You and Me [Blu-ray]

Director: Fritz Lang Fritz Lang

Overview

This film is one of acclaimed director Fritz Lang's less noted achievements, a mixture of romance, comedy, drama, and satire. It includes three songs by the famed Kurt Weill, including "The Right Guy for Me." George Raft plays Joe Dennis, an ex-convict working in a department store. The store's boss, Mr. Morris (Harry Carey), likes to hire ex-cons. Joe falls in love with Helen (Sylvia Sidney), who hides the fact that she is on parole until after they marry. Since parolees can't wed, the marriage is illegal. Distraught, Joe organizes a gang to rob Morris' store. Helen intervenes and tries to convince the gang members that the potential take isn't worth the risk of returning to prison. ~ Michael Betzold

Product Details

Release Date:	04/18/2023
UPC:	0738329262426
Original Release:	1938
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:34:00
Sales rank:	4,595

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

George Raft	Joe Dennis
Sylvia Sidney	Helen Dennis
Robert Cummings	Jim
Barton MacLane	Mickey
Harry Carey	Mr. Morris
Warren Hymer	Gimpy
Roscoe Karns	Cuffy
George E. Stone	Patsy
Adrian Morris	Knucks
Roger Gray	Bathhouse,Red
Cecil Cunningham	Mrs. Morris
Vera Gordon	Mrs. Levine
Egon Brecher	Mr. Levine
Paul Newlan	Bouncer,Bouncer
Willard Robertson	Dayton
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams	Taxi
Bernadene Hayes	Nellie
Joyce Compton	Curly Blonde
Carol Paige	Torch Singer
Harlan Briggs	McTavish
William B. Davidson	N.G. Martin
Dutch Hendrian	Lucky
Edward Pawley	Dutch
Jack Pennick	Gangster
Kit Guard	Gangster
Hal K. Dawson	Information Clerk
Herta Lynd	Swedish Waitress
Matt McHugh	Newcomer
Philip Warren	Secretary,Secretary
Jimmie Dundee	Bus Driver
Jack Mulhall	Floorwalker
Sam Ash	Floorwalker
Julia Faye	Secretary
Arthur Hoyt	Mr. Klein
Max Barwyn	German Waiter
Harry Tenbrook	Bartender
Ernie Adams	Nick, the Waiter,Nick, the Waiter
Paula DeCardo	Cigarette Girl
Harriette Haddon	Cigarette Girl
Blanca Vischer	Flower Girl
Gwen Kenyon	Hat Check Girl
Louise Seidel	Hat Check Girl
Greta Granstedt	Girl
Juanita Quigley	Girl
Helaine Moler	Girl
Marie Burton	Girl
Lola Jensen	Girl
Cheryl Walker	Girl
Yvonne Duval	Girl
Dorothy Dayton	Girl
Carol Parker	Girl
Oscar G. Hendrian	Lucky
Ethel Clayton	Woman
Ellen Drew	Cashier
Sheila Darcy	Perfume Clerk
Margaret Randall	Shoplifter
Ruth Rogers	Salesgirl
Barbara Salisbury	Demonstrator
Marion Weldon	Demonstrator
Barbara Jackson	Demonstrator
Richard Denning	Man
Archie Twitchell	Man
Jack Hubbard	Man
Ray Middleton	Man
Jane Dewey	Clerk
Joyce Mathews	Clerk
John McCafferty	Policeman
Sheila D'Arcy	Perfume clerk
Fern Emmett	Mother
James McNamara	Big Shot

Technical Credits

Fritz Lang

Director,Producer

Editorial Reviews

You and Me combines elements of the musical, romantic comedy, and crime film genres in a bizarre experiment that left audiences and critics at the time baffled. Not surprisingly, it was a spectacular failure at the box office and remains one of Fritz Lang's most ignored films. Neither a misunderstood masterpiece nor a misguided mess, this unclassifiable oddity comes across today as a thoroughly enjoyable, undeniably weird film made all the more charming by its eccentricities. It begins in a department store, with a montage of consumer items, cash registers, and money changing hands accompanied on the soundtrack by a Brechtian songspiel on the theme of capitalist exchange called "You Can Not Get Something for Nothing." The department store, it turns out, is staffed entirely by ex-cons who are now on the straight-and-narrow. Star George Raft -- well-known at the time for his gangster roles -- is first seen extolling the qualities of a "racket" he's trying to sell somebody on. The camera pulls back to reveal that he's a salesman in the sporting goods department, and the racket pushing is of the tennis variety. Raft's Joe discovers, just as he's about to quit his job and move to California, that he's in love with co-worker Helen (Sylvia Sidney), and they impulsively get married on the night that he's supposed to leave. Helen, however, is still on parole, and therefore forbidden to marry. Her attempts to keep both her secret from Joe and her marriage secret from her parole officer eventually sends Joe into a rage and back to his prison buddies (and fellow department store workers) who develop a scheme to rob their place of employment. Their plan is hatched during one of the film's strangest scenes, which involves a spontaneous rhythmic chant by the group that leads into a surreal flashback of the gang's prison days. It plays just like a musical number -- only without the music. You and Me is by far Lang's quirkiest movie. Besides the almost-musical numbers, it also includes a mathematical demonstration by Helen, complete with blackboard and chalk, explaining why crime doesn't pay. It's light touch makes it stand out in Lang's normally doom-laden oeuvre, and probably accounts for its often being dismissed as a misstep in his career. Like a lot of Hollywood movies that defy easy genre categorization, it tends to fall through the cracks. But Raft and Sidney's charming, droll performances, and the sheer good-natured weirdness of it all make it more than a mere curiosity.

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