The Nones of The Thirties: Hitch Hike Lady

Note: In City Limits (1934) two homeless guys teach a tycoon to enjoy life. In Among the Missing (1934) a little old lady turns a front into a home. In The Fall Guy (1930) a sorely-tried woman supports both her teenager of a husband and her impossible brother with a loyalty that borders on sainthood. Midnight Mary (1933) is a fast, economical crime melodrama with a tough shell but a tender center – the heroine’s longing for a better life and real connection gives the film its emotional weight. This is another little movie of the time, with a big soul.

Hitch Hike Lady
1935 / 1:16
Tagline: “Highway hilarity that will tie up titter traffic!”
[internet archive]

This modest Depression-era comedy-drama offers more than its Poverty Row pedigree might suggest. It’s a tale of unexpected friendship and the quiet dignity of an older woman determined to find her son - and peace of mind - on the other side of the world.

Alison Skipworth, in a performance that is both sturdy and touching, plays Mrs. Amelia Blake, a British mother who believes her son is thriving as an orange farmer in California. In truth, he’s serving time in San Quentin, but the film wisely delays that revelation, allowing us to see Mrs. Blake not as a victim of deception, but as a woman of hope and grit.

The story unfolds with a series of misadventures that feel both comic and poignant. Mrs. Blake’s journey from Kent to California is marked by hardship and humanity. Her bond with Judy (Mae Clarke), a young woman adrift in the economic whirlpools of the 1930s, is the emotional core of the film. Their shared struggles - hunger, exhaustion, and the indignities of hitchhiking - forge a friendship that feels sincere.

James Ellison provides romantic interest as Jimmy, a trailer salesman with a heart, and Arthur Treacher and Warren Hymer add comic relief as con men with more affability than menace. The ensemble is surprisingly effective, and the film’s tone - while occasionally veering into melodrama - remains grounded in character.

Mrs. Blake: My son has an orange ranch in California. I wonder if you've heard of it.
Mortimer: Really? What does your son call his estate?
Mrs. Blake: Rancho San Quentin. I see you have heard of it.
Cluck: Heard of it? Why lady...
Mortimer (poking Cluck to shut up): Of course we've heard of it. It's one of the most arresting places in America. Not only is the fruit of California golden, Cluck my knave, but so is silence.
Mrs. Blake: Oh, let him tell me about it.
Mortimer: No, no. He's not very poetic. I don't think he'd do it justice.
Cluck: Aw, you see, when it comes to talkin', I'm almost a dummy. 

Mortimer (as only an Englishman could say it): Yeah.

In one episode, the trailer unhitches from its coupling and ends up in the camp of large band of harvesters. The itinerant field workers immediately want to help Mrs. Blake and the two rogues by feeding them and making sure they aren’t hurt. The kindness of the salt of the earth was a strong theme in the Thirties; perhaps we Americans wanted to reassure ourselves that WWI, the rowdy Twenties, and the Depression didn’t turn us into complete monsters that had forgotten basic rules like “help others in trouble.”

The episode ends up with Mrs. Blake preventing vigilante justice from tar and feathering the two rascals for which they feel grateful enough to decide they owe her something. It’s weird but the juxtaposition of the frightening reality of mob violence and the cultural values of communal support and reciprocity seems quintessentially American.

Alison Skipworth was often cast as a battleaxe or harridan but here she is a nice old lady with a big soul. Arthur Treacher is an amusing blowhard with a pompous vocabulary and makes a hilarious contrast with inarticulate Warren Hymer who plays the lug-thug-mug in such a way that the movie-goer does not get short of breath (I’m looking at you, Leo Gorcey). James Ellison and Mae Clarke make an attractive couple. Like I always say, Mae Clarke deserves a lot better than to be remembered only for that nasty grapefruit scene. In this she is a spark of life, smart, sassy, delightful, resilient.

Yes, the plot is thin and the pacing uneven, but the film’s feeling is in the right place. It’s a story about finding connection in unlikely places, and about the strength of women who refuse to be defined by their circumstances. For viewers willing to look past its modest production values, this is a warm movie with a surprising amount of soul.