Is My Face Red? (1932) Review - A wonderfully trashy Pre-Code gossip fest

Is this worth your 66 minutes tonight? If you love fast-talking Pre-Code movies where everyone is a terrible person but they have great hats, then yes.

But if you hate screechy dialogue and plots that resolve because a character literally just walks into a room at the right second, you will probably want to skip this one. 🍿

The Greasiest Man in Journalism

William "Bill" Poster (played by Ricardo Cortez) is a gossip columnist who would sell his own mother for a front-page scoop. He steals info from his showgirl girlfriend Peggy, gets mixed up with a high-society heiress, and witnesses a mob murder that he immediately brags about in print.

The movie moves incredibly fast. It's like the director was worried the theater would catch fire if the actors stopped talking for two seconds.

Cortez plays Poster with this incredibly greasy charm. You want to punch him, but you also kind of want to see what stupid thing he does next.

There is this one scene where he takes a diamond ring right off Peggy's finger and later gives it to another woman. It is so shamelessly awful that I actually laughed out loud.

Unlike more polished romances of the early 30s like Indiscreet, this movie has absolutely no morals. It is just pure, trashy energy.

The Poor Women of New York

Let's talk about Helen Twelvetrees. She plays Peggy, and honestly, she deserves a medal for putting up with this guy.

Her face when she realizes he recycled her ring is just heartbreaking. But then the movie immediately cuts to a wacky scene with Zasu Pitts, who plays a telephone operator.

The tonal shifts are so wild they give you whiplash. 😅

And what about the killer, Tony? Instead of wanting to murder the reporter who outed him, he wants to thank him for the good publicity.

That is such a weird, funny twist. It feels like something out of a modern dark comedy, not a 1932 melodrama.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic pacing in The Dancer of Paris, though this one is much more cynical. Or even some of the lighter fluff like Fashions in Love, but with more guns and bootleg liquor.

Odd Little Details

• There is a scene in a speakeasy where a guy gets stabbed right in front of everyone.
• The reaction shots are hilarious because half the extras look like they are trying to remember if they left their stoves on at home.
• One guy just stares at the wall for three seconds before reacting.

Also, the dialogue is packed with 1930s slang that makes no sense now. "Getting in dutch" is used about fifty times.

I think I am going to start using that in real life.

Its not a masterpiece, and the ending feels like they ran out of film and just decided to stop shooting. But for a quick blast of pre-code madness, it's a lot of fun.

Just don't expect to respect any of these people by the time the credits roll.