High Pressure

source: High Pressure

Trailer—High Pressure

High Pressure

Fast paced and great dialogue. Just relax and enjoy.

High Pressure is a really fun movie. William Powell fans will love it because it is really a showcase for his many talents. All of the supporting actors are excellent as well, except the leading lady. The script is well written with fun, snappy dialogue.

I'm not sure I would have been as amused by this movie if had seen it much earlier, but seeing it in 2021, all I could think was, "What's different now? NOTHING!" The film is worth watching for William Powell alone - he's just amazing. But the con by these guys is so much like what you hear about Bitcoin these days - soaring profits, just give a little real money now and you'll be a millionaire soon, no, really! Is it any different than any dot com bust that comes around, where companies pay millions for a tech start up that operates at a loss for years? The side stories aren't that interesting, but the main story, and the execution of the con, is solid. Actually, some of the office decoration is worth watching the movie for - 1930s decoration is glorious!

William Powell is Gar Evans, a man who knows how to dress for success and how to create a successful company out of promotion and wishfulness. When the promise of a revolutionary new product comes to his attention, he puts all his talents in action and brings all his friends along for the ride. The problem is that the inventor of the new process has disappeared. While his minions search for the missing Dr. Pfeiffer, Evans corrals investors and builds his company. Powell is terrific as Gar Evans. He has an infectious energy that drives the film. He is surrounded by a talented cast of supporting actors. Especially notable are George Sidney who plays Colonel Ginsburg, the primary backer of the new enterprise, and Frank McHugh as Mike Donhey, playing his usual persona---the reliable sidekick. The writing is clever, especially in the first half of the film. Director Mervyn LeRoy keeps things moving and there are plenty of laughs, especially for the viewer with an attentive ear.

William Powell has his latest company to promote when Frank McHugh and George Sidney brings him a man with a process to turn garbage into rubber.... except they can't find the man. It's based on a Broadway comedy, and Powell gives an air of setting the pace by the stately flow of words and broad gestures, while Warner's large company of contract players, including Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee.... well, everyone, it seems except Cagney, Arliss, O'Brien and Joan Blondell show up to take or be taken. It's so chock full of character comedians that leading lady and second-billed Evelyn Brent gets about four minutes of screen time. The pace lets up in the final twenty minutes, as often happens with comedies; after all, there's a plot to be resolved. However the first half hour is tremendously funny.

This a fine little film with a wonderful cast of comic actors. McHugh does his always solid right-hand-man bit and Sidney is a scream as a befuddled patsy pulled into Powell big plans for making millions by manufacturing artificial rubber. Powell shines, as always, as a the salesman of all salesmen. Don't miss this one if you like Powell or even if you don't...watch this and maybe you will...

Powell looks like he's having fun as a fast-talking, utterly unprincipled promoter who latches onto a scheme to make artificial rubber out of sewage, and bilks the masses doing so. He's sort of like a pre-Madoff, only with more charm. Still, it's hard to root for such a grifter, and you wonder why Evelyn Brent, his ladylove, bothers to stick around--she really ought to leave him, and the "happy" ending doesn't land. Some fun Warners people surround them, including Guy Kibbee in an early clueless-businessman role of the sort he did to perfection for years, and Frank McHugh, as the promoter's promoter. It's fast and fun, but it leaves a rather bitter taste in the mouth. And, maybe somebody can clear up: the TCM print runs the credits at the end, which was unheard of at the time. Did it originally run that way?