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13 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Tense Gentlemen on the High Tension Wires, 16 December 2005
5/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Edward G. Robinson and George Raft are a couple of linemen. Robinson is the foreman of the crew and a bit of a lug when it comes to the opposite sex. Raft however is a smooth operator.

They both meet Marlene Dietrich at a clip joint, the Code euphemism for a bordello. Robinson falls for her and Dietrich's looking for a way out of the working life. They marry, but she starts getting a yen for Raft and that brings on trouble.

Manpower has a place in film history having nothing to do with the content or the quality of the movie. While visiting his good buddy George Raft on the set, one Benjamin Siegel was introduced to Virginia Hill as depicted in the film Bugsy. There's a scene where Raft gets into a brawl with Barton MacLane that is depicted in Bugsy.

And if that wasn't enough, Raft and Robinson got into a real brawl over Marlene just like in the film. It seems as though Dietrich was involved with Raft during the production. But Raft was not the most educated of men.

Edward G. Robinson came from a slum background like Raft, but he'd educated himself and in fact was a well known art collector. Dietrich was no dummy herself and she and Eddie got friendly on the set, talking about stuff that Raft didn't have a clue about. Of course this got George jealous and they had a knock down drag out over her. You couldn't buy that kind of publicity. Lucky for Robinson Raft didn't call on Ben Siegel for his services.

So Manpower entered its place in Hollywood lore. Too bad the film wasn't any great masterpiece. It's entertaining enough though with a good cast of Warner Brothers regulars supporting Ms. Dietrich and her gentlemen friends. It seems though just about every film Warners made back then had either Alan Hale or Frank McHugh in it, in this case both. They're always entertaining. Add to that Eve Arden in her usual role as the wisecracking best friend of the heroine.

Not the greatest film ever made, but a historic one and not bad on the entertainment scale.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
B-picture quality from Raoul Walsh and his stock company cast..., 13 September 2007
5/10
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

Everything about MANPOWER is highly improbable, including the casting of EDWARD G. ROBINSON as a lineman in love with the alluring clip-joint hostess MARLENE DIETRICH and the three-way romance that includes GEORGE RAFT as a jealous blue collar onlooker who warns Robinson about the pitfalls of marrying Dietrich.

Raoul Walsh directs it in his customary boisterous style, letting ALAN HALE, FRANK McHUGH, WARD BOND and BARTON MacLANE overdo the rowdy blue collar supporting roles. The comic relief offered by Hale and McHugh is below par this time and becomes tiresome long before the tale reaches a climactic storm scene.

Fans of the star trio will probably overlook these faults and find the film passable viewing, but it's nothing special and easily forgotten. EVE ARDEN gets to sling some one-liners in the kind of role she always played with verve and skill.

Linemen working on electrical wires at the height of a severe thunderstorm is stretching things a bit for the melodramatic climax.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Trademark Walsh dynamics, 29 December 2005
7/10
Author: Michael Bo (michael.bo@pol.dk) from Copenhagen, Denmark

Power-line repairman Edward G. Robinson marries prostitute Marlene Dietrich, but she finds herself enamored by hubby's best friend and colleague, a gallant George Raft.

There is much to enjoy in Raoul Walsh's exhilarating melodrama, and although it adheres rather too strictly to a proved formula, Walsh, always a great master at this, gives depth and dimension to the action. Walsh paints a vivid and loyal picture of this blue-collar environment of camaraderie and pranks, and Alan Hale's repairman is the whole deal rolled into one, there is not ONE joke about high voltage that he doesn't know, or doesn't repeat, ad nauseam. Every workplace has one! 'Manpower' is full of the trademark Walsh dynamics, comparable to the electric power, the frequent thunderstorms and the high tempo. The action is engrossing, the film overall is smoothly produced, briskly edited, brilliantly lit, designed and photographed. Never did sleekly wet, black raincoats photograph more memorably.

Robinson and Raft are congenially cast, but Dietrich is a long-shot as the prostitute turned housewife. "How's this dame stacked up?", Robinson asks of Raft, before he is introduced to her. Raft, waveringly: "Oh, just a dame ...". Well, she photographs like a goddess, and is impossibly glamorous. And quite improbably so.

