Cinema Revisited: Hitch Hike Lady (1935)
Directed by Aubrey Scotto. Cast: Alison Skipworth, Mae Clarke, Arthur Treacher, James Ellison, Warren Hymer, Beryl Mercer, J. Farrell MacDonald, Ivring Bacon, Gabby Hayes, Dell Henderson, Ward Bond, Robert McKenzie. Released December 28, 1935. Running time:
An elderly British woman travels to the United States, then carpools with a group to California in order to see her son. She believes he is a success when, in fact, he is in prison. The man driving the carpool is a crook who scams the woman, and another passenger, out of their money, so the two hitchhike across the country. They soon meet up with a young man and a couple of crooks hiding out in the man’s trailer. The group bands together and travels to California, all with different reasons for heading west.
“Hitch Hike Lady” is one of those low budget B movies that defies a specific genre. It is alternately funny and moving, with Allison Skipworth as the naïve British woman who believes San Quentin is a ranch her son owns. But her American traveling companions realize it is a prison, and don’t have the heart to reveal the truth to her. Skipworth was a master at playing comical characters of every range, from the sneaking con artist in “Tillie and Gus” to the sweet old gal in this movie. Her lovable nature plays off Mae Clarke’s young exuberance nicely.
The film is not as consistently breezy as most B movies of the era. It is a bit meandering as Skipworth and Clarke hitchhike. They meet some interesting characters along the way, but they are not as colorful or as interesting as this film’s potential would have one believe. This the fault of director Aubrey Scotto, whose career behind the camera was limited and unremarkable. The movie gets going once all of the principles are together.
It is the performers that sustain the film. Warren Hymer, doing one of his delightful mug characters, is teamed up with wily sophisticate Arthur Treacher as the two criminals traveling with the group. The dynamic between them, the incongruity between the two characters, is really quite wonderful. Each actor is playing within their established type, utilizing traits that they had perfected. Their scenes are among the best in the film, and their dynamic effectively offsets the blandness of Jimmy Ellison as the leading man. Allison Skipworth has never been more lovable, and Mae Clarke is at her cutest. And the film is filled with familiar faces in the smallest roles, including Ward Bond, Gabby Hayes, Dell Henderson, and Beryl Mercer.
The movie’s highlight has the group’s trailer becoming stranded in a hobo camp. Similar to scenes later in such films as “It’s a Gift” and “My Man Godfrey,” this presentation of Depression era homeless people doing their best with what they have exhibits a certain historical charm to the proceedings. It is scenes like these that make older films so fascinating and rewarding as late as the 21st century. The honest genuineness of the people by which they are surrounded thwart the attempts of the two crooks to take advantage of their situation.
It is the Skipworth character that is central to the narrative, despite this film being sustained by an ensemble. The warmth of each character, even the crooks, in protecting her from discovering her son is a prisoner, makes each of them more likeable for the viewer.
“Hitch Hike Lady” was well received at the time of its initial release, theater owners indicating that their patrons responded favorably when it would play on a double bill. A pleasant film from the 1930s B ranks, “Hitch Hike Lady” nicely represents a great era of filmmaking.