Panama Flo (1932) User Reviews

Calls a spade a spade

[goblinhairedguy · 7/10 · 16 September 2006]

Here's one of those totally obscure but jaw-dropping precodes that pop up at 2 am every month or so on TCM. This one fits squarely in the Tropical Tramps sub-genre, a cousin to the Carole Lombard flick "White Woman", but with an even rawer atmosphere.

RKO's cutie-pie sob-sister Helen Twelvetrees is surprisingly cast as a cabaret dancer in a sleazy Panama saloon. The old crone who runs the joint (Maude Eburne, in a wonderfully grotesque characterization) announces that she can no longer pay her dancers or supply them with promised tickets back home. But she invites them to hang around the club anyway and make money off the customers any way they please. Our heroine reluctantly helps relieve a two-fisted, hard-drinking oil man (Charles Bickford) of his wad of cash by slipping him a mickey, but he gets wise. Rather than do time in the nightmarish local hoosegow, she agrees to be Bickford's "housekeeper" in his shack in the croc-infested Venezuela jungle. Eventually, an aviator ex-boyfriend (Robert G Armstrong) shows up, and the testosterone flies like spit in a bullpen. The finale is quite a curve ball.

There's great slangy patter, lots of innuendo, and some very seedy sets. The principals play it full-throttle, and though it's definitely not great art, it shows what realities Hollywood could vigorously grapple with before the Code. Apparently, contemporary critics mocked the picture for its unbelievable shifts of character, but I'd say that this very unpredictability helps give it a modern edginess. Don't miss it when it turns up again. Remade by the studio as "Panama Lady" with (wait for it...) Lucille Ball in the title role (and she's surprisingly good).

Good, well made potboiler

[JohnSeal · 6/10 · 17 September 2006]

Helen Twelvetrees is excellent as Flo, a burlesque dancer who gets fired by her harridan of a boss (the amazing Maude Eburne) and ends up virtually enslaved by a brutal oil explorer (Charles Bickford) in the heart of the South American jungle. Panama Flo is a top notch melodrama which also features Robert Armstrong in the rather thankless and not terribly interesting role of Flo's true love, Babe the aerial photographer. What really sets this film apart, however, is the exemplary cinematography of Arthur Miller, which shows just how far film had recovered from the static and stagebound early days of talking pictures. In Panama Flo, the camera moves fluidly--at times its almost hyperactive--swooping in and out of the action with long dolly shots and outstanding use of deep focus. Miller went on to win Academy Awards for his work on How Green Was My Valley, The Song of Bernadette, and Anna and the King of Siam, and he also shot the atmospheric western The Ox-Bow Incident, which deserved a nomination but didn't get one. Panama Flo benefits further from second-unit work by a 24-year old Stanley Cortez, who clearly learned a lesson or two from Miller. An excellent little film that can be enjoyed as much for its technical superiority as for its very enjoyable and appropriately spicy pre-Code plot.

"Anything that's done in this joint is done on the ground floor."

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 20 May 2021]

With female names like Flo and Sadie, you know you're not dealing with Little Mary Sunshine or Peg o' my Heart. This sordid pre-code drama shows how desperate young women were to make a living in the 1930's, working for shady Sadie (Maude Eburne) in her Panama set gin joint where, when she runs out of money to pay them for a show, allows them to stick around to "entertain" the customers. This is told through the story of the titled character, played by Helen Twelvetrees, the epitome of the precode movie star known for such sorted output as "Millie" and "A Woman of Experience". Thoroughly Modern Twelvetrees seemed to be as troubled off screen as she was on so her place in film history as a hard luck heroine in pre-code depression era melodramas seems quite appropriate. Staying on working at Sadie's after she drops the ball on them means that she'll end up in heartbreak, becoming involved with the wrong man and when she finds the right men finding that her past can stand in the way of her being completely happy.

The delightful Sadie opens up the door to Twelvetrees finding a meal ticket through the presents of oil man Charles Bickford, rough and tough and crass, yet having enough dough to ensure that she can get back to New York. Filled with drunken patrons and sexual insinuations and some not so nice girls and some brutish men, this shows Flo literally picking Bickford's pocket, and a violent confront afterwards. But Flo herself has been robbed by fellow bar girl Marjorie Peterson and this leads to Bickford showing a bit of empathy, but at a price.

So from New York in the opening scene which leads to the Panama flashback, we end up in the jungles of Venezuela where Bickford makes flow his "housekeeper", and the sudden arrival of her no good boyfriend Robert Armstrong who wants to fleece Bickford whom Flo has somehow begun to fall in love with. Reina Velez is another obstacle, the native Venezuelan girl who is obviously obsessed with Bickford, playing a role usually played around this time by Myrna Loy in dark makeup. This just gets easier and severe and that makes it all the more fun. This is one of those movies where a modern audience can find themselves suddenly involved in it, only able to say "wow!" as the plot continues to get more sleazy.

