Clancy in Wall Street (1930) Review: Plumbers, Stocks, and Awkward Parties

If you are looking for something to put on while you fold laundry or if you just really love seeing how movies looked right when sound was becoming a big deal, you should check this out. It is probaly not for people who need fast action or crisp HD visuals. But if you like that old-school vibe where everyone talks a bit too loud because they are scared the microphone won't pick them up, it is a fun time.

It is basically a movie for anyone who has ever wanted to walk into a fancy room and just act like a total goof. It is also for people who hate snobs. If you like high-brow humor, you will probaly hate this.

The Plumber Who Got Lucky

So, the whole thing starts with Clancy, played by Charles Murray. He is a plumber. He looks like a plumber. He acts like a plumber. There is this one scene early on where he is dealing with tools and it just feels very... clunky.

He somehow gets involved in the stock market by mistake. I think he just bought some shares because he heard a name or something? It is not super clear, but honestly, it does not really matter. The point is he gets rich. Very rich. Very fast.

It reminded me a little bit of the vibe in Twenty Dollars a Week, where money just changes everything overnight. But here, it is much more about the physical comedy of a big guy in a small suit.

Clancy has a wife and a daughter, and they are the ones who really want to be "high society." The daughter is played by Miriam Seegar and she is actually pretty good, though she spends a lot of time looking worried. I would be worried too if my dad was a plumber trying to talk to bankers.

The High Society Crash

The best parts are when they move into the fancy house. You can tell the sets are a bit thin. Like, if someone slammed a door too hard, the whole wall would probably wobble. But that is part of the charm of 1930 movies.

There is a party scene that goes on for a while. Clancy is trying to be polite, but he just wants to be back in his overalls. He keeps making these little mistakes with his hands and his voice that make the rich people look at him like he is an alien.

It is a bit like A Gentleman of Leisure but way more blue-collar. It doesn't have that polished feel. It feels like it was filmed in a hurry, which it probably was.

One thing I noticed was the way the background characters just stand there. In some of the big room scenes, the extras look like they aren't sure if they are allowed to move. It makes the whole "high society" thing feel even more fake, which actually works for the story.

The Weird Pacing

The movie is kind of short, but it feels longer because some of the jokes take a long time to finish. There is a bit with a tuxedo that I thought would never end. It was funny at first, then it was just okay, and then it became funny again because it stayed on screen so long.

I wish there was more of Lucien Littlefield. He is in this, and he always has such a strange, specific face. He pops up and you just know something weird is going to happen. He has this way of looking at Clancy that makes you feel the awkwardness in your own living room.

The writing is credited to a few people, including Ralph W. Bell, and you can tell there were too many cooks in the kitchen. Some scenes feel like a silent movie with sound added later, while others are just people standing in a circle talking. It is very uneven.

It kind of has that same "trying to find its feet" energy as Ladies Must Dress. The industry was still figuring out how to make people move and talk at the same time without it looking like a stage play.

Small Details That Stuck Out

There is a moment where Clancy is looking at a stock ticker tape. The way he holds the paper... he looks like he is trying to read a foreign language. It is a very human moment. It made me think about how scary the stock market must have felt back then to a regular person.

The sound quality on the copy I watched was pretty rough. There is a constant hissing noise. You get used to it after ten minutes, but at first, it sounds like someone is frying bacon in the next room. 🥓

Also, the hats. Everyone has such intense hats. The women have these cloche hats that cover half their faces. I don't know how they saw where they were going. Maybe that is why they all walk so carefully.

I also kept thinking about Only a Husband while watching the family dynamic. There is a lot of that "husband vs. wife's ambitions" stuff going on here. It is a very 1930s theme.

Is It Actually Good?

I don't know if "good" is the right word. It is interesting. It is a time capsule. If you want a masterpiece, go watch something else. If you want to see a plumber get one over on some guys in top hats, this is your movie.

The ending is a bit rushed. It is like they ran out of film or the actors had to go to lunch. Everything just gets wrapped up in about three minutes. It is a bit of a letdown after all the buildup, but I guess they didn't want to overstay their welcome.

The chemistry between Lee Phelps and the rest of the cast is... fine? It is not amazing. But Charles Murray really carries the whole thing on his back. Without him, it would be pretty boring.

He has this rough charm. Even when he is being loud and annoying, you kind of want him to win. You want him to keep his money and tell the snobs to go jump in a lake.

I wouldn't go out of my way to find this unless you are a completionist for early talkies. But if it happens to be on, give it a look. It is better than some of the stuff they were putting out back then, like Film 10 which was just... well, let's not talk about that one.

Overall, it is a messy, loud, slightly confusing comedy that manages to be sweet in a weird way. It is a movie about a guy who just wants to be himself, even when the world tells him he should be someone else. We can all relate to that, right? Even if we aren't plumbers with accidental stock portfolios.

One last thing—the way they filmed the "Wall Street" scenes. It looks nothing like actual Wall Street. It looks like a very clean hallway in a library. It made me laugh every time they called it a bustling financial hub. 😂