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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

How sad is this?

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Monogram pictures was one of the first movie studios to jump on the film noir bandwagon with such early examples of low-budget artistic genius in films such as "When Strangers Marry", "Detour" and "Decoy". What looks on the outside like another attempt at conquering that genre ends up being a comic flop. There's something very "noirish" about a murder inside a fashion house, the victim a nasty model (Lorna Gray) who made a play for the another model's man (Robert Lowery). The film does start off rather amusingly with the portly Nell Craig giving a hard time to each of the models exhibiting dresses that are obviously totally wrong for her, and Craig's milquetoast husband (Harry Depp) unable to get a word in edgewise. It almost seems like the victim is going to be the snooty society matron, but when Lowery finds Gray inside a dumb waiter, that theory is proved wrong. Everybody who was in the modeling house at the time (which includes its society kissing hostess Dorothy Christy) becomes a suspect, the only clue being a missing brooch which shows up in the costume jewelry box, only to disappear, leading to another murder.What sounds easy entertainment in writing ends up being a ridiculous excuse for a "B" budget film on script. There's too many red herrings, and it seems that the two idiotic detectives (Tim Ryan and Dewey Robinson) came right out of another cheaply made Monogram comic mystery, the two "Kitty O'Day" films made prior to this. Indeed, Ryan played a practically similar idiotic detective in those films, only the names have been changed to protect the stupid. While the film actually looks pretty elegant, that doesn't cover the fact that this is really the epitome of what makes the Z-grade movie studios sometimes what PRC was commonly called-"Pretty Rotten Cinema". Monogram's film output was hit or miss, sometimes surprisingly artistic, even their hour long westerns. But "Fashion Model" deserves an extra "Z" because not only is it a massive disappointment, but you might find yourself nodding off because of its insipidness.

FASHION MODEL – 1944Another low rent crime comedy from bottom feeder studio, MONOGRAM. This one is about a stock boy, Robert Lowery, who gets himself mixed up in a trio of murders at his job. Helping him prove his innocence, is his main squeeze, Marjorie Weaver who is a model at the Fashion Salon.The story, or what there is of it, is about a diamond brooch worth 25 grand. What the viewer gets is just a string of sight gags and one liners. In the mix are Tim Ryan and Dewey Robinson as a pair of less than brilliant Police detectives. Also joining in are Lorna Gray, Sally Yarnell and Edward Keene as the murder victims.While not a barn burner by any means, there is the odd chuckle supplied by Lowery and Weaver has they try to stay one step ahead of the police. Particularly good is a bit were they pretend to be clothes dummies in the salon display window. Miss Weaver seems to have a flair for comedy and is quite good at rapid fire dialogue.With more attention to detail, a better script and a better director, this could have been decent low budget comedy. Director William "one shot" Beaudine shows how he earned that name here. There is a scene when a running Miss Weaver slips on a floor and crashes into a wall, she just picks herself up and continues. Beaudine was known for seldom ever doing retakes.

Peggy Rooney (Weaver) is a model and Jimmy O'Brien a stock boy at the high fashion dress store, Celeste's. Given that it's a Monogram, we get right down to business and a murder of one of the fashion models (Gray) occurs very shortly into the film. Inspector O'Hara (Ryan) and his dumb cop sidekick Grogan (Robinson) come to investigate and O'Hara at first decides it must be Jimmy O'Brien. Although I'm a fan of dumb, likable cop characters (my favorites are Ed Gargan and Tom Kennedy), Robinson's portrayal leaves me cold – he's just not humorous. Two more murders ensue; Rooney helps O'Brien escape from the police (she disguises herself as O'Brien's grandmother – which, of course, fools Grogan). Now they are fugitives and so it goes until the real murderer is caught. The best part of the movie is towards the end when Rooney and O'Brien are in the dress shop trying to evade the police. Although their initial disguise as an elderly "Southern" couple bombs as they're dressed in 19th century costumes, this is the only really jarring part of the movie. What does work is when they pretend to be mannequins and Jack Norton plays a drunken (what else?) window dresser. Norton has a pretty lengthy part and does a wonderful job. Tim Ryan also does a good job and is always fun to watch. Lowery and Weaver make a very good team and are good with light comedy.

Not a bad way to spend an hour but, don't expect any great acting or a well written plot. As was the norm with Monogram, the film is overloaded with so called "comedy relief". Also, if I was a policeman I would be terribly insulted by the portrayal of cops as unbelievably stupid dolts. Gunner