A sleazy film....and an incredible coincidence.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 5 November 2016]

deal for implied sex coincidence is ridiculous sleaze is implied

"Panama Flo" is a film clearly rooted in the Pre-Code Era--a film filled with lots of sleazy subtext and characters who are ALL rotten! When the film was remade seven years later as "Panama Lady", it was scrubbed clean of all its sexual tension...and was, as a result, an incredibly dull film!

When the story begins, Flo (Helen Twelvetrees) is working at a sleazy dive of a bar. She's dead broke and her only chance of getting away from this dump is her boyfriend, Babe (Robert Armstrong)...a guy who's promised to marry her as soon as he returns from his trip to South America. The problem is that after two weeks, Babe still hasn't returned and weeks turn into months.

Into the hellish dive comes Dan (Charles Bickford)--an oil man with a huge wad of cash practically burning a hole in his pocket. The 'lady' who runs the dump convinces Flo to help rob the guy and he's not as dumb as he looks...but he's on to the scam too late...and another woman working in the bar runs off with the money.

Now here's where the sleazy Pre-Code stuff comes into it. He could easily have Flo tossed into prison but instead gets her to agree to be his 'housekeeper' down in the South American jungle. It's very clear that this is a job with plenty of fringe benefits...though Flo does her best to keep the lecherous Dan at bay. Into this sexual tension arrives Babe...and considering how huge South America is, this is ridiculous! Flo thinks Babe is there to rescue her...but he is, at heart, a complete pig. So what happens next? See the film.

Is this a very good film? Nah. The plot is pretty dumb and the whole coincidence angle is just too dumb to be real. The very end, by the way, is even dumber!! But, in a salacious way it IS worth seeing because it is so exciting and scummy!

Forgotten, hardboiled fun

[wuxmup · 8/10 · 5 September 2006]

"Panama Flo" is a hardboiled soap opera of a kind they don't make anymore but that was popular back in the twenties and thirties. It's the sort of story that pulp magazines used to publish month after month, with a resourceful but temporarily helpless blonde (in this case the nearly forgotten but topnotch Helen Twelvetrees)trapped in a jungle at the mercy of a tough guy (the really rough tough Charles Bickford) who's almost, but not quite, a dangerous sociopath. This picture is melodramatic fun all the way through, with some snappy dialog ("A Mickey Finn--and make it stick!"), a sleazy saloon, a big biplane, good acting and camera work, and a twisty ending.

Fans of Harlow and Gable in "Red Dust" won't be disappointed in "Panama Flo." Turner Classic Movies deserves credit for bringing it back.

I found the movie depressing and hard to take.

[rlymzv · 3/10 · 27 November 2023]

I found the movie depressing and hard to take. It's a little difficult to describe why I don't like the movie without providing spoilers. I will just say it involves a sad situation and a woman being miss treated. I don't like those kinds of movies. I prefer movies that make me happy and are cheerful. If I want to see cruelty or unfairness, I can just turn on the evening news.

I think the actors did a good job, and the film was photographed nicely and well written. I just didn't like the subject matter. I was looking for something more lighthearted. The woman in the movie seems to go from one bad situation to the next. It could be viewed as a lesson, that certain types of men should be avoided.

Simply a perfect film from beginning to end!!!!!!

[lvovacampos · 10/10 · 23 September 2021]

Just when I thought I've seen it all, and wasted everything already, here comes this one... Again I want to thank the reviewer who stated more than one time how sleazy this movie is because that's exactly what I want to hear when I try to pick the next pre code film to watch. I don't mind his ignorance about film for saying that it's not a good film, I got what I wanted. Please reviewers, don't analyse or try to intellectualize entertainment (yes that's all it is). All we need to know if it's sexy, sleazy and fun or not!!

Now, this film is so filthy and shocking, it will give a joy ride in a rollercoaster like you wouldn't believe, sleaze and glamour in the best cinematic experience that can only be found in the early 30s of Hollywood!

This film is so raw, sexy, dirty and HOT, that I put Twelvetrees and this film alongside Harlow in Red Headed Woman, Stanwyck in Babyface, Loy in The Barbarian, Hopkins in Temple Drake, MacCkaill in Safe in Hell, Young in Born to be Bad... as : ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER MADE.

