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Undescribable Perfection

That was an excellent one.

Purely Joyful Movie!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

When the king of suave detecting meets the swimming queen and the future queen of the musical theatre, it's an interesting, if somewhat creepy, trio. William Powell is way older than both Esther Williams and Angela Lansbury, and it's apparent that he's awkward in the conception of their being romantically paired. Absolutely no ego involved with this, he still goes through with his best, somewhat of a lovable middle aged rogue who returns home from serving in World War I and struggles to find work as a newspaper reporter. He flirts and playfully harasses working socialite Williams, passing her off to another partner in a dance marathon but upset when he finds out that she's been married. Along comes glamorous nightclub singer Lansbury (dubbed badly by a singer whose voice is nowhere close to Angela's, let alone those who dubbed her in earlier MGM musicals), but issues with old pals James Gleason, Frank McHugh, Rags Ragland and Slim Summerville adds all sorts of confusion, not only to Powell's life, but the story as well.Far from the dashing leading man of his days with Myrna Loy, Powell is still the most sophisticated man on the post World War II screen, and manages to have an ageless persona even though he's obviously made up to appear to be younger. This mixes in comedy and social drama in a way that isn't always consistent, and gaps in the story makes this a bit inconsistent in it's structure and often episodic. That's the fault of the script, not the stars or direction, although it should have been obvious in daily rushes that something was wrong. It's the type of film that seems to be suffering from an identity crisis, at times going for 30's style screwball comedy then turning into an expose on the ruthlessness of big business dealings, and all of a sudden a typical woman's picture with a confrontation between Williams and Lansbury that lacks the desired spark. I would have liked more of Ms. Lansbury, playing a combination of emotions and not close to the harridans that she was often typecast as, although she's far from being a pushover. Like Powell's character, this was a film with too many ambitions that it didn't quite succeed in achieving.

Peculiar little movie that seems like it would have been a better fit for a pre-WWII Warner Bros. gangster picture. The story's about a WWI soldier (William Powell) coming home to find he's out of work. He and other returning vets have no choice but to rely on charity to get by. Embittered, he decides to get rich no matter what it takes. But the love of a good woman (Esther Williams) will undoubtedly set him back on the path of the straight and narrow. It's a strange one, to be sure. The aging Powell is miscast, the movie is mistimed, and Angela Lansbury's singing is dubbed despite her having a fine singing voice. The supporting cast is good, including Lansbury, Frank McHugh, Rags Ragland, and James Gleason. But the starchiness of the script that doesn't allow either of its charming leads to do what they do best and the lack of romantic chemistry between said leads is the film's undoing. It's watchable enough for fans of Powell and Williams but not something that will make either's career highlight reel.

The only reason I watched this film was for William Powell. He's one of my favorite MGM leading men and he usually is so charming and charismatic that he can make any ordinary film shine,...except, perhaps, this one!!! I should have just trusted the Maltin Guide--after all, it said that apart from Powell it was a bad film. But, being a fan, I unfortunately watched this very convoluted and sappy mess.The film's biggest problem is that the plot just seems to have 1001 loose ends to the plot. Again and again, the film just looks very incomplete and the pieces seem disjoint and there is no overall vision for the film. We have some assorted "mugs" thrown in for comic relief, Powell's character who is sometimes a nice guy and other times a thoughtless jerk, an ultra-sappy plot about some patron saint of thieves (it is PAINFULLY BAD), Esther Williams who is radiant but her part is flat and one-dimensional, we have the other woman (Angela Lansbury) who sings with a voice that isn't even close to being her real voice (I think Louis Armstrong's wouldn't have been any less convincing) and a plot that is just plain dull and meandering. There is no pay-off for all this--just a dull as dishwater film.

When The Thin Man series was in high gear one of the endearing parts of those films is how Nick Charles would constantly be running into various criminals he'd had dealings with in the past. Usually he'd run into them while out with Nora and it was always fun to see how Nora took to these characters, people she wouldn't in a million years be associated with herself.I think that MGM thought it was funny too so William Powell was cast as a returning veteran from World War I who as a newspaper reporter before the war apparently had a similar rogue's gallery of friends. It didn't really work here though, Powell is cast in a part that probably would have fit James Cagney or even Spencer Tracy better.Plus the fact that in 1946 William Powell was 54 years old. Esther Williams in her memoirs thought it was ludicrous to be working with a man twice her age as a romantic couple. She describes in her memoirs the elaborate makeup preparation Powell went through and in fact he had to wear a girdle to keep his middle age spread from showing too much. According to her, Powell thought it just as ludicrous and in fact would be doing the lead in Life With Father the next year, a role far better suited to his age and talent.Of course any film that utilizes the combined talents of James Gleason, Slim Summerville, Frank McHugh, and Rags Ragland as the four Damon Runyonesque characters in Powell's life can't be all bad. Powell is a returning veteran from World War I who can't get his old job back as a reporter in Baltimore. So by hook or crook he makes a great deal of money, some of it by tactics this side of a con game. He meets two women in his life, socialite Esther Williams minus pool and nightclub singer Angela Lansbury dubbed in this film.He's got these characters though who he likes but are becoming quite a burden around his neck. When Gleason gets pinched for bookmaking he makes up a religious yarn about a mysterious St. Dismas, the good thief crucified with Jesus as the one who gets the Deity to move in mysterious ways. Gleason gets sprung and it works too well as he becomes a fanatic on the subject. Powell, caught up in his own chicanery, becomes a big mover and shaker in a St. Dismas foundation.It's not a bad story, nostalgic for its times as the action starts at the end of the previous World War. It also could have used someone like Frank Borzage, or Henry Koster, or even Frank Capra who dealt better with this kind of material.