Waterfront Lady (1935) User Reviews

Cheap but agreeable.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 24 July 2010]

"Waterfront Lady" is a low-budget public domain B-movie from small-time Mascot Pictures. However, unlike some Bs, this one does have a few established Hollywood actors in the film. Though none of them were big stars (such as J. Farrell MacDonald, Grant Withers, Jack LaRue and Ward Bond), it is nice to see their familiar faces. Ann Rutherford appears here in her first film and IMDb's trivia about this is interesting. The film's title would make you think that the film stars a woman, Frank Albertson is clearly the star. The film begins aboard a gambling ship. Just before it's raided, a stool pigeon and the boss are engaged in a tussle--and in the process the stoolie is killed. Being an all-around sucker, Albertson covers for the boss and is now a hunted man. He hides out along the waterfront and in the process he meets nice Ann Rutherford and falls for her--though she has no idea he's a wanted man and professional gambler. Despite this, he's a pretty likable guy and romance begins to blossom--until his identity is revealed and is forced to flea. Can this all be worked out for a happy ending? Well, what do you think?!

Overall, despite the film's very modest budget, it's a rather agreeable film--mostly due to some decent writing--though the final fight sequence is a bit dopey. Now understand...it is NOT a great film but a very watchable B-movie--especially if you like this sort of thing.

Refuge on the docks

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 22 September 2019]

I wouldn't be surprised if MGM allowed poverty row Masacot Pictures to shoot a lot of this film at the waterfront sets they used for Anna Christie. Waterfront Lady had a bit of the same look.

Young Frank Albertson a gambler has been taken into partnership by the owner of a big gambling boat Charles C. Wilson. Soon after in a fight Wilson kills a a complaining customer. When Alberrtson tries to get rid of the gun the cops tag him as the shooter..

Albertson takes refuge at the docks on a houseboat owned by J.Farrell MaDonald and his daughter Ann Rutherford. It's pretty plain and getting more obvious Albertson ain't no sailor. But Rutherford starts to fall for him anyway, much to the chagrin of Grant Withers who has staked out a claim.

This was a nice B film from one of the Poverty Row studios and apparently it wasn't butchered after being sold to television. Lack of production values is apparent. But it's a decent story with attractive players.

About a guy.

[Spuzzlightyear · 5/10 · 28 February 2006]

Waterfront Lady, even though you would think that with the 'Lady' in the title, and the lead actress (Anne Rutherford) is the first person mentioned in the credits, that this movie is all about the girl.. but amusingly this is REALLY about the guy character, named Ronny (played by Frank Albertson.) He plays a gambling boat boss who bails out just when the cops bust the joint AND a murder happens on board. He goes into hiding and takes the role of a sea swash named type of a guy named Bill, with the sailor's cap and everything. Luckily, everybody on the barge thinks he's a friend of one of the people who lives there, who is conveniently away. Soon, the Lady falls in love with him, much to the chagrin of her OTHER suitor. So mr good-bad guy has to deal with that AND the person who comes back to wonder who this guy is. This is somewhat interesting to the fact that Albertson here is playing an anti-hero here. It's hard to like him, actually. Even though he's sort of trying to act reformed, he always tries to contact his underworld cronies to get them to help him get out of this jam. So, even though there is a happy ending (which is predictable) you still feel he's scum, and that the girl is going to be miserable in the end.

Superior Poverty Row product

[ilprofessore-1 · 6/10 · 30 December 2021]

This 1935 Poverty Row picture, competently directed by Joe Santley, much of it played on the cheapest waterfront set that Mascot Pictures could build, benefits from an extremely appealing cast headed by the very likable Frank Albertson with lovely Anne Rutherford in her first role. Both are very natural. They are surrounded by a number of familiar faces- J. Farrell MacDonald, Ward Bond, Jack La Rue, Mary Gordon, and even Smiley Burnett as a mustachioed Italian accordion player. He also wrote the songs. The script by Wellwyn Totman is much better than the usual Mascot fare. Fast-moving and entertaining. A lot of value for the buck.

Love on the waterfront makes him the contender...

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 22 August 2016]

Tied up with the wrong people gets handsome Frank Albertson accused of a murder he did not commit, and being a sucker, he hides out in a fishing port as the police grab the clues of his whereabouts. Falling in love with fisherman's daughter Ann Rutherford, he hides out and almost makes it. But when jealous floozy Barbara Pepper learns of his whereabouts and looses her own meal ticket, she makes the call that could ruin his life.

