The Love Test (1935) Online

Quite apart from the fact that this is an early outing in the career of Michael Powell it is also notable for featuring 3 actors who would go on to bigger and better films in the future,Googie Withers,Louis Hayward and Bernard Miles.Withers is very funny in her attempts to take off a wisecracking American secretary.There are a few interesting directorial touches such as the way Hayward is introduced at the beginning of the film by an extended tracking shot.Dinner at a big restaurant is shown by way of a waiter serving at the table with curtains in the background and music on the soundtrack.This is a very enjoyable film which you should make every effort to see if it comes your way or appears again on TV

Michael Powell must have been gaining a reputation for directing movies efficiently by the time he made THE LOVE TEST. He had already been trusted with directing Leslie Banks and Ian Hunter when he was lent to Fox' English unit for this pleasant programmer.

When Gilbert Davis comes down with the hiccoughs, he must resign as head of the project to develop a fireproof celluloid. He recommends as his replacement the best chemist working under him, Judy Gunn. This does not please David Hutcheson, who makes some Male Chauvinist Pig remarks and order Louis Hayward to distract her by courting her. Of course, they fall in love, and of course Hutcheson decides to cut Hayward out after he has warmed up the cold fish.

It sounds almost modern in its discussion of men, does it not? Well, it falls into the all-too-neat routines of romantic comedy, but it certainly didn't hurt Louis Hayward's career. The movie, which turned up in the early 1990s, times in at barely more than an hour. It seems a totally unremarkable film, and probably didn't add much to Powell's reputation at the time.... except as a man who could get a decent film done on budget. That's never a bad thing.

The men who run the business act as if they were in a private club, including one who seems to spend most of his time dozing in a chair. The lab is ruled by an upper crust bully of a man who will do anything to anyone to stay in control, even if it ruins the business. But it's the men and women in the lab who provide the interest in what is a strangely egalitarian set up. When someone other than the creep is put in charge of the lab, in this case a woman, when he was sure it would go to him on the basis of seniority instead of to her on the basis of ability, he schemes to get her removed. He uses his coworkers over whom he has some kind of influence, perhaps because he comes from money and they don't and it helps in life if someone like that owes you a favor. A shy fellow who didn't like the idea was persuaded to try, undoubtedly because he was sweet on her. The plan was to get her so befuddled with love or being disappointed in love that she would fail at her job, with the snake smiling smugly through it all.

The plot is pure old school--women are emotional and can't stay clear- minded. But the old school attitude doesn't prevail, not the least because of the shy fellow who was pleased she was put in charge and wanted her to be a success. One might say that even in late 30s Britain ideas were changing to the WWII view of women that they were just as capable as men in intellectual endeavors including science. But when you are up against an unscrupulous slime and those who follow his bidding, you better have an ally on your side.

The part where the secretary of very little brain but tons of experience was teaching the shy man kissing techniques was hilarious. As was the moment of his overcoming his inhibitions with his love in a cab. "Oh hang, we're here already." To the cabby, "Find a park and drive around it!"

The 1930s was a time of breakthroughs in safer cellulose acetate over cellulose nitrate which might have inspired this film. It would be interesting to know if this movie was on safety film.