Don't Get Personal (1936) Review - A weirdly fun road trip in a dog kennel

If you have seventy minutes to spare and want a silly, brain-off chuckle, Don't Get Personal is a decent little time machine. It is definitely not for anyone who expects modern pacing or, you know, actual logic.

The setup is incredibly weird. Two guys are literally auctioning themselves off for work in Central Park during the Depression.

This auctioning gimmick reminded me a bit of the silent era stuff like Sold at Auction!, but here it is just a fast excuse to get our main trio on the road.

Sally Eilers plays Sally (yes, they didn't stretch their brains on the name), who bids her last five bucks on them.

Soon they are driving to Ohio, and things get incredibly chaotic for absolutely no reason.

I love how quickly Bob (played by Pinky Tomlin) gets incredibly annoyed. He tells Sally to use her "initiative" and just leaves her by the road.

She immediately steals a car because some guy was getting too "fresh" with her. 🚗

The logic in these 1930s comedies is just beautiful. No one goes to jail, they just push the stolen car into a ditch and go eat dinner with a friendly farmer.

There is this incredibly bizarre scene where they have to sleep in an empty dog kennel because of the rain.

It is supposed to be romantic, I guess? They actually kiss in the dog house, which is highly sanitary.

But then Bob gets weirdly prideful and calls her a "liability." Men in 1930s movies really had some serious communication issues.

The final third of the movie goes at warp speed. Sally goes back to her rich family and her incredibly boring fiancé Freddie.

Pinky Tomlin’s character is so stubborn. He literally refuses a good job just because his girl's dad offered it, so he goes to climb telephone poles instead.

The climax is just hilarious. Bob hears about her wedding while hanging on a telephone wire, runs over, cuts the power lines, and just kidnaps her.

And she’s totally fine with it! Ah, classic romance.

Things that made me chuckle:

• The fact that sleeping in a dog kennel is treated as a major romantic milestone.
• How easily everyone forgives grand theft auto in 1936.
• Pinky Tomlin's incredibly aggressive attitude towards getting a job.

It’s a very light, slightly messy movie, but honestly, it’s hard to be mad at it.