BROOKLYN ORCHID

BROOKLYN ORCHID (1942). Director: Kurt Neumann.

Tim McGuerin (William Bendix) and Eddie Corbett (Joe Sawyer) are partners in a cab company. McGuerin is married to Sadie (Grace Bradley of The Invisible Killer), a former burlesque queen who now acts like she's To the Manor Born. Sadie can't stand Eddie's fiancee, Mabel (Florine McKinney of Beauty for Sale), who always needles her about her past. Ducking out from a party honoring the rather obnoxious pianist, Ignatz Rachkowsky (Leonid Kinskey), the two fellows try out Tim's anniversary gift of a fishing pole, and they net themselves a gal who has just tried to commit suicide. This gal, Lucy (Marjorie Woodworth), is angry that they saved her and insists that they take care of her, going so far as to try to move into the McGuerins' high-tone apartment. Tim and Eddie do their best to keep their respective ladies from finding out about Lucy, but she follows them on vacation, where she is pursued by an amorous wealthy man named Goodweek (Skeets Gallagher of The Meanest Gal in Town). Then Lucy runs into Sadie and Mabel and they all compare notes ... 

Brooklyn Orchid -- the title refers to a flower girl contest won by Lucy -- is the second of three comedies featuring Bendix and Sawyer as McGuerin and Corbett. (Brooklyn Orchid is wrongly listed as the first in some sources). The players are all game and adept at this kind of farce -- Kinskey is a riot and Jack Norton (of Fashion Model)  nearly steals the show as an inebriated music critic -- and there are a few laugh-out-loud moments, but the ultimate result is like a TV sitcom that treads overly familiar territory. As good as they are, Bendix and Sawyer are no Laurel and Hardy. 

Verdict: Some limited fun in this amiable comedy. **1/2. 

FASHION MODEL

Robert Lowery, Tim Ryan, Marjorie Weaver

FASHION MODEL (1945). Director: William Beaudine.

Not long after model Peggy Rooney (Marjorie Weaver of Great Alaskan Mystery) gets into a fight with rival Yvonne (Lorna Gray of The Perils of Nyoka), the latter is found strangled inside the fashion house where they work. Peggy is the first major suspect in the murder, but as more deaths occur, her boyfriend Jimmy (Robert Lowery) catches the eye of dogged Police Inspector O'Hara (Tim Ryan). There's also a missing broach that was given to the dead woman by her rather disinterested fiance, Davis (John Valentine), which engenders a frantic search for the expensive item by Duval (Edward Keane), head of the fashion house, and his employee, Madame Celeste (Dorothy Christy). Fashion Model is a comedy-mystery with a few chuckles, some cold-blooded characters, and an interesting if lower case cast. Tim Ryan could probably have played the role of the inspector in his sleep by now. Robert Lowery registers his usual suave charm, and Marjorie Weaver proves she's definitely no Lucille Ball. Nell Craig and Harry Depp [Black Magic] are fun as a bickering couple who are in the fashion house during the first murder, and Jack Norton nearly steals the picture as the tippling window dresser, Herbert. The most amusing sequence has Herbert trying to undress two mannequins who are actually Peggy and Jimmy in disguise. The ending is kind of nifty and well-done. Dorothy Christy was the evil queen in The Phantom Empire and also appeared in Sons of the Desert with Laurel and Hardy.

Verdict: It's not Blood and Black Lace but it has its moments. **.

SHADOWS OVER CHINATOWN

Mantan Moreland and Sidney Toler

SHADOWS OVER CHINATOWN (1946). Director: Terry O. Morse.

There's thirteen people on a bus driving through a rain storm to San Francisco, where passenger Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) hopes to find the identity of a torso murderer. At a way station, someone takes a shot at Charlie. Does the body of a dismembered woman belong to a missing heiress, or the grand-daughter (Tanis Chandler) of Mrs. Conover (Mary Gordon of Bonnie Scotland)? While Charlie investigates -- with the help of Jimmy Chan (Victor Sen Yung back as Number Two Son); chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland), and Chief Lannigan (George Eldredge) -- there are more murders and a lot of confusion. Suspects include pickpocket Cosgrove (Jack Norton); private eye Hay (John Gallaudet); crook Mike Rogan (Paul Bryar); Marine colonel Tilford (Bruce Kellogg); and others. Shadows Over Chinatown has a basically good story and is quite entertaining, but there are some gaping holes in the plot. Who exactly took that shot at Charlie? How did Mrs. Conover's friend Miss Johnson (Myra McKinney) manage to locate her grand-daughter's apartment when only a short while before Charlie discovered the young woman working as a waitress? Who knows? The identity of the killer in this is no great surprise, but the film is still fun. Terry Morse also directed Unknown World with Bruce Kellogg, who was equally mediocre in both movies. 71-year-old Toler made two more appearances as Charlie Chan that year before his death in 1947. An interesting prologue deals with the Department of Missing Persons.

Verdict: Chan is not missing in this even if some of the script is. ***.