Calm Yourself

The title "Calm Yourself" is so generic, even for 1935, that I always have to look it up on IMDb to make sure I get the right movie. Otherwise, this is a fairly good film that fills its 70 minute format with ease. It sort of runs as a TV sitcom before there were TV sitcoms. Part of this is due to the fine cast that includes Robert Young before he became typecast as either the perfect father, Jim Anderson, or the perfect family doctor, Dr. Marcus Welby; Betty Furness before she became a refrigerator; Madge Evans, somewhat of a silent child star who developed into a talented actress yet never received stardom as an adult; and a covey of skillful character actors including Nat Pendleton, cowboy regulars Raymond Hatton and Ward Bond, and Paul Hurst.

The story is an amusing one, if a bit confusing, involving Pat Patton (Robert Young) who tries to impress his girlfriend, whose father has just fired him, by opening a confidential agency. His new career gets him involved with a new girlfriend while the old one is still around plus an assignment that turns into an unintentional kidnapping. There is also a temperamental dog that keeps nipping at his backside. Beware that there is a bit of unnecessary Hollywood racism thrown in near the end which was not uncommon for that time period.

Of interest is Pat Patton's agency which seemed unusual until a new movie just out at theaters, "Inside Man," presents a new version of a confidential agency with Jodie Foster at its head. Many viewers, myself included, were at first unsure just what Jodie Foster's job entailed. This old Hollywood flick helps to explain it.