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Dynamite

14 votes

Wealthy Cynthia is in love with not-so-wealthy Roger, who is married to Marcia. The threesome is terribly modern about the situation, and Marcia will gladly divorce Roger if Cynthia agrees to a financial settlement. But Cynthia's wealth is in jeopardy because her trust fund will expire if she is not married by a certain date. To satisfy that condition, Cynthia arranges to marry Hagon Derk, who is condemned to die for a crime he didn't commit. She pays him so he can provide for his little sister. But at the last minute, Derk is freed when the true criminal is discovered. Expecting to be a rich widow, Cynthia finds herself married to a man she doesn't know and doesn't want to.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1929-12-13

Runtime: 129 mins

Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Writer: Jeanie Macpherson

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama

Original title: Dynamite

Production Companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Conrad Nagel

Kay Johnson

Charles Bickford

Julia Faye

Joel McCrea

Muriel McCormac

Robert Edeson

William Holden

Henry Stockbridge

Leslie Fenton

Barton Hepburn

The Life of the Party

Tyler Brooke

The Judge

Robert T. Haines

Bobby (as Douglas Frazer Scott)

Douglas Scott

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Money is certainly at the root of the evil for this love triangle as “Cynthia” (Kay Johnson) fancies the pants off the married “Roger” (Conrad Nagel) but he is married to her friend “Marcia” (Julia Faye). It turns out that she’d much rather have the cash than the man, though, and with “Cynthia” facing an interesting marital challenge if she is to keep her inherited fortune, agrees to swap her husband for $200,000! Thing is, she can’t get the cash in time so has to engage in a pro tem arrangement with death row candidate “Derk” (Charles Bickford) who is promised some funds for his young sister after he’s fried. Then her ointment gets a great big fly. The cops have the wrong man! Her new husband is released and “Cynthia” finds herself well and truly hitched. Luckily for her, he is no gold-digger but she’s going to need his cooperation if she is to keep her trust fund. He refuses to move in with her, so she must live with him and sister “Katie” (Muriel McCormac) and live by their, luxury-free, standards! Can they make it through the week without them killing each other - either intentionally or due to her abysmal cooking? The plot here isn’t the most difficult to anticipate but there are some solid characterisations and the humour works well, especially in the latter half of the drama when the salmon has to live as a sardine. It’s too long as once we’ve got the gist and the joke, it can tend to sag a little, but somehow you just know that someone, somewhere, is bound to do the right thing at some stage.

2025-03-04

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