In 1931 there was a movie made by the name of "Other Men's Women." It is almost a spitting image of this movie.
"Other Men's Women" was about two best friends who worked for a railroad company. When one of them (Grant Withers) let alcohol get a hold of him, the other (Regis Toomey) invited him to stay with him and his wife (Mary Astor) to get him sober and back to working. In short order Grant was sober, happy, and productive. Then he and his friend's wife fell in love which caused a rift. The two fought, and Regis, the husband, was blinded as a result. With his career over and a guilty wife taking care of him, Regis essentially committed suicide to eliminate the dreaded love triangle.
In "Danger Lights" a railroad superintendent named Dan Thorn (Louis Wolheim) found a hobo named Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) and gave him another shot to be something more than a wandering tramp. Dan believed in Larry and helped him turn his life around. Larry worked hard for Dan and became an engineer. When Larry met Dan's fiance, Mary (Jean Arthur), the two fell in love and attempted to run away together. Dan was about to clobber Larry, but Larry had his foot caught on the train tracks, so Dan risked his life to save him instead. With Dan gravely injured, he gave up his sweetheart to Larry saying, "You know, people have got to marry the things they love best. You two; each other. Me; the railroad." And like that the dreaded love triangle was eliminated.
I didn't like "Other Men's Women" and even though "Danger Lights" came out before it I didn't like "Danger Lights" either.
I don't like love triangles to begin with, but I especially hate a quaint, neat ending that allows everyone to walk away happy and guilt-free.
Dan gave up Mary too easily. While infirmed, and a doting Mary by his side, he realized that he wasn't going to be the best thing for her and that Larry would be. It simply wasn't believable in that situation. Dan was established as a guy who was an unyielding hard ass and someone who wouldn't quit. I can't imagine that he wouldn't at least try to make it work with the woman he loved before just giving her up. Had he tried and failed, then I could see him concluding that she'd be better off with someone else. But to not try at all... it was too easy, too neat, too simple; which love never is. It was all messy up until that point: Mary conflicted about her feelings for Larry, Larry guilty about his feelings for Mary, Dan torn between his love for the railroad and his love for Mary. Nothing was cut and dried. Then we got an ending where Dan essentially said, "She's yours," and the two of them walked off happily while Dan smiled at his ability to get his men to work harder even from his gurney.
Give me something more than that. This could never be a completely happy ending for any of them. Whatever decision they made, they would all be torn. To make it seem like everyone got what they wanted out of it was just lazy.
Free with Amazon Prime.
"Other Men's Women" was about two best friends who worked for a railroad company. When one of them (Grant Withers) let alcohol get a hold of him, the other (Regis Toomey) invited him to stay with him and his wife (Mary Astor) to get him sober and back to working. In short order Grant was sober, happy, and productive. Then he and his friend's wife fell in love which caused a rift. The two fought, and Regis, the husband, was blinded as a result. With his career over and a guilty wife taking care of him, Regis essentially committed suicide to eliminate the dreaded love triangle.
In "Danger Lights" a railroad superintendent named Dan Thorn (Louis Wolheim) found a hobo named Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) and gave him another shot to be something more than a wandering tramp. Dan believed in Larry and helped him turn his life around. Larry worked hard for Dan and became an engineer. When Larry met Dan's fiance, Mary (Jean Arthur), the two fell in love and attempted to run away together. Dan was about to clobber Larry, but Larry had his foot caught on the train tracks, so Dan risked his life to save him instead. With Dan gravely injured, he gave up his sweetheart to Larry saying, "You know, people have got to marry the things they love best. You two; each other. Me; the railroad." And like that the dreaded love triangle was eliminated.
I didn't like "Other Men's Women" and even though "Danger Lights" came out before it I didn't like "Danger Lights" either.
I don't like love triangles to begin with, but I especially hate a quaint, neat ending that allows everyone to walk away happy and guilt-free.
Dan gave up Mary too easily. While infirmed, and a doting Mary by his side, he realized that he wasn't going to be the best thing for her and that Larry would be. It simply wasn't believable in that situation. Dan was established as a guy who was an unyielding hard ass and someone who wouldn't quit. I can't imagine that he wouldn't at least try to make it work with the woman he loved before just giving her up. Had he tried and failed, then I could see him concluding that she'd be better off with someone else. But to not try at all... it was too easy, too neat, too simple; which love never is. It was all messy up until that point: Mary conflicted about her feelings for Larry, Larry guilty about his feelings for Mary, Dan torn between his love for the railroad and his love for Mary. Nothing was cut and dried. Then we got an ending where Dan essentially said, "She's yours," and the two of them walked off happily while Dan smiled at his ability to get his men to work harder even from his gurney.
Give me something more than that. This could never be a completely happy ending for any of them. Whatever decision they made, they would all be torn. To make it seem like everyone got what they wanted out of it was just lazy.
Free with Amazon Prime.