| Goldie Gets Along | |
| Director: | Malcolm St. Clair |
| Producer: | J.G. Bachmann |
| Based On: | Goldie Gets Along by Hawthorne Hurst |
| Starring: | Lili Damita Charles Morton Sam Hardy |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Studio: | J.G. Bachmann Productions |
| Distributor: | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Runtime: | 68 minutes |
Goldie Gets Along is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair and starring Lili Damita, Charles Morton and Sam Hardy.[1] The screenplay was written by William A. Drake, based on the 1931 novel of the same title by Hawthorne Hurst.[2] [3]
A young Frenchwoman living with her aunt and uncle in New Jersey has ambitions of making it in Hollywood and sand sets out to hitchhike her wake there. Her adventures involve her briefly being sent to jail for stealing a car and taking part in a series of crooked beauty contests. Eventually she makes it to Hollywood and tries to target a contract with a big film director, discovering in the process that the fiancée she left at home is now a big movie star.[4]
Variety magazine, in its June 6, 1933 issue, praised St. Clair and cinematographer Merritt B. Gerstad’s “ingenious” camera work particularly in rendering the “Hollywood scene very effectively though camera angles.” Variety noted use of masks or mattes served to advance the narrative and theme of the picture.[5] [6]
The characterization of Goldie LaFarge, a French immigrant, anticipates the feminist ideals that arose in the post-war era. Film historian Ruth Anne Dwyer considers this fictional character “an early version of today’s feminist.”[7] Dwyer writes:
Dwyer adds that Goldie, in her determination to succeed in Hollywood, skilfully neutralizes efforts to derail her ambitions, “battling sexual harassment at every train depot, [doing so] by appearing to pander to, but in fact, outwitting, all of the men around her.”[8]