In spite of the title, this focuses on gambling gentleman Albertson who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. On the verge of second string fame as Andy Hardy's girlfriend, Rutherford shows potential in this poverty row drama. J. Farrell MacDonald, Charles C. Wilson and Mary Gordon (as one of a gaggle of gossipy bags) are also fine in this likable and fast moving melodrama. This is one I'd like to see restored and cleaned up.

Romantic musical masquerading as a crime thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 5 February 2017]

WATERFRONT LADY was listed as a crime film on Amazon Prime but having watched it I would better describe it as a romantic musical in which the characters constantly burst into song or dance routines, thus slowing the pacing down to a crawl. It's a pity that the end result is so uninteresting because there are elements of interest here in the tale of a man wrongly accused of murder and forced to go on the run from the police while at the same time attempting to clear his name.

What follows is a sluggishly-paced tale populated by uninteresting characters and actors who I've never heard of before and have no interest in seeing again. I found the romantic scenes quite cringe-worthy. There's a youthful supporting part for Ward Bond but that's about it. Otherwise modern sources render this a cheap and fuzzy looking picture in which the early potential evaporates in favour of relentless tedium.

That Was No Lady, That Was Andy Hardy's Girlfriend

[boblipton · 8/10 · 25 January 2019]

Charles C. Wilson has just promoted Frank Albertson to partner on his gambling yacht. With no time wasted on screen, the cops raid the joint, Wilson gets into a fight with a rat with a gun in the dark -- when the lights come on, the rat is dead and Wilson is holding the gun. He hands Albertson the gun, and everyone tries to make a break. Wilson is captured. Albertson escapes into the tangle of shacks at the waterfront. Up comes J. Farrell MacDonald in a marvelous drunk act, with his daughter, Ann Rutherford in her first credited role. Albertson hides out, romances Rutherford despite the objections of seaman Grant Withers and.... well, it's just the sort of movie I enjoy, lots of funny incidents in the Thimble Theater world of the docks amidst the gangster melodrama. It plays with genres in ways that kept me guessing, thanks to a fine script by Wellyn Totman and Joseph Fields, fast direction by the under-rated Joseph Santley, excellent camerawork by B Western specialist Ernest Miller and crackerjack editing by Ray Curtiss under the supervision of Joseph H. Lewis. A couple of montages near the end are as good as anything Don Siegel did.

It's one of those surprisingly good B movies that the Majors would turn out when no one was looking. That makes it all the more amazing that it's a Nat Levine production for Mascot; usually that would be a warning, and that's undoubtedly why you haven't heard of it. And now you have.

Highly Entertaining, Well-Made Mascot Feature

[LeCarpentier · 10/10 · 1 October 2022]

Versatile, wondrously gifted 17-year-old West Coast radio actress Ann Rutherford was signed to a contract to star in Nat Levine's "Waterfront Lady" when the performer originally scheduled for the lead role was unavailable. Levine used her in numerous subsequent features and serials while she was under contract. Decades later, Ann recalled that she was delighted at the prospect of playing, at the age of 17, a "waterfront lady," and this - her first film - began for her a long and fruitful career in motion pictures.

Mascot employed a lot of seasoned professionals and turned out a good product, and this feature, well-scripted by Wellyn Totman and nicely directly by Joseph Santley, provides a fine cast with many opportunities to shine. During a raid on a gambling ship, the owner (Charles Wilson) accidentally kills a detective. The gambler's protégé (Frank Albertson) seeks to protect him, thus taking the blame for the crime, and making his escape to a house-boat on the dock, where he meets lovely Ann Rutherford and her unreliable father (J. Farrell McDonald). Romance ensues.

A subplot involves beautiful Barbara Pepper in one of her best roles, portraying the unfaithful sweetheart of the gambling ship's boss. Character parts are vividly enacted by Grant Withers (as Miss Rutherford's dull suitor), Smiley Burnette (as a one-man-band performer), Wally Albright (as an urchin on a houseboat), Ward Bond, Jack LaRue, Mary Gordon, Purnell Pratt, Mathilde Comont, and others - all excellent.

Such actors as Gene Autry and Smiley Burnette often remarked that Ann Rutherford was as thoroughly nice off-screen as she appeared to be in the roles she enacted. In later years, this writer found that assessment to be accurate. She was, indeed, an exceptionally pleasant and kind individual. This entertaining Mascot feature provided a fitting start for her splendid career.