Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

THE CORPSE CAME C.O.D.

George Brent
THE CORPSE CAME C.O.D. (1947). Director: Henry Levin.

Beautiful actress Mona Harrison (Adele Jergens) gets a big crate delivered to her, postage due, and discovers that there's a dead body inside it! The corpse belongs to Hector Rose (Cosmo Sardo), a fashion designer for the studio. As handsome Lt. Wilson (Jim Bannon of Unknown World) tries to solve the case, he is helped and hampered by two rival reporters -- Joe (George Brent) and Rosemary (Joan Blondell) -- who are fighting their attraction to one another. Then there's another murder, and a mysterious cache of diamonds. You want to like The Corpse Came C.O.D., because of its premise and its cast -- Adele Jergens [The Fuller Brush Man] in particular is a Great Old Movies favorite -- but this sinks into tiresome mediocrity almost from the first, although the identity of the killer is a mild surprise. The leads do their best to enliven the somewhat leaden proceedings. Adele looks great -- she puts poor Blondell [We're in the Money] in the shade -- but this is not one of her more memorable performances. Such reliable actors as Una O'Connor and Grant Mitchell do their bit and there are quite a few familiar faces, including famous columnists such as Hedda and Louella, who are featured in a prologue about Hollywood. The producers obviously wanted to hedge their bets by using the columnists/critics in the movie, but it doesn't make the picture any better.

Verdict: Dead nearly on arrival. **.

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