Absolute Quiet (1936)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

George B. Seitz

Writers:

Harry Clork (writer)
George F. Worts (story)

Release Date:

24 April 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Businessman Gerald Axton goes to his ranch to rest, having had a near-heart-attack due to business worries...

Plot Keywords:

Ranch | Governor | Reporter | Convict | Heart Disease

Cast

Lionel Atwill	...	Gerald 'G.A. Axton
Irene Hervey	...	Mrs. Laura Tait
Raymond Walburn	...	Governor Sam K. Pruden
Stuart Erwin	...	Oscar 'Chubby' Rudd
Ann Loring	...	Zelda 'Zel' Tadema
Louis Hayward	...	Gregory Bengard
Wallace Ford	...	Jack
Bernadene Hayes	...	Judy
Robert Gleckler	...	Jasper Cowdray, Pruden's Secretary
Harvey Stephens	...	Barney Tait
J. Carrol Naish	...	Pedro
Matt Moore	...	Tom, the Pilot
Robert Livingston	...	Co-Pilot

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2119)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Quotes:

Oscar 'Chubby' Rudd: Two years ago you were so conservative, you buttoned your underwear up the sides; now when you go past, people think it’s the fire department out on a picnic!

A B Picture That Holds Up Better Than Many of its Fancier Peers

It's a little like "Grand Hotel." Today "Grand Hotel" seems stagy and really creaks. "Absolute Quiet" is wife awake and crackles.

It's a little like "The Petrified Forest." That holds up pretty well but is very stagy. And it's a little like "Key Largo," which no one is going to fault.

Lionel Atwill is a manipulator who tries to have the husband of a woman he's attracted to crash his plane. At the same time, he will be taking care of an ex-girlfriend, an actress he has ostensibly sent to Hollywood in that same plane. Her boyfriend, Louis Hayward, a fading movie star, is also on the plane, as is the governor of the state. Atwill has it in for him.

The plane crashes at his house in the country, where he is ostensibly taking in the eponymous rest.

Add t to this mix a reporter who wants the story. (A rather pudgy looking Stuart Erwin is good in this role.) And a Bonnie and Clyde duo on the lam. Their names are Jack and Judy. Or, their name (as they were originally a vaudeville team) IS Jack and Judy.

All this, as well as a couple minor players, in one house! This doesn't come across as a formulaic programmer. It has plenty of tension. The only aspect that bothered me was Jack's slang: Over and over, instead of saying "OK," he says "Oke." Slang can really date a movie. But this one holds up very well indeed, in spite of that one small annoyance.