Blondie Johnson (1933) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

A female crook fights her way from poverty to the top of the underworld.

Cast & Crew

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Ray Enright

Joan Blondell

Blondie [Johnson]

Chester Morris

Danny [Curley Jones]

Allen Jenkins

Earle Foxe

Claire Dodd

Gladys [La Mann]

Photos & Videos

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Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Not During Business Hours

Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) In The Back Room Of A Drug Store

Blondie Johnson - (Original Trailer)

Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Still Five Cents?

Film Details

Genre

Crime

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

Feb 25, 1933

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

First National Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

First National Pictures, Inc.; The Vitaphone Corp.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 7m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

7 reels

Synopsis

When poverty kills Blondie Johnson's mother, Blondie vows that she will never be poor again. Convinced that virtue doesn't pay, she travels to the city and immediately invents a con with the help of taxi driver Red Charley. Later that evening, after splitting the take with Red, one of her marks, Danny Jones, spots her and invites her home with him for a talk. When she hesitates, he tells her that he is the right hand man of Max Wagner, the head racketeer in town. With Blondie's brains and Danny's connections, they move to take over Max's territory. Danny falls in love with Blondie, but she prefers to keep their arrangement strictly business. Max tries to eliminate the competition by running over Danny with a car, but Danny lives. Now Max must be killed, and Louis, one of the gang, has him shot. Now that they are in power, Danny and Blondie fight over his excessive spending, and Blondie vows to ruin him. She takes over the gang and is extremely successful. When Louis is arrested for Max's murder, the gang believes that Danny talked. Reluctantly, Blondie approves Danny's murder, but when she finds out that he had nothing to do with Louis' arrest, she rushes off to stop the shooting. She is too late, but Danny is not dead. After he recovers, they are both tried and sentenced to jail, but agree that they lived the wrong way and that after they pay their dues, they will marry and try to go straight.

Director

Ray Enright

Cast

Joan Blondell

Blondie [Johnson]

Chester Morris

Danny [Curley Jones]

Allen Jenkins

Earle Foxe

Claire Dodd

Gladys [La Mann]

Mae Busch

Joe Cawthorne

[Jewelry store] manager

Olin Howland

Sterling Holloway

Toshia Mori

Arthur Vinton

Donald Kirke

Tom Kennedy

Sam Godfrey

Crew

Earl Baldwin

Story and Screenplay

Leo F. Forbstein

Vitaphone Orch Conductor

Tony Gaudio

Esdras Hartley

George Marks

Orry-kelly

Photo Collections

Videos

Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Not During Business Hours Arriving in the big city, having sworn to turn things around after her mom died upstate from sheer poverty, the so-far virtuous title character (Joan Blondell) tries some trickery on cabbie Red (Sterling Holloway), Ray Enright directing, early in Warner Bros.’ Blondie Johnson, 1933.

Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Still Five Cents? Entrance of second-billed Chester Morris as Danny, entering the big-city speak’, noticing the title character (Joan Blondell) and sorta buying her sob story, not recognizing that the cabbie he calls (Sterling Holloway) is her scam partner on her first night in town, early in Blondie Johnson, 1933.

Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Stop Being So Ambitious Having earned each other’s respect, Danny (Chester Morris) and new-in-town Blondie (Joan Blondell, in a role written for her by Warner Bros. stalwart Earl Baldwin) pitch his gangster boss Max (Arthur Vinton) on her plan to get a henchman out of a murder charge, then consider further options, in Blondie Johnson, 1933.

Blondie Johnson (1933) -- (Movie Clip) In The Back Room Of A Drug Store Opening with some emotional wallop and Depression evocation, title character Joan Blondell, in her first starring part at Warner Bros., bounces off the welfare agency staff (Charles Dow Clark, Naomi Childers) then rushes home where a family friend (Sam Godfrey) has bad news, in Blondie Johnson, 1933.

Blondie Johnson - (Original Trailer) A female crook (Joan Blondell) fights her way from poverty to the top of the underworld in Blondie Johnson (1933).

