Tonight's Movie: Make Way for a Lady (1936) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

Anne Shirley and Herbert Marshall star in MAKE WAY FOR A LADY (1936), just released on DVD by the Warner Archive.

Anne Shirley had begun in silent films as a young child in 1922, billed as Dawn O'Day. She adopted the name of her starring character in ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (1934), launching the next phase of her career; she would appear in roughly three dozen films over the next decade.

At the time Anne made MAKE WAY FOR A LADY she was coming off a successful couple of years which also included John Ford's STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND (1935), costarring Will Rogers; the classic Barbara Stanwyck weeper STELLA DALLAS (1937) would follow the next year.

MAKE WAY FOR A LADY is a 65-minute RKO programmer elevated by its very classy leading man, Herbert Marshall. Marshall plays Chris Drew, a widower raising his teenaged daughter June (Shirley). Marshall played this type of single father role more than once, with Shirley Temple's KATHLEEN (1941) coming immediately to mind as another example.

June overhears a friend's mother saying Chris needs to remarry and makes it her mission to find him a wife. The only problem is that she picks the entirely wrong person for her father, author Valerie Broughton (Margot Grahame). Chris considers Valerie on the pushy side and always cuts their meetings short.

Unbeknownst to June, Chris has become friendly with Eleanor Emerson (Gertrude Michael), a teacher at her school. Chris can be himself with Eleanor and they have grand fun together, culminating in Chris proposing marriage.

When June learns her matchmaking plans have gone awry she's apoplectic and tries to "fix" things, with the expected disastrous results.

I liked a lot about this film, which is made with the usual RKO polish despite being a relatively minor film. Marshall is absolutely charming, and I enjoyed seeing his relationship with Eleanor evolve. His lovestruck proposal at the train station is most endearing.

Although I'm definitely a fan of Anne Shirley and regret that she retired relatively young, after MURDER, MY SWEET (1944), her character here quickly becomes grating. June's dramatic attempts to act as an "adult" and interfere in the lives of grown-ups transition from being amusing to increasingly painful to watch in the last third of the film. "Little Miss Fix-It" films were popular in the '30s -- see Shirley Temple and Deanna Durbin for more -- but June isn't a fixer, she's a one-child wrecking crew!

It's quite a relief when matters are finally untangled in time for a very cute finale. Since the film is quite short, at least it breezes quickly past the more uncomfortable scenes!

Look for Mary Jo Ellis as June's best friend Mildred; Ellis had a small yet noticeable role as Ida Boothby in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944) several years later.

Helen Parrish (THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP) is also in the cast, with Clara Blandick (Auntie Em in THE WIZARD OF OZ) playing the Drews' housekeeper.

MAKE WAY FOR A LADY was directed by David Burton and filmed by David Abel.

The Warner Archive DVD is a nice print with good sound. There are no extras.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from the Warner Archive Collection at the WBShop or from any online retailers where DVDs and Blu-rays are sold.