Heat Lightning (film)

Heat Lightning is a 1934 pre-Code drama film starring Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, and Preston Foster. It is based on the play of the same name by Leon Abrams and George Abbott.

Heat Lightning
Directed byMervyn LeRoy
Written byBrown Holmes
Warren Duff
Based onHeat Lightning
1933 play
by George Abbott
Leon Abrams[1]
Produced bySamuel Bischoff (uncredited)
StarringAline MacMahon
Ann Dvorak
Preston Foster
CinematographySidney Hickox
Edited byHoward Bretherton
Music byLeo F. Forbstein
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • March 3, 1934 (1934-03-03)
Running time
63 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The movie was one of the latter to be released before the Motion Picture Production Code was rigorously enforced. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, two months after its release, it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency. A print is held at the Library of Congress.[2]

Plot

Olga (Aline MacMahon) runs an isolated gas station and restaurant in the stifling hot desert somewhere in the American Southwest with her discontented younger sister Myra (Ann Dvorak). The sisters clash when Olga forbids Myra from going to a dance with her boyfriend Steve.

The same day, chance sends Olga an unexpected and unwelcome customer, ex-boyfriend George (Preston Foster). Unknown to her, George and his nervous partner Jeff (Lyle Talbot) are on the run from the police after a botched robbery that left two men dead, killed by George. Initially intent on sneaking across the border to Mexico, George decides to stay awhile when two jewelry-laden, wealthy divorcees, "Feathers" Tifton (Glenda Farrell) and "Tinkle" Ashton-Ashley (Ruth Donnelly), are stranded there for the night by their long-suffering chauffeur Frank (Frank McHugh).

Frank pretends there is something wrong with their car so he can have a rest from driving. Olga, the mechanic, plays along. Mrs. Ashton-Ashley becomes worried about a large Mexican family spending the night nearby, and Olga offers to store the women's valuables in her safe.

George manipulates Olga's feelings, reviving the love she once felt for him. Although she tries to resist, she eventually succumbs to his charms, and they sleep together. This incident gives Myra the opportunity to sneak away to meet Steve. Myra returns later that night, terribly upset after having been taken advantage of by Steve. When Olga starts berating her for going off with her boyfriend, she responds by revealing she saw George leaving Olga's bedroom. The two miserable women then comfort each other.

Meanwhile, George orders Jeff to open the safe. Jeff is reluctant to cause trouble for Olga, but gives in when George pulls out his gun. Olga overhears George say he slept with her just to set up the theft. She gets her pistol and shoots him. As he lies dying, he apologizes to her. Olga lets Jeff go.

Cast

1941 remake

Using Abbott and Abrams' play for Heat Lightning, Allen Rivkin, Charles Kenyon, and Kenneth Gamet wrote the screenplay for Warner Bros. remake Highway West (1941).[3]

References
  1. League, The Broadway. "Heat Lightning – Broadway Play – Original - IBDB". ibdb.com.
  2. Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress, (<-book title) p.77 c.1978 by The American Film Institute
  3. Highway West profile, imdb.com; accessed June 8, 2017.
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