Flo goes to Panama to work off a debt

[ksf-2 · 8/10 · 25 October 2016]

Gotta love the precode films! In New York City, Helen Twelvetrees is Flo, working at "Sadie's", and we flash back to her days in Panama. (they even say "swell" which was a big no-no in those days, for some reason. ) Bob Armstrong is the boyfriend "Babe", and "Sadie" is Maude Eburne, a character for sure! When Flo and another girl try to snitch dough off a drunk "McTeague", played by Charles Bickford she is forced to keep house for him to keep him from going to the cops. This one is one of the extra-exotic early talkies, since it supposedly takes place in Panama. Flo is bored, and wants to get out. Then things start to really happen, and she might have a chance to get out. Robert Armstrong looked pretty creepy, with his slicked hair and heavy greasy make-up. He had been in a couple silent films, so maybe he was still doing the make-up ? the other actors didn't have such weird, heavy make-up. A good twist towards the end! ... didn't see that one coming! Directed by Ralph Murphy and Tay Garnett, although only Garnett is credited at the beginning. Written by Garrett Fort... didn't end well for him; he offed himself at 45. He had started in the silents. This film was actually pretty good - they put more thought into this one than most of the ones from the time.

An unusual courtship in Central America

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 12 May 2022]

I first saw this film over ten years ago and I had forgotten most of it. Except I remembered Charles Bickford's standout performance. Nobody is as tough and gruff as him. I love his self-assuredness. One gets the impression that you do not mess with him on screen or off.

Mr. Bickford is third-billed but has the lead "romantic" role. RKO studio star Robert Armstrong is second-billed as the villain, selling poor Helen Twelvetrees a false bill of goods, more than once...which leads her to do a few desperate things. Miss Twelvetrees gets top billing and for all intents and purposes it is a vehicle designed to display her considerable dramatic talents. But again, Bickford is so good that they both dominate the picture in a highly unusual tug-of-war that leads to happily ever after, or so we can assume.

It starts in modern day New York City, with Bickford tracking Twelvetrees to a speakeasy. He wants to talk, and she'd rather he go away. He's a rich oilman from Central America, and they have a volatile past. Over a few drinks- and there is a lot of drinking in this film- they reminisce about how they met in a Panama saloon and what happened afterward.

She was a chorus girl out of work and down to her last dime, when Bickford came into Sadie's Place with a thick bankroll. The proprietress (Maude Eburne) and another gal (Marjorie Peterson) convince Twelvetrees to scam Bickford. Though she has never done such a thing before, she needs money to get back to the U. S., since her aerial photographer boyfriend (Armstrong) left her stranded. The women conspire to get Bickford drunk and fleece him. These scenes are full of energy and highly amusing. Especially with the delightful Miss Eburne leading the pack...a great, underrated character actress.

Of course, things don't go as planned. Bickford isn't too drunk to realize he's been scammed. He grabs Twelvetrees by the wrist, pulls her outside and forces her to take him to her flat where the other girl is supposed to waiting with the money. Only the other girl has run off with all the dough. To avoid jail, Twelvetress agrees to go with Bickford to his plantation and work off her debt as his housekeeper.

There is a lot of smoldering sexual tension at the plantation. In the best precode tradition, a lot is spelled out that while she insists on working off what she owes, remaining on her feet, he intends to take her to bed. This is very pronounced in scenes where he is drinking and making passes. She protects herself with a gun she stole from him, but a native female (Reina Velez) who was Bickford's previous ahem housekeeper- make of that what you will- helps steal back the gun for him.

Just when it looks like Bickford will have his way with Twelevetrees, they are interrupted by the arrival of a pilot. You guessed it- the dude who smooth-talked Twelvetrees earlier in the movie and ditched her.

The middle section of the film is a proper triangle, with Armstrong and Twelvetrees pretending they don't know each other. Meanwhile, Bickford has to deal with local natives that have grown restless. Before Armstrong whisks Twelvetrees back to Panama, he intends to get his hands on some maps that show where a hidden oilfield is located. Of course, he needs Twelvetrees' help and smooth talks her again. Only this time she realizes he is using her, that he doesn't intend to really marry her, he's a crook, and that Bickford for all his roughness, is actually the more honorable guy.

There is a shocking scene where Armstrong is killed. Bickford and Twelvetrees cover up the killing with Bickford making it look like Armstrong was shot down in his plane. Bickford then sends Twelvetrees back to the U. S., and that is how she wound up in New York at the beginning of the movie with him tracking her down to make a proper go of their relationship.

This is a film that works as a meditation on fate, and how two unlikely people are destined to be together. The situations in the film are incredibly dramatic. On the surface, most of the characters are crude and detestable. Still the viewer can't help but root for Twelvetrees and Bickford to unite at the end.