Hold Me Tight: A strange little department store drama

If you're looking for a breezy, slightly confused relic from the early 1930s, Hold Me Tight might actually hit the spot. It is definitely for people who enjoy watching old studio dramas where the morality feels a bit... shifted. If you hate movies where the male protagonist decides, 'I am the provider, you must quit your job,' you are going to be rolling your eyes every five minutes.

The whole setup at Blair's Department Store feels like a stage play that someone accidentally filmed. Everything is tidy, the aisles are impossibly clean, and the store detective, Dolan, is a villain so cartoonish he practically twirls a mustache. He tries to frame Chuck because he wants Molly for himself. It is just so predictably gross.

I found myself weirdly distracted by the background extras in the store scenes. Half the time, they are just standing there, holding boxes that are clearly empty. It gives the movie this bizarre, hollow feeling. Like, did they run out of props? Or did they just figure we wouldn't notice the weightless cardboard?

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Hold Me Tight (1933) through its definitive frames.

Chuck and Molly’s relationship is the core, but it is exhausting. When Chuck gets fired and Molly tries to keep it from him to save his pride, you just want to yell at the screen. Why is honesty so hard for these people? It’s not even a big secret, but it acts like a ticking time bomb.

There is a side-plot with Dottie and Billy, the unemployed neighbors, that feels like a totally different, much darker movie. Billy is essentially the 'warning' of what happens if you don't take your marriage seriously enough, or something? It's weirdly judgmental. It reminds me of the shaky, moralizing tone you find in The Squaw Man, even if the settings are worlds apart.

The transition from a domestic dispute about money to a full-blown fur coat heist is genuinely jarring. It happens so fast. Suddenly, everyone is a criminal mastermind, or at least a pawn in one. Chuck fighting off thugs in the back of a department store felt like the writers just got bored and decided it was time for an action sequence.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Hold Me Tight (1933) through its definitive frames.

And that ending. Wow. Chuck gets his job back, hires his buddy, and then tells his wife she has a 'new job' at home with the kids. It’s a real 1930s punch in the gut, but delivered with such a sunny, optimistic tone that it’s almost funny. The movie thinks it’s giving us a happy ending. I just wanted to go get a drink.

Notes from the couch:

• The store detective’s office looks like it’s about three feet wide.
• The scene where Dottie attempts suicide is so heavy, it totally sucks the air out of the room before the movie jumps right back to petty workplace drama.
• I really wanted one person in the store to just quit their job and walk out normally.
• It's a quick watch. You won't be bored, but you might be annoyed.