Brian Donlevy, Gloria Stuart, Stepin Fetchit, Isabel Jewell, and Douglas Fowley star in "36 Hours to Kill" from 1936.
Douglas Fowley plays Public Enemy #1, Duke Benson, who finds out he's holding the winning sweepstakes ticket for $150,000. But how to get it and stay anonymous? He and his cronies board a train so he can collect the money in Kansas City.
On the train, no one is as they seem. There's a beautiful blonde Anne Marvis (Gloria Stuart) leaving Los Angeles to escape a subpoena. There's a reporter (Brian Donlevy) trying to get an interview with a famous scientist, and of course, Benson, keeping a low profile but very attracted to Anne at the same time.
To say more would give the game away, but this is a fun film that moves as fast as the train the characters are traveling on. Brian Donlevy is young and handsome here and is delightful in the lead role. Gloria Stuart is wonderful and flirtatious as Anne. The only truly dramatic role in the movie is that of Isabel Jewell, who plays Duke's girlfriend and is desperate to hold onto him. She is excellent.
What a different world we live in today. There is a little girl wandering around train all by herself asking strange men to read her a story. And then there's Stepin Fetchit doing his act as a shuffling, bumbling, mumbling attendant on the train.
Some people would view his performance as cringeworthy, but he was the first black actor to have a successful film career and make a million dollars - and he knew exactly what he was doing. As a character, he is very funny.
Today, scholars note that the character of Stepin Fetchit was not as he seemed. He was instead a trickster who fooled his white employers so they would do his work. The con, known to blacks at that time, was called "putting on old massa."
The actor, Lincoln Perry, was actually very literate, wrote for a newspaper, and enjoyed friendships with people like Will Rogers and Mohammed Ali. He is definitely worth reading about.
All in all, a very entertaining film.
