''Her Man'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

produced and distributed by

Pathé Exchange Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Hollywood's silent era. Known for its groundbreaking newsreel and wide array of shorts, it grew out of the American division of the m ...

, directed by

Tay Garnett William Taylor "Tay" Garnett (June 13, 1894 – October 3, 1977) was an American film director and writer. Biography Early life Born in Los Angeles, Garnett attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served as a naval aviator in Wo ...

and starring

Phillips Holmes Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life, education and career Born in ...

Helen Twelvetrees Helen Marie Twelvetrees ( Jurgens; December 25, 1908 – February 13, 1958) was an American actress. She starred in Hollywood films in the sound film era from 1929 to 1939. Many of her roles were of "suffering women". She has a star on the Holly ...

and

Marjorie Rambeau Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress. She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, '' Her Man'' (1930). She was t ...

. The film is inspired by the ballad Frankie and Johnny. The picture's supporting cast features

James Gleason James Austin Gleason (May 23, 1882 – April 12, 1959) was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter born in New York City. Gleason often portrayed "tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold." Life and career Gleason w ...

, Ricardo Cortez,

Thelma Todd Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy". Appearing in about 120 feature films and shorts between 1926 and 1935, sh ...

and

Franklin Pangborn Franklin Pangborn (January 23, 1889 – July 20, 1958) was an American comedic character actor famous for playing small but memorable roles with comic flair. He appeared in many Preston Sturges movies as well as the W. C. Fields films '' Interna ...

. At least one copy is preserved at the Library of Congress. The original camera negative, rediscovered in the 2010s, has been scanned and restored at 4K resolution by Sony Pictures Entertainment, in partnership with the Film Foundation and RT features.

Plot

A Havana prostitute (Twelvetrees) with a sadistic "protector" (Cortez) falls for a young sailor (Holmes).

Cast

as Frankie Keefe *

as Dan Keefe *

as Annie *

as Steve * Ricardo Cortez as Johnnie *

Harry Sweet Harry Sweet (October 2, 1901 – June 18, 1933) was an American actor, director and screenwriter. He appeared in 57 films between 1919 and 1932. He also directed 54 films between 1920 and 1933, including one Harry Langdon short, two of th ...

as Eddie *

Slim Summerville Slim Summerville (born George Joseph Somerville; July 10, 1892 – January 5, 1946), was an American film actor and director best known for his work in comedies. Early life Summerville was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where his mother d ...

as The Swede *

as Nelly *

as Sport *Stanley Fields as Al *

Matthew Betz Matthew Betz (September 13, 1881 – January 26, 1938) was an American film actor. Betz was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1881. Following an extended career in the U.S. Cavalry, Betz spent eight years in Vaudeville. His first stage play w ...

as Red *

Mike Donlin Michael Joseph Donlin (May 30, 1878 – September 24, 1933) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and actor. As a professional baseball player, his MLB career spanned from 1899 to 1914 in which he played mainly in the National L ...

as Bartender * George Chandler as Barfly

Reception

Writing in The New York Times on the release of a restored version of the film, the critic J. Hoberman says that the film was well received when it was released and that it was a favorite of

Henri Langlois Henri Langlois (; 13 November 1914 – 13 January 1977) was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema. His film screenings in Paris in the 1950s are often ...

of the

Cinémathèque Française The Cinémathèque Française (), founded in 1936, is a French non-profit film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris's 12th arrondissement, the archive offers ...

. Hoberman calls out the use of

tracking shot A tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. In cinematography, the term refers to a shot in which the camera is mounted on a camera dolly that is then placed on rails � ...

s in the film, as also does Farran Smith Nehme in Film Comment. The MOMA film curator David Kehr called the "constantly moving camera" 10 years ahead of its time. Nehme describes the film as a "brawling, sleazy pre-Code" and that Garnet successfully "weaves in tenderness" into what is also a romantic film.

References

External links

* *
Her Man!
available on YouTube 1930 films 1930 drama films American black-and-white films American drama films 1930s English-language films Films directed by Tay Garnett Films set in Havana Pathé Exchange films 1930s American films {{1930s-drama-film-stub