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I love this movie so much

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Cary Grant shows his versatility in playing outside his usual breezy, comic roles, performing very well as a tough gambler. Laraine Day is most attractive as the War Relief leader who is absolutely smitten with him.I enjoyed Cary Grant and the knitting scenes. That is the kind of comedy where he excels. I don't think Grant was in the military during WW2, and Mr. Lucky avoids the draft in this film by an identity swap.Actually, the movie has a little of everything, romance, comedy,drama. It has an interesting beginning accomplished by a backward look into how it all began.The ending was almost as cloudy as the fog. Grant, who was supposed to have been missing, suddenly appears to the delight of Laraine Day. It leaves you wondering whether she will soon be rebuffed once again. I enjoyed it mostly because it is a pleasure to watch Cary Grant any time.

Cary Grant plays a gambler and con artist who dodges the draft and takes on a dead man's identity. Under this new identity, he tries to rip off a war relief charity. But falling in love with pretty Laraine Day and getting a letter from the dead man's mother in Greece stirs his conscience and makes him want to do the right thing.Wonderful wartime dramedy with Runyanesque touches. Love the rhyming "Australian" slang and the knitting gags. Cary Grant is terrific and has great chemistry with charming Laraine Day. Gladys Cooper, Alan Carney, Henry Stephenson, and Charles Bickford are all good support. This is a very underrated movie in Cary Grant's exceptional career. Most lovers of older films can probably name a dozen classics of his they cherish but many have probably never heard of this one. Definitely recommended, especially for Grant fans.

Cary Grant is my favorite actor. I've had a crush in him since seeing his movies on TV as a little girl. Most of my very favorite movies star the great Cary Grant and his plethora of beautiful leading ladies. So with an almost 40 year crush on Cary Grant and having seen almost all of his films, imagine my surprise when I discovered a new Cary Grant film which jumped near the top of the list of my favorite Grant movies of all time on my first viewing!MR. LUCKY is a delightfully complex film. It has crime, drama, war, con-artists, socialites putting on charity balls, gambling, drama, romance, comedy, knitting, cockney rhyming slang, and most of all, heart. It's a redemption story told against the backdrop of the home front efforts in World War II. The men have a plan and the women have a plan. You'll have to watch to see who prevails, but it is a romantic comedy after all, so the answer is pretty obvious.What isn't so obvious is Mr. Cary Grant. If you think you know Grant from his numerous comedic and occasional tough guy roles, then you're in for a real treat as you experience this film for the first time. It's one of those movies that is so good, I wish I could see it again for the first time. Grant is spot-on perfect as the crooked gambler Joe. Laraine Day is unusually perfect as his leading lady. I wasn't sure how I'd like her paired with Grant, but they have marvelous chemistry and delightful repartee. Two of my favorite character actors are Charles Bickford and Gladys Cooper who shine in their supporting roles. But ultimately, Cary Grant, as he always does, steals the show. He can't help it. He's Cary Grant. However, he's not playing the perfectly suave ladies' man. He's a tough guy who learns through his crooked dealings with some kindhearted women that he has a heart, too.As a drooling admirer, I'm not sure he ever looked as good as he does in this film (especially in his early years as an actor). He also let's a little bit of his Mid-Atlantic accent go and gives us a touch of his British side. It's endearing and unusual for Grant. If anyone ever thought Grant was underrated as an actor, then here is a case for it. You don't even realize you're watching Cary Grant, and that's hard for almost any fan to forget despite his wonderful acting and diverse roles. He's fully transported into the character and he brings us right along for a real surprise.

Along similar lines to Suspicion, dapper Cary Grant plays a gambler confidence man with two problems that he solves in what he thinks is a masterstroke. The army is out to draft him so he has another crook with high blood pressure, Paul Stewart, pose as him at the draft physical. He also takes the name of a dead Greek sailor on a gambling boat that was raided. Of course when it turns out that the sailor had a lengthy criminal record including three felony convictions, that's not so good.On to a big score however. Grant offers his services to a war relief committee that is run by Park Avenue dowagers like Gladys Cooper and Florence Bates with the idea of doing a Las Vegas Night and stealing the take. Of course when pretty Laraine Day who's also involved in the committee comes on the scene, Grant reassesses himself. Especially after he gets a letter for the dead Greek sailor and has Greek Orthodox priest Vladimir Sokoloff translate it.MGM did a similar story about a draft dodger in For Me and My Gal which was Gene Kelly's debut film. That one was a good deal lighter than Mr. Lucky yet the plot line about being redeemed by the love of a good woman is the same.Mr. Lucky was one of RKO's biggest hits that year and it's clear that they knew what they were doing by not letting Cary Grant remain a heel. Try as he may, Grant had a lot of difficulty in getting studios to see him as anything other than the good guy. Eventually he surrendered to studio wishes, whatever studio it was.Besides those mentioned, Mr. Lucky also has good performances by Charles Bickford as the boat captain and amateur surgeon who saves Grant's life and by Alan Carney as Grant's driver and man Friday. It's definitely worth a look when next on TCM.