Director: Frank Borzage
Screenplay: William Anthony McGuire
Based on a Novel by: Hans Fallada
Starring: Margaret Sullavan, Douglass Montgomery, Alan Hale, Catharine Doucet, DeWitt Jennings, G P Huntley Jnr, Muriel Kirkland, Fred Kohler, Mae Marsh
Country: United States
Running Time: 98 min
Year: 1934
BBFC Certificate: PG
Director Frank Borzage is not as well-known as he perhaps should be, particularly as he won the first ever best director Oscar, for the 1927 film 7th Heaven at the inaugural Academy Awards. Borzage, who would again win best director for 1931’s Bad Girl, was a great director of the silent and early talkies era, particularly focused on films of melodrama and young lovers transcending above their situation. An excellent example of the quality of his work and the type of films he made, is Little Man, What Now?.
The film, based on a novel by Hans Fallada, is set in depression-era Germany and follows a young couple who are living in poverty, Hans (Douglass Montgomery) and Emma (Margaret Sullavan). The couple have a very complicated situation as Hans must keep his marriage a secret to retain his job as a small business agent, as his boss wants Hans to marry his daughter, believing him to be a bachelor. The truth is soon out though, leading Hans to lose his job and he and his wife trying to make ends meet in Berlin.
The film opens with text from producer Carl Laemmle Jnr which effectively explains the title before we open on a very rainy day and are introduced to the lead couple and the world of the rich and the poor. There’s a fantastic sense of place thanks to some evocative location footage and excellent sets. We get a real feeling of the German locations; it’s richly atmospheric, particularly when the rain is pouring down.
The acting is also great, with a real chemistry between leads Sullavan and Montgomery. We’re with them from their opening scene to the last, wanting their love to succeed against all odds and for them to have a happy ending together that their characters deserve.
It’s quite an explicit film for the time, released mere months before the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines were introduced. Dialogue covers unwanted pregnancy and abortions and our lead couple are seen in bed together, and with another man sitting on top of the covers in flirtatious mode with Sullavan’s character. A character is also referred to as a nudist. Soon such dialogue and scenes would be unthinkable for years.
The cinematography is also a pleasure, with some brilliant tracking shots, like the couple running through woodland following a date and a real sense of movement on a fairground ride being two of the highlights. It’s a great looking film thanks to the production design, location footage and the cinematography.
The film is very melodramatic, as is to be expected for Borzage, and is gripping from beginning to end. It’s not a film I knew much about before Indicator announced it, but I found myself riveted to the story and enjoyed spending time with the lead characters. Here’s hoping more Borzage films make their way to UK boutique Blu-ray and that releases like this help to provide a spotlight on a fascinating director.
Film: 
Little Man, What Now? Is released on limited edition Blu-ray by Powerhouse Films on their Indicator label on 21st April 2025. The 2K restoration is a frequent delight, which is as important as ever for a film that has such great visuals and sense of movement from the cinematography. The black and whites are vibrant and it’s a really good transfer throughout. Please note that the images used in this review are not at all reflective of the transfer. I also had no issues with the very solid audio.
Indicator limited edition Blu-ray special features:
2K restoration
Original mono audio
Geoff Andrew on ‘Little Man, What Now?’ (2025): in-depth discussion of the film and director Frank Borzage
Thirza Wakefield on Margaret Sullavan (2025): appreciation of the actor’s relatively brief but significant film career
Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
Script gallery: complete dialogue and continuity script
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Rick Burin, archival interviews with director Frank Borzage, an archival profile of actor Margaret Sullavan, and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
Geoff Andrew’s The Fragility of Hope is a marvellous 24-minute appreciation of the film and its director. Andrew is always great value and here is no different. He gives some background to director Borzage, who started out as an actor, before moving on to the genesis of the film. He intersperses what’s great about the film, with details and analysis of Borzage as a director. An excellent interview.
A Ray of Hope: Thirza Wakefield on Margaret Sullavan is another great 19-minute piece, giving a good overview of the actress and some of her roles. We hear about Sullavan’s love of the theatre, her training, actors she worked with like James Stewart and Henry Fonda, and the challenges she faced in life. Much of the piece covers some of her best roles and performances. It’s another fabulous extra.
The Spanish language trailer runs for three minutes, with English language and Spanish text and subtitles.
The image gallery features just over 20 promotional and publicity stills.
Also included is the dialogue continuity script which is made up over almost 70 images.
The booklet is another fantastically appointed one from Indicator. Running for 36 pages it opens with a new piece by Rick Burin. This takes a look at Borzage as a great romantic director and sets the scene for the director he was at the time he took on Little Man, What Now?. We then are given a sense of Sullavan as actress and person, and some stories of the film’s production. It’s a strong essay. The second half of the booklet features archival pieces; brief 1933 and 1934 interviews with Borzage, and a profile of Sullavan from 1934, all lavishly illustrated with black and white stills, posters and publicity material.
So, this might not be the most feature-packed release from Indicator but the two interviews provide welcome context, background and analysis, accompanying a very enjoyable melodrama, which is given a very good audio-visual presentation, making this release an easy recommendation for fans of classic Hollywood.
Disc/Package:
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