The Working Man is a delightful, utterly charming Pre-Code comedy helmed by George Arliss and Bette Davis, with supporting performances by Theodore Newton, Hardie Albright (who is absolutely adorable here), and Gordon Westcott.
Arliss stars as John Reeves, a shoe magnate cut from the same cloth as Phil Knight. He runs his ship with an iron fist, insisting on growth and excellence despite the challenges of the Great Depression. His only competition comes from his former best friend Tom Hartland, who also owns a shoe company. At the start of the film, Reeves is beside himself because his firm is losing sales to Hartland, despite the purported superiority of the Reeves shoes.
When Hartland unexpectedly dies, Reeves experiences a bevy of complicated feelings. Despite their rivalry, they were once friends and he didn’t hold any real malice toward the man, despite the fact that Hartland had married the love of his life and he had remained a confirmed bachelor ever since.
At the prodding of his nephew, who is also the company’s general manager, he goes on a fishing trip to see an old friend in Maine. Coincidentally, their fishing expedition is interrupted by the mooring of a yacht full of carousing rabble-rousers. The yacht, it turns out, is owned by the Hartland heirs, the son and daughter (played by Theodore Newton and Bette Davis) of his recently deceased former friend. He becomes friendly with them and leaves his friend’s fishing boat to join them on their yacht to play cards.
At first, his intentions are to be nosy and size up his competition, but he quickly learns that the two youngsters have been burning the candle at both ends and squandering the fortune their father worked his entire life to amass for their comfort. It doesn’t help that the company is being terrible mismanaged (maliciously) by Fred Pettison, whom their father had trusted. He surmises that he plans to drive the company into the ground and buy it at a bargain so he can reinvigorate it and make himself rich. When he calls his lawyer to facilitate an offer for the company, Pettison summarily rejects it without evening bringing it to the Hartland siblings.
His suspicions confirmed, Reeves, feeling paternally toward the young man and woman, finagles his way into becoming a trustee and sets about straightening them out and teaching them about business, money, and life itself.
The irony is delicious here, because you watch Arliss as Reeves work overtime to make his competitor a success again, behind the back of his nephew and under an alias to the Hartland siblings.
As with any tale involving assumed identities and dirty business dealings (on Pettison’s part, that is), the house of cards eventually comes tumbling down. The resolution, which is rather predictable, is no less enjoyable to behold.
This film was made early in Bette Davis’s career, when it was still not apparent to Warner Bros. what she was capable of. Still, even though she’s underutilized, she turns in a good performance. While she would become known for her saucy melodramas, it’s fun to see her in a lighthearted comedy (and as a blonde, no less).
The Working Man is now streaming on Watch TCM and is available to own on DVD through the Warner Archive Collection.
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