Don't expect another Walsh masterpiece, but brace yourself for a hugely enjoyable flic that just whirls by you.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Exciting and powerful, 31 March 2003
Author: Kalaman from Ottawa

"Manpower", made for Warner Bros. in 1941, is one of the most exciting and pleasurable of all classic action adventures. It's great to see the positive reviews from fellow users; I have been looking forward to it for some time and I finally saw it. What a picture! I'm a huge Raoul Walsh fan and "Manpower" ranks with the director's greatest works - "Me and My Gal", "The Roaring Twenties", "Gentleman Jim", "The Strawberry Blonde", "Objective, Burma", "Pursued", et al. The film is extraordinary for a number of reasons, but the most obvious reason is a top notch cast: Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, Ward Bond, Alan Hale, Eve Arden, and the lovable Frank McHugh, performing his hilarious shenanigans and slapstick.

The film concerns a group of emergency power repairmen who work on a high voltage power lines during ferocious storms. Throughout "Manpower", Walsh emphasizes group camaraderie and the strong bond of working class Americans. It is also filled with Walsh's trademark boyish gusto and unsophisticated Irish ribaldry, but it somehow lacks the bittersweet nostalgia and wistfulness of "Strawberry Blonde" and "Gentleman Jim".

The same way Walsh's "Strawberry Blonde" is a remake of a charming 1933 Gary Cooper vehicle called "One Sunday Afternoon", "Manpower" is a remake of Howard Hawks'1932 adventure "Tiger Shark", also starring Edward G. Robinson as a tuna fisherman. Here, Robinson plays power lineman who happens to be in love with an ex-con girl, sensitively played by Marlene Dietrich. Robinson's rival is George Raft and their climactic aerial duel amidst jolting electric wires are among the highlights of the film's stunning action scenes.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
I Am a Lineman for the County, 28 December 2004
Author: Brian Washington (Sargebri@att.net) from Los Angeles, California

This is film pretty much has soap opera written all over it. The love triangle between Robinson, Raft and Dietrich has been in every soap from "Guiding Light" to "General Hospital". Robinson really has a good turn as the soft hearted and naive Hank and Raft is great as the sensible Johnny, who tries to show Hank that his marriage to Kay isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Dietrich also puts in a fine performance as Kay. Frank McHugh is his usual wonderful self adding the comic relief to this soap. However, the ending is pretty standard at the end when Johnny and Kay walk off together pretty much to console each other and to start life anew.

Also, look for an early performance by Eve Arden. She plays one of the b-girls in the club in the latter scenes of the film.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Before there was "The Wichita Lineman,", 23 May 2002
Author: Ralph Michael Stein (riglltesobxs@mailinator.com) from New York, N.Y.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

MINOR SPOILERS

Warner Brothers celebrated the dedication and bravery of power line repair crews. In the U.S. of 1942 with prosperity emerging from the Depression, tough, brawling but brave civilian workers were a cinematic counterpart to the expanding roster of military action films.

In "Manpower" a naive and essentially softhearted Edward G. Robinson is a line repairman promoted to gang foreman. His best friend on the crew is George Raft. Robinson falls head-over-heels in love with the getting-older-but still-sensuous Marlene Dietrich, soon to begin her own conquest of American forces in Europe. Raft, at first dismissive of clip joint Dietrich's marriage to Robinson, falls in love with her. No surprise here.

With a good supporting cast including pre-"Wagon Train" Ward Bond and pre-"Our Miss Brooks" Eve Arden, the film has both humor and action. Can you imagine a film today highlighting, in a serious vein, a crew of utility workers?

The best scene: Robinson's astonishment when he realizes he's been taken for a sucker at Dietrich's clip joint. How does he know? The bill is for $4.12!!!

The story is predictable but it's one more movie showcasing some remarkable talent. And there is a good shot of Dietrich's legs.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
A woman comes between two best friends, 24 November 2007
6/10
Author: blanche-2 from United States

"Manpower" is a 1941 Warner Brothers film directed by Raoul Walsh. Walsh said that Jack Warner used to call him to his office and say, "You have to direct this film for me." Walsh would ask, "Who's in it?" "Oh, I don't know," Warner would moan. One wonders if "Manpower" was one of those films, though it would be pretty hard to forget that you had a film with Marlene Dietrich scheduled.

