He Couldn't Say No (1938)
** (out of 4)
A weak story kills this film about a broke office clerk (Frank McHugh) who is getting pressured from his co-worker's (Jane Wyman) mother (Cora Witherspoon) to get married to her daughter. Things take a turn for the worse between the three when the guy goes to an auction and spends all his money on a plaster statue because it reminds him of a model (Diana Lewis) and soon all hell breaks loose due to this statue. At just 57-minutes there's certainly nothing overly bad or evil with this film but there's no question that it should have been much better. If you're a fan of classic Warner films then you've bound to have seen McHugh appear with some of the studio's biggest guys. It was good that the studio finally gave him the lead part in a movie but sadly the screenplay just can't pull anything off. There are some pretty funny moments including a one-liner coming back towards the mother during a dinner sequence and there's another good piece at the start when the clerk goes into his manager's office thinking he's going to be fired. The rest of the comedy pretty much fails because the comedy just isn't that funny. The second portion of the film deals with the model's father trying to buy the statue back and then we have gangsters getting involved. None of this stuff is funny and when he's offered thousands of dollars for this statue and refuses to sell, it's not cute but instead annoying. The screenplay really lets the cast down because everything is pretty good here. McHugh gives that comic performance like only he can deliver. Wyman is very good in the role of the girlfriend and Witherspoon is very believable as that annoying future mother-in-law. Berton Churchill plays the Senator trying to buy the statue and Lewis is simply divine in her part. HE COULDN'T SAY NO probably best sums up what went wrong with the story when someone didn't say no to it.
** (out of 4)
A weak story kills this film about a broke office clerk (Frank McHugh) who is getting pressured from his co-worker's (Jane Wyman) mother (Cora Witherspoon) to get married to her daughter. Things take a turn for the worse between the three when the guy goes to an auction and spends all his money on a plaster statue because it reminds him of a model (Diana Lewis) and soon all hell breaks loose due to this statue. At just 57-minutes there's certainly nothing overly bad or evil with this film but there's no question that it should have been much better. If you're a fan of classic Warner films then you've bound to have seen McHugh appear with some of the studio's biggest guys. It was good that the studio finally gave him the lead part in a movie but sadly the screenplay just can't pull anything off. There are some pretty funny moments including a one-liner coming back towards the mother during a dinner sequence and there's another good piece at the start when the clerk goes into his manager's office thinking he's going to be fired. The rest of the comedy pretty much fails because the comedy just isn't that funny. The second portion of the film deals with the model's father trying to buy the statue back and then we have gangsters getting involved. None of this stuff is funny and when he's offered thousands of dollars for this statue and refuses to sell, it's not cute but instead annoying. The screenplay really lets the cast down because everything is pretty good here. McHugh gives that comic performance like only he can deliver. Wyman is very good in the role of the girlfriend and Witherspoon is very believable as that annoying future mother-in-law. Berton Churchill plays the Senator trying to buy the statue and Lewis is simply divine in her part. HE COULDN'T SAY NO probably best sums up what went wrong with the story when someone didn't say no to it.