Lightnin' (1930) DVD-R

Starring Will Rogers, Louise Dresser, Joel McCrea, Helen Cohan, Jason
Robards Sr.
Directed by Henry King

Print: black/white
Runtime: 96 min.
Genre: comedy
Print quality: B

Lightnin' is based on the 1918 stage play by Winchell Smith and Frank
Bacon, in which Bacon (the father of director Lloyd Bacon) had starred for
years on Broadway and "the road." Will Rogers steps into the leading role
as "Lightnin'" Bill Jones, the slow-moving husband of Mary Jones (Louise
Dresser). Mr. and Mrs. Jones are co-owners of a hotel built right on the
borderline between California and Nevada, used as the temporary home
of divorcing wives so that they may pretend to be in the "California" half
of the hotel while establishing residency in the "Nevada" half. Lightnin'
befriends lawyer John Marvin (Joel McCrea), at present residing in the
California half to avoid arrest on a trumped-charge. When Lightnin'
refuses to sell his share of the hotel to a gang of stock crooks headed by
Raymond Thomas (Jason Robards Sr.), Mary is coerced into divorcing her
husband so that she can sign over the deed herself. In the semi-serious
courtroom finale, Lightnin' not only convinces Mary that she's still in love
with him but also manages to clear John Marvin's name. Director Henry
King clearly exercised no control over Will Rogers, whose incessant
ad-libbing, amusing though it is, slows the film to a crawl. Still, Lightnin'
proved to be just as successful as any other Rogers talkie vehicle,
proving that audiences came to see the star and not the story.