Film Details

Genre

Crime

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

Feb 25, 1933

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

First National Pictures, Inc.

Distribution Company

First National Pictures, Inc.; The Vitaphone Corp.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 7m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

7 reels

Articles

Blondie Johnson - Blonde Johnson

July 12, 2007

Blondie Johnson (1933) was one of eight movies in which Ray Enright directed Joan Blondell at Warner Bros. during the period 1933-37. In the title role, Blondell plays a basically honest woman who becomes a gun-moll during hard times in the Depression. There's an early feminist slant to the story as Blondie aspires to become a crime boss herself but refuses to use sex to get ahead in the mob world. "Crime Doesn't Pay" is the story's theme, and Blondell is on her way to prison by film's end. But she and co-star Chester Morris enliven the moral lesson with a stream of deftly delivered wisecracks.

Blondie Johnson marked Blondell's first solo starring part at Warners, where she had signed on in 1930. The role of Blondie was created with her in mind by screenwriter Earl Baldwin. The film was later seen as an important milepost in its depiction of a tough, independent woman who doesn't depend on men to make her way in the world. "I play a feminine Little Caesar," Blondell remarked at the time.

Director Enright understood how to make the most of the new star's appeal, summed up by film historian David Shipman as the combination of "reliability and versatility with an overall attractive personality: to anyone believing that professionalism is the greatest of show business virtues it is difficult to over praise her." Blondell sustained that professionalism through more than 90 movies, evolving from a favorite in madcap Busby Berkeley musicals to an Oscar-nominated character actress.

Director: Ray Enright
Screenplay: Earl Baldwin
Art Direction: Esdras Hartley
Cinematography: Tony Gaudio
Costume Design: Orry-Kelly
Editing: George Marks
Principal Cast: Joan Blondell (Blondie Johnson), Chester Morris (Danny), Allen Jenkins (Louis), Earle Foxe (Scannel), Claire Dodd (Gladys), Mae Busch (Mae), Sterling Holloway (Red).
BW-68m.

by Roger Fristoe

Blondie Johnson - Blonde Johnson

Blondie Johnson - Blonde Johnson

Blondie Johnson (1933) was one of eight movies in which Ray Enright directed Joan Blondell at Warner Bros. during the period 1933-37. In the title role, Blondell plays a basically honest woman who becomes a gun-moll during hard times in the Depression. There's an early feminist slant to the story as Blondie aspires to become a crime boss herself but refuses to use sex to get ahead in the mob world. "Crime Doesn't Pay" is the story's theme, and Blondell is on her way to prison by film's end. But she and co-star Chester Morris enliven the moral lesson with a stream of deftly delivered wisecracks. Blondie Johnson marked Blondell's first solo starring part at Warners, where she had signed on in 1930. The role of Blondie was created with her in mind by screenwriter Earl Baldwin. The film was later seen as an important milepost in its depiction of a tough, independent woman who doesn't depend on men to make her way in the world. "I play a feminine Little Caesar," Blondell remarked at the time. Director Enright understood how to make the most of the new star's appeal, summed up by film historian David Shipman as the combination of "reliability and versatility with an overall attractive personality: to anyone believing that professionalism is the greatest of show business virtues it is difficult to over praise her." Blondell sustained that professionalism through more than 90 movies, evolving from a favorite in madcap Busby Berkeley musicals to an Oscar-nominated character actress. Director: Ray Enright Screenplay: Earl Baldwin Art Direction: Esdras Hartley Cinematography: Tony Gaudio Costume Design: Orry-Kelly Editing: George Marks Principal Cast: Joan Blondell (Blondie Johnson), Chester Morris (Danny), Allen Jenkins (Louis), Earle Foxe (Scannel), Claire Dodd (Gladys), Mae Busch (Mae), Sterling Holloway (Red). BW-68m. by Roger Fristoe

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

The film was shot over 25 days for a total budget of $151,000, according to production records included in the file on the film in the AMPAS Library.

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