Accent on Love
Cast & Crew
Ray Mccarey
George Montgomery
Osa Massen
J. Carrol Naish
Cobina Wright Jr.
Stanley Clements
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
John Worth Hyndman grows restless in his job as first vice-president of Triton Corporation, which is owned by his father-in-law, T. J. Triton. T. J. complains when John omits Triton Realty from an important ad and refuses to listen to John's explanation that the realty company has received many complaints because of the high rents T. J. charges for run-down tenements. John is then confronted by his wife Linda, who is as dissatisfied with him as he is with her. For appearances's sake, however, she refuses to give him a divorce, and tells him that he could not even get a job digging ditches were it not for her father. Tired of his meaningless work and boring life, John roams the streets, where he sees a group of W.P.A. workers digging a ditch. The Portuguese foreman, Manuel Lombroso, tells John to see the W.P.A. wardman for a job, but the wardman, suspicious about why John would leave a $21,000-a-year job to dig ditches, turns him down. John returns to the site, where Manuel's pretty neighbor, Osa, tells him that only a shovel separates him from the other men. John then pawns his suit, buys work clothes and a shovel and jumps into the ditch. Despite the wardman's insistence that he stop, the crowd and a policeman support him, and Manuel lets him continue. The kind-hearted Manuel takes him home, and after introducing him to his wife Teresa and son Patrick Henry, promises John that he will get him a W.P.A. card. John allows the Lombrosos and Osa to think that he is a Lithuanian named John Worthymer and has not yet applied for U.S. citizenship. As six weeks pass, John revels in his physical labor, his friendship with the Lombrosos and a romance with Osa. One day, the Lombrosos and their friends, tired of their living conditions, decide to confront their landlord, who is T. J. They persuade John to be their spokesman, but when he goes to T. J.'s office, T. J. refuses to listen to his demands. John engineers his and T. J.'s arrests, and when he tries to tell the judge about the shameful state of T. J.'s rental properties, T. J. gets the trial postponed and bails them both out. John agrees to behave himself at the trial if T. J. follows his orders for the next twenty-four hours, and so, after outfitting T. J. in work clothes, John takes him to the Lombrosos' apartment. The immigrants welcome T. J., who they think is named Joe, and declare that Osa and John are engaged when Manuel sees them kissing. After spending the night in the apartment, T. J. returns to his office, where he is surprised by the Lombrosos and their friends. T. J. reveals his true identity, then tells them that John is his son-in-law. The disillusioned immigrants believe that John has been working behind their backs, and the devastated Osa refuses to listen to his explanations. When he sees the trouble he has caused, T. J. has a change of heart and orders Linda to get a divorce. He then follows John to the Lombrosos' apartment, where John is being accused of treachery. T. J. tells them that, thanks to John, his eyes have been opened, and that John now has control over Triton Realty. He also tells them that Linda is going to Reno, and after the Lombrosos forgive John, he and Osa are reconciled with a kiss.
Director
Ray Mccarey
Cast
George Montgomery
Osa Massen
J. Carrol Naish
Cobina Wright Jr.
Stanley Clements
Minerva Urecal
Thurston Hall
Irving Bacon
Leonard Carey
Oscar O'shea
John T. Murray
Hector Sarno
Patricia Maier
Monica Bannister
Harold Goodwin
Dick Rich
Ralph Dunn
Cecil Weston
Leila Mcintyre
William Halligan
Jack Chefe
William Haade
Cyril Ring
Mantan Moreland
John Banner
Lee Tung-foo
Crew
Charles [g.] Clarke
Lewis Creber
Richard Day
Ralph Dietrich
William Eckhardt
Herschel
Millard Kaufman
John Larkin
Harry M. Leonard
George Leverett
Thomas Little
Walter Morosco
Emil Newman
Harry Reynolds
Sam Schneider
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Man with a Shovel and Man with the Shovel. The title of Dalton Trumbo's original story was "Man with a Shovel (Return to Life)." Although the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library contains screenplays for the film written by Ben Grauman Kohn and Walter Bullock, the extent of their contributions to the released picture has not been determined. According to a November 12, 1940 Hollywood Reporter news item, Harry Lachman was originally scheduled to direct the picture, and a November 21, 1940 Los Angeles Times news item reported that the studio was considering Henry Fonda for the leading role.
