Money and the Woman (1940)

Money and the Woman (1940)


Plot Summary

The City Trust and Savings Bank sends Vice President Dave Bennett (Jeffrey Lynn) to a branch office to check on a Charles Patteson. (Roger Pryor) Charlie has greatly increased the amount of money in savings and is very involved with all of his customers. When offered a chance to run a new branch in Santa Monica, Charlie declines and is taken ill. His wife, Barbara, (Brenda Marshall) tells Dave that Charlie needs an operation and she will fill in for him at his savings window. Against the advice of Martha Church (another bank teller played by Lee Patrick) and Branch manager Jerry Helm, (John Litel) Dave does hire Barbara to do the job. When Dave works the window when Barbara goes to lunch, he notices that the accounts are short and the amount comes out to $9000. Dave does not know if Barbara or Charlie has taken the money, but Barbara blames Charlie and as Dave is sweet on her, he personally loans her the money. Dave hopes that this will end the problems and that Barbara will divorce Charlie but there is more trouble ahead for Dave Bennett.

This was a pretty solid Warner Brothers programmer with little known (to me anyways) leads who are supported by some very good supporting actors. It packs a lot of story in its 60 minutes though there is a (necessary) flaw to it. Brenda Marshall's acting is quite solid as the worried wife of her sick husband but the way she conveys her feelings and the words she uses makes her seem very guilty of the bank fraud or at least being in on it with her husband. Like I said it's a necessary thing to keep the audience a bit off balanced but I felt it was a bit off putting. She had the behavior and mannerisms of a femme fatale at times and I kept thinking she'd find a way to steal MORE money right from under Dave's nose because he's so in lust with her. It seemed like the movie was heading into a proto-Double Indemnity (1944) vibe.

I must say it worked because it threw off the scent of the real "man falls for bad woman" plot and one that could've used some spotlighting. If this was a B+/A production I think the script would've allowed the audience to see what was really going on because the revelation of the embezzler and his female cohort came slightly out of left field. We all kinda knew who the guy was (Charles) but like I said the lady behind his actions wasn't revealed until the end.

That being said, there's a lot to like about the film as there was comedic bits in it with big, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams playing the bank guard Mr. Adler and the zaniness of some of the people that came in. There's one bit where a man rushes into the bank asking to take out all his money and his wife comes in screaming that he can't take it out because SHE'S going to take the money for herself. They get into an argument and Adler gets involved saying that the man came first and let him transact his business whereupon the husband gets all upset and says he won't do any business with a bank that treats his wife so badly. At the end of it all it's revealed that the couple only had 8 dollars to their name!

As I said the film is populated with some strong character actors with the main one being John Litel who plays Dave's friend Jerry who's also manager of the bank. You get a great sense of the kind of friendship they have when early on they discuss Patteson declining the job offer before going out to the fights. Suddenly they find out that Patteson's wife is coming up to see them about things and Dave says to Jerry that he'll give her the brush off. Well, once Dave sets his sights on her he becomes smitten right away and Jerry makes for the exit knowing that Dave wants to be alone with her.

It's a bit amusing because while Brenda Marshall was ok looking I wouldn't say she was drop dead sexy but she did carry herself in a way that was very attractive. That's one thing that's missing with women in film today. They rely far too much on the physical side of their charm rather than showing the personality and quirks that make a man notice them. (perhaps screenwriters and directors are more to blame for that than anything else)

Anyway this is a solid little flick that's worth your hour if you somehow come across it.

A solid **