I loved YOU AND ME. Director Fritz Lang, better known for dark, harsh film noir, manages to turn a potentially criminal and violent situation into a comedy spattered with song. In fact, the film opens with a song that sums it all up, noting that everything has a price and you have to pay it - like it or not.
George Raft delivers an oddly sensitive performance, markedly unlike most of his work, in spite of the fedora, trenchcoat and criminal kingpin look. Lovely Sylvia Sidney provides the rock at the film's center, and their relationship can be very touching. Frankly, I had never imagined Raft as a lover, but he does that and more in YOU AND ME.
The supporting cast rates most effective, like so many gargoyles but with consciences and good feelings. Robert Cummings is the standout in that ensemble which just missed Mike Mazurki (alas, in 1938 he was still only an uncredited extra).
Superb screenplay from Virginia Van Upp, superlative cinematography - with expressionistic touches - from Charles Lang (no relation of Fritz's).
Against type Lang direction with many interesting details, such as the inside of an apartment, and the layout of a clothing shop, and its content, in the USA just before WWII.
Definite must-see for many reasons!
George Raft delivers an oddly sensitive performance, markedly unlike most of his work, in spite of the fedora, trenchcoat and criminal kingpin look. Lovely Sylvia Sidney provides the rock at the film's center, and their relationship can be very touching. Frankly, I had never imagined Raft as a lover, but he does that and more in YOU AND ME.
The supporting cast rates most effective, like so many gargoyles but with consciences and good feelings. Robert Cummings is the standout in that ensemble which just missed Mike Mazurki (alas, in 1938 he was still only an uncredited extra).
Superb screenplay from Virginia Van Upp, superlative cinematography - with expressionistic touches - from Charles Lang (no relation of Fritz's).
Against type Lang direction with many interesting details, such as the inside of an apartment, and the layout of a clothing shop, and its content, in the USA just before WWII.
Definite must-see for many reasons!