. No matter in her mind, as she instructs the attendant (Dick Powell) to 'just charge it'. However, the company does not allow charges and Powell cannot just trust her for the amount, as it will come out of his paycheck should she not return to pay him later. On top of that, she behaves with such a strong sense of entitlement, it's not surprising he won't let her go until she works off her debt! Eventually, Olivia works off the debt and returns to her rich father (Charles Winninger) and insists that Daddy have Powell fired. Instead, Winninger and Olivia eventually decide to spend much of the film toying with Powell and behaving like total jerks in the process. I really think they should have made this family a bit kookier and a lot less mean-spirited and selfish--as it handicapped the film significantly. On the plus side, Powell is excellent--with a few nice songs (I usually hate songs) and seemingly effortless acting. He was at his best here--and DeHavilland, who is usually one of my very favorites, is in a film that is simply beneath her extraordinary talents. No wonder she eventually sued Warner Brothers to get out of her contract!!! The bottom line is that the film has lots of nice moments and is likable at times. But, with such annoying characters to undo the plot, it fails where it SHOULD have been a winner. A simple re-write would have done a world of good with this film.By the way, while I liked Powell in the film, I was shocked to see him do a number in black-face. Uggh!!! The pain!Also, get a load of James Finlayson playing a bit part. It's nice to see him in a role outside of his usual Laurel & Hardy appearances.

A delightful comedy about a very ambitious gas station attendant that meets a spoiled rich girl...and her quirky father. Olivia de Haviland is the gorgeous gal. You may recognize a familiar voice in "Hattie", played by Penny Singleton, who went on to play "Blondie" in the first film of the series that same year(1938), and later was the voice of Jane Jetson. Fast-paced and original.