The story is that of a typical love triangle. Hank (Robinson) and Johnny (Raft) are linemen; Hank falls hard for Dietrich, who works at a clip joint. He proposes and though she tells him up front that she doesn't love him, she accepts. Then she finds herself in love with Johnny.

Dietrich is stunningly beautiful though I was distracted by a wig that seemed to overpower her face. And when was the last time you heard her described, as Raft does, as "just a dame?" Hardly. She is very good as Fay, who, while she gives it a go with Hank, wants her chance at real happiness. Robinson, who could play pathetic like nobody's business, gives us a pretty pathetic Hank here - injured so that instead of working on the power lines, he's now a manager, unlucky in love and dumpy looking. For a guy who could play mean as dirt, he portrayed these blustery, insecure men very well. Raft is a very dapper Johnny, a nice contrast to Robinson.

With the exception of an exciting ending, there really isn't anything exceptional about "Manpower" except the cast and the fact that it rains a lot. Definitely worth seeing for the unique casting.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Silly and predictable, but still fun, 20 September 2007
5/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

This is not one of Warner Brothers' finest films, as the writing is pretty silly at times and terribly predictable. For example, when the character "Pop" appeared, I said to my daughter that that old guy would have to die in the film--and about 20 minutes later, sure enough, he had assumed room temperature! In fact, throughout the film, the action was pretty ordinary and often telegraphed. Despite starring Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich and George Raft, the film had a definite "B-movie" feel to it due to the shallow plot and rather one-dimensional characters. This one-dimensionality was especially true with Robinson, as he was amazingly pugnacious and impossible to believe throughout.

Now despite all this and the overall ordinary nature of the film, it still is rather entertaining and worth a look if there is nothing better on television. Not a great film but a decent time-passer.

By the way, a few years earlier, Warner Brothers made a somewhat similar film called SLIM. While MANPOWER is not exactly a re-make, they both have a lot of similarities and involve death and danger on the power lines.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Ridiculous but Entertaining, 25 April 2003
7/10
Author: eva25at from Vienna, Austria

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(Possible spoilers)

MANPOWER portrays the lives of those brave and courageous men who layed the power lines during the electrification of America. Pylons are the scene of action for most brawls. Edward G. Robinson and George Raft are good buddies until Robinson falls in love with Marlene Dietrich. Raft thinks she is no good but Robinson marries her nonetheless. Raft discovers that Dietrich is smart: When Robinson gets drunk after the wedding she takes it with nonchalance: A man has the right to be drunk at his wedding doesn't he? Next morning Robinson is agreeably surprised to discover that she can cook...Proudly he displays her home-made cakes. But his conjugal bliss does not last long. One day Robinson is injured by a fall from a high-tension pole. He develops a persecution complex and suspects Dietrich & Raft of doing what a faithful wife and the best friend ain't supposed to do...

All this is just as ridiculous as it sounds. Serious-minded persons won't like it. But then, serious-minded persons should not watch Marlene Dietrich or Edward G. Robinson films at all, because those actors had a kind of built-in camp quality that enlivened even their weaker movies. Dietrich is a shady lady - when wasn't she? Robinson has paranoia - when didn't he? and Raft was well cast as romantic lead (only joking) if Hollywood's gossip can be trusted: Once a reporter asked Carole Lombard who the greatest lover was. She replied: "George Raft - or do you mean on screen?". Dietrich's biographer, Donald Spoto wrote that she and Raft had an affair during shooting. Raft, who had contacts with the underworld, once invited her to a disreputable bar. And then he was shocked because she wasn't...Well, MANPOWER is not directly an "A" production, but I found it very entertaining. 7/10

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A rugged action, with a great cast., 27 August 1999
7/10
Author: Shawn Taber (filmbuffshawn@netscape.net) from Rock Forest, Quebec

Manpower, is typical of the Warner Bros. action films of the 40's. It's filled with drama, tension, comedy and action. There is a lot of memorable dialogue, which puts modern films to shame. Probably, the best feature of this film is the cast. Dietrich, Robinson and Raft are topnotch. The supporting cast of Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, and Ward Bond lend superb comic relief. Manpower is a fun film which deserves repeated viewings.

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