Flirtation Walk is a 1934 romantic musical film about a man falling in love with a woman and wanting to abandon his position in the military for her. At least that’s what it starts out to be. But at some point it loses that identity and goes in a different direction and becomes more of an army recruitment film before once again shifting gears and trying to tie the two stories back together. This film was written by Delmer Daves, who made some amazing western films in the 1950s, and Lou Edelman, but their script for Flirtation Walk feels incomplete, like they didn’t have a good, solid idea on how to end it and so it just cuts to credits. Director Frank Borzage shares in the blame for how this turned out because, though it flirts with grandeur, it never feels like it reaches those heights.
Richard Palmer Grant Dorcy Jr. (Dick Powell), also known as “the Canary,” is an enlisted man in the United States Army, stationed in the Hawaiian Islands. He has a contentious, yet friendly relationship with “Scrapper” Thornhill (Pat O’Brien), his sergeant and a man who feels the backbone of the military are the troops, not the officers. When General Fitts (Henry O’Neill) visits the post with his daughter Kit (Ruby Keeler) in tow, Dick is assigned to drive her to a reception that evening. The two attend a luau instead, and fall in love on that tropical moonlit night.
They are soon discovered by Scrapper and Lieutenant Biddle (John Eldredge), who also loves Kit. Biddle accuses Dorcy of ruining Kit’s reputation and forcing her to accompany him off post. In response, Dorcy decides to desert. To prevent this, Kit tells him that he means nothing to her and that it was a momentary moment of weakness. Stung, Dorcy changes his plans and elects to apply for admission to the United States Military Academy to compete directly with Biddle and become an “officer and a gentleman.”
Later, Kit arrives at West Point, where Biddle and Dorcy are training, and the soldiers there, accustomed to risking their lives for their country but not to talking with women, are infatuated with her. But Dorcy is cold towards her, still believing her story about why she left him. He writes a comedy play for the men to perform, about a female general, that has a direct message for Kit, elaborated more after she is cast in the lead against his wishes. The remainder of the film is all about whether these two lovebirds will ever figure things out and get back together.
This film had promise, but it was very uneven. While the first part of the movie takes place in Honolulu, it is very obvious that this is nothing more than a Hollywood soundstage. The best moment in this early part is an elaborate luau that is so over the top that it could only happen in the movies. Dorcy is charming in these early scenes, but there is no denying that his relationship with Kit is not given enough time to develop realistically. This robs it of any power when he threatens to desert after what amounts to about an hour with her.
The lone saving grace is Scrapper, who, despite playing some obvious and not too clever physical comedy bits, brings Dorcy back down to earth. But as soon as Dorcy leaves for West Point, Scrapper is essentially written out of the picture until the climax. He doesn’t believe men like him and Dorcy should ever be officers and expresses why eloquently, if briefly, but he doesn’t stand in his way either. Later, when he finally returns to the picture, he actually stands up against Dorcy when he wants to abandon officer’s training, once again over Kit. Our last views of him are him watching Dorcy succeed as he marches with the other officers. Scrapper even has tears in his eyes, something that a child points out just to make sure we caught it.
As I mentioned before, this film is very uneven. The messaging is also a little muddled. The film tries to spell some of it out via the play that Dorcy has written, but this play is so poorly realized and over the top that it loses the narrative. On top of that, the filmmakers expect us to believe that neither Kit nor Dorcy rehearsed the final scene prior to opening night. It’s a plot convenience that just doesn’t work on any level. The best parts of it are the musical numbers, but those are a bit too sparse.
Flirtation Walk just doesn’t hold up as a good film from the early 1930s. It had potential, and seeing West Point as it was in the 30s is interesting. But Dorcy isn’t a compelling lead, and while Kit is adorable, their relationship is a plot contrivance that cannot overcome poor writing. It’s watchable, but it isn’t compelling. For a musical, it fails to ignite any real flair for either the numbers or the characters. Pat O’Brien brings some energy, but he is largely absent for most of the runtime.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Production: Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis, and Robert Lord
Best Sound Recording: Nathan Levinson
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Release Date: November 28, 1934
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, and Pat O’Brien
Directed by: Frank Borzage
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