Manpower was released on August 9, 1941, and was a hit for Warner Bros. It starred Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich and George Raft with a strong supporting cast. Take two men and one beautiful, sexy woman, and the plot isn’t hard to guess, but how they get there is less predictable. IMDB calls it a comedy/drama/film noir and to be sure there was drama with much of it off screen.
The men play powerline repairmen and Marlene plays a clip joint worker who wants out of the life no matter what. She agrees to marry one of them but falls for the other. Of course, trouble follows.
When the cameras weren’t rolling, Robinson was condescending to George who eventually erupted. Perhaps behind it was that Robinson thought he could best the classy ladies’ man for Marlene’s affections. But she chose George and they dated during the early 1940’s.
In an interview in April, 1973, Robinson stated, “I’ve worked with many great actors both in Hollywood and on the stage. And in my opinion no one matched George for this quality of personal power and manhood. His range was limited. He always played George Raft, but that character – there was no other like it – always evoked a sympathetic response and identification from a mass audience.” Source: Lewis Yablonsky, George Raft (1974)
Marlene said, “George Raft was simply wonderful throughout the shoot.” In her autobiography she wrote, “I can’t forget George Raft, my partner in ‘Manpower’. His unique, lovable kindness belied his appearance and his tough roles.”
A notable incident occurred between them while filming a scene on a staircase. George never hit a woman either on screen or off. It was part of his personal code and he demanded the same in his performances. Judicious cuts and staging made it look like he was hitting a woman but he never did. However, director Raoul Walsh was adamant that the subterfuge wouldn’t work this time. It took days to convince George to hit Marlene but eventually Walsh prevailed. Much to everyone’s horror, Marlene fell down the stairs following the slap and broke her ankle. George felt terribly guilty and sent her dozens of flowers while she recovered. No one would ever talk him into hitting a woman again despite what a scene might require.
George sustained injuries as well when he fell nearly forty feet from a telephone poll, was rendered unconscious, broke three ribs and suffered contusions of the abdomen. There is a hospital scene in the movie in which he wore his real bandages.
Lastly, George passed on making The Maltese Falcon to be in Manpower with Marlene which is often mentioned as a footnote to both films.
Manpower is available at Amazon, a compilation video by gonetopersia,chas is on YouTube aa well as a scene clip here. Another clip is at the bottom of this post. The Lux Radio Theatre production of Manpower is available on YouTube. It starred the three movie leads and was produced by Cecil B. DeMille, a founding father of American cinema and according to Wikipedia the most commercially successful producer-director in film history.
