I haven't watched an old black and white film in a while. I have mentioned in the past that I soft of go through phases with what I watch, and it's rare that I suddenly pick something up out of nowhere and shift genres or styles. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for some old noir, or I am in the mood for horrifically bad comedy spoof films like Epic Movie!. Though today I wasn't sure what I wanted to watch and sort of just broke out of the general theme I've been sticking to lately, mostly watching series instead. The other day I came across Lady in a Jam and figured it might be appealing once my mood shifts back to older films, I didn't actually research it at all, I saw it online and immediately noted the name of the film down; usually I find these films by doing some pretty boring, extensive Google searching, reading through lists of all sorts on various websites. But I was not feeling it, writing the name down and waiting until later.
Well, later came. A few short days later, in fact. I decided to watch it just not knowing what to do with myself today, and going in completely blind with zero expectations. Before I get into the more extensive part of the review, I do want to start it by saying that I admittedly just wasn't really feeling the old black and white films still, and that might partially cloud my judgement over Lady in a Jam. On the other hand, I do want to also state that it isn't actually a great story, and is one riddled with flaws and things that just don't really make sense. Odd choices in direction, and odd characters that seem a bit confusing despite having what seems like a clear agenda. It is a film with many flaws, and perhaps these many flaws made my perception of the film worse as a result of the existing general disinterest that was felt beforehand. So, the film didn't impress me, or really leave any impact on me whatsoever. Somewhat from having high standards going into it despite the lack of expectations.
Lady in a Jam
This turned out to be a bit of a dud to me, which is a shame because I feel it had a really interesting introduction to its main character, and introduced a series of themes that implied it would cling to them closely throughout the runtime, only to in actuality abandon most of it and pursue an entirely other story. Our protagonist is a woman named Jane Palmer, we meet her in the street acting like an absolutely horrible person. Firing her chauffeur and insisting that she is of the utmost importance and above all others. Her interacts with strangers that try to help her in this situation display her true character, full of nepotism and ignorance. It is when she returns home that we witness the reality of her life: now suffering bankruptcy as a result of blowing her fortune that was inherited. Even then, her way of speakin to others shows she has no idea what's going on even as people discuss an upcoming auction to sell off her belongings. The assumption that all is well and she'll remain about the system is evident, of course that's far from true.
This setup felt really strong to me, an introduction to such a nasty character that we are unfortunately following but now ready, almost excited to watch collapse and get what's coming to them. I love these sorts of films, and I really don't think there's enough of them. Having an evil protagonist that ends up being forced into getting humbled is often a great experience given the on-screen events but also the insanity of the off-screen emotions that people have as they themselves feel the evils of humanity creeping into them, celebrating the suffering of another. It means that these sorts of stories and characters have a lot of potential to really be something. But unfortunately, in the case of Lady in a Jam, it just doesn't turn out that way. Even early on, Jane meets a psychiatrist that insists on helping her, everyone tells him to run away or at least get his money from her quickly. There's a strong implication here that something other may come from it, not necessarily romance, for example. But that it may lead somewhere towards her decline.
The narrative takes a weird shift after she moves back to her hometown in Arizona, to which the story takes a strange move towards a relative with hidden gold on their property that everyone wants a piece of, as well as some childhood romance that never really managed to take off. Everything sort of falls flat and takes a very strange direction that I just could not find myself caring for one bit. It unfortunately throws away that entire build up that made the character and story so appealing, and it doesn't really return to it, especially with the introduction of other characters that just don't really work. I understand the drastic change that stems from bankrupcty, but there isn't really any consideration for those prior events and how life is changing, there is no real lesson here that she has to learn or struggle to go through, it all seems like it's instantly shrugged off. Which obviously doesn't work after her panic attacks over becoming poor, as well as her total disregard for reality around the auction.
I managed to get through the film, but it really did lose me at the halfway mark. I don't think it really has any qualities to it that make it a worthy watch. The directing is alright, but it is your typical directing style from the era. Pretty basic camera angles and with little movement. Shot on 35mm black and white film. It's all rather forgettable. Quite a shame given that strong introduction, but there's just not really much more to it. Perhaps I am one of the few that finds this a bit of a bore, I did come across this without any research, so it might be quite a famous film in actuality. However, it definitely just wasn't for me. Unfortunately the performances are also fine, it's very theatrical and entertaining, but the actors were not enough to save the story.
