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An Exercise In Nonsense

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Delightful Charles Coburn had a star over him from the time of his middle aged debut. Whether an imperious wealthy patriarch, a scheming con-man or an over affectionate relative, he was lovable, incorrigible and a ton of fun. Only as the evil doctor in "King's Row" did he warrant hisses, not kisses, but even then in a small part, he commanded the screen. By the time he won an Oscar, audiences couldn't get enough of him, and he ended up becoming Hollywood's oldest leading man, the 1940's answer to George Arliss, but much more versatile.This Universal A comedy mixes laughs with an element of crime, romantic drama and even a few musical numbers. Coburn and his niece, Ginny Simms, are going from one con to another, and settle in Chicago where she gets a job as a nightclub singer, while dealing with illegal goings on behind the scenes at the nightclub.Halfway through the film, Coburn is the one getting the romance, finding love with gregarious spinster Kathleen Howard, playing "Butch", the aunt of nightclub owner Alan Curtis and the one in charge of the family purse strings. Simms finds love with Robert Paige, an investigator of illegal gambling rackets, obviously on Curtis's trail. It's pretty lavish for Universal which was the top of the line B studio who really rushed movies out like a factory assembly line. It's pretty standard 40's film product, but involves a lot of fun.

OK, I agree that's a rare gem from the Universal vaults. A very rare film, directed by George Waggner and written by Curt Siodmak. I watched it from a 16mm print, a rather good quality for this feature torn between comedy, musical and thriller. I was a bit confused and also disappointed. It's not charmless, but certainly not a film noir, as I wrongly expected. With Charles Coburn as the lead, what the hell could I wait for? Preston Sturges or Mitchell Leisen could have made this film. And I think that 90 minutes for this kind of picture is a bit too long. It could have been shorter. Too much talking and not enough action. Surprising for Universal stuff from the mid or late forties.But movie buffs will like it. I repeat it is full of charm from this lost era.