BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY (1952)

BLOODHOUNDS OF BROADWAY (1952). Director: Harmon Jones.

Hillbilly and Hood: Mitzi Gaynor; Scott Brady

Bookie "Numbers" Foster (Scott Brady) is temporarily on the lam with his buddy, Harry (Wally Vernon), when they break down on a back road in Georgia. Coming to their rescue is the cute hillbilly gal, Emily (Mitzi Gaynor), who has just presided over the funeral of her grandpappy.  Left alone in the world, and with Numbers thinking she's a mere child, she agrees to go with him back to New York, along with her two adorable bloodhounds, Nip and Tuck. But will Numbers' girlfriend, Yvonne (Marguerite Chapman), who perjured herself on the witness stand for his sake, take kindly to the fact that Emily  -- who is no child -- is now part of his life?

Nip and Tuck

Supposedly inspired by Damon Runyan-like situations, Bloodhounds of Broadway is an amiable musical with winning performances and a very creaky plot line even for the fifties. The digitally remastered DVD, which also includes a lengthy interview with Gaynor, features brilliant Technicolor and fine cinematography by Edward Cronjager [House By the River]. The score consists of some standards like "I Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'," which features some fancy footwork, and a few mediocre new tunes. "Get along home, Cindy" features some sharp dancing from Gaynor and little Sharon Baird, and "Jack of Diamonds" is an inventive and colorful production number.

Richard Allan, Mitzi Gaynor, Mitzi Green

Gaynor and Brady [Mohawk] make a good team, and there's some notable support from Chapman (who has a brief skirmish with Gaynor in a dressing room sequence); Michael O'Shea as a cop; Mitzi Green (formerly the child star "Little Mitzi") as Harry's sister Tessie; and Richard Allan [Niagara] as Charlie -- Green and Allen are also featured dancers and are, as they say, swell. Mary Wickes has a cameo as a woman who can't grasp that a diaper (or "didy") service is only a front for a bookie joint, and Charles Bronson has a few lines as one of Numbers' gunsels. The two bloodhounds nearly steal the picture and are given a very cute final moment as one pooch steals a smooch from the other. Harmon Jones also directed Princess of the Nile.

Verdict: Not much of a script,. but this is easy to take for the most part and nice to look at. ***.

SMART WOMAN (1948)

Constance Bennett

SMART WOMAN (1948). Director: Edward A. Blatt.

Prosecutor Robert Larrimore (Brian Aherne) is brought to town to clean up after the corrupt district attorney Bradley Wayne (Otto Kruger). In Wayne's employ is Frank McCoy (Barry Sullivan), who pressures attorney Paula Rogers (Constance Bennett of What Price Hollywood?) into helping them by suggesting harm could come to her young son, Rusty (Richard Lyon). Larrimore and Bennett face each other in court, but in spite of this a romance develops. But just when things are getting good for the couple, they find themselves on opposite sides again when McCoy is accused of murder.

Mad as a wet hen: Otto Kruger and Brian Aherne

Larrimore is convinced that McCoy is guilty, but while Paula knows McCoy is a crumb she doesn't believe he is a murderer. During the trial, a secret comes out about the relationship between Paula and McCoy, further threatening her future with Larrimore. Smart Woman is billed as a "Constance Bennett Production," but she should have been smarter and chosen a better script. Despite romance, murders and other assorted skulduggery, as well as dramatic courtroom revelations, the main feeling you get from Smart Woman is how overlong, hopelessly contrived, and essentially dull it is. Aherne seems miscast, Bennett is good if a little too breathless at times, but Otto Kruger is as good as ever, Sullivan [Pyro] makes a decided impression, and there's nice work from Isobel Elsom as Paul's dithery mother, Richard Lyon as Paula's appealing son, and Selena Royle [The Big Hangover] as Mrs. Wayne. James Gleason and Michael O'Shea have smaller roles. Bennett has some good moments in court and talking to her son about his father.

Verdict: There's a reason why some movies are forgotten today. **. 

IT'S A PLEASURE

Michael O'Shea and Sonja Henie

IT'S A PLEASURE (1945). Director: William A. Seiter.

Figure skater Chris Linden (Sonja Henie) has a hopeless crush on hockey player Don Martin (Michael O'Shea). When Martin gets fired off the team due to bad behavior, he is importuned by Chris and boss "Buzz" Fletcher (Bill Johnson) to join their ice show. Chris and Don get married but his drinking -- and Buzz' predatory wife, Gale (Marie McDonald of Guest in the House) -- cause problems for their marriage. Poor Henie [Thin Ice] can't really act to save her life, but the other cast members are swell. After a painful break-up, Henie displays all the emotion of someone who's been told by a waiter that they're all out of roast beef. Bill Johnson was really a stage actor and singer who made few film appearances, and played Doc in the original Broadway cast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Pipe Dream" -- he had a wonderful voice and died much too soon. Johnson has a particularly good moment in this when he pantomimes his sad reaction to the realization that his wife is not in love with him. It's a Pleasure is the kind of movie in which characters make supposed sacrifices for love that only leave the one they love worse off than they were before. Iris Adrian adds a little spice as the oldest figure skater in the world. This was associate-produced by Don Loper, the fashion designer who appeared on I Love Lucy. O'Shea and Adrian also appeared in Lady of Burlesque.

Verdict: This actually isn't much of a pleasure. **.

LADY OF BURLESQUE

Stanwyck struts her stuff

LADY OF BURLESQUE (1943). Director: William A. Wellman.

"Grand opera bring crowds like this into the place? Goils! That's what the public wants!"

Stripper Gypsy Rose Lee's novel "The G-String Murders" was the basis for this movie that takes place in a faded opera house that's been turned into a venue for burlesque performers. Dixie (Barbara Stanwyck) is new but has already become a popular draw  [Stanwyck isn't much of a singer but she still sounds better than Dietrich]. She keeps dodging passes by the persistent Biff (Michael O'Shea) because she's had bad experiences with comics. But both of them have other things on their minds when the snooty Lolita La Verne (Victoria Faust) is found murdered in the dressing room. Charles Dingle plays the police detective who comes to the theater to investigate; Iris Adrian, even more vulgar than usual, is Gee Gee; Stephanie Bachelor is the heavily [and phonily] accented "Princess;" and Gloria Dickson is the heart-broken Dolly, whose secret husband, Russell (Frank Fenton), is one of the worst singers I've ever heard. Pinky Lee and Marion Martin are also in the cast as an unlikely couple. Stanwyck is as good as ever, the other actors are all competent and game, but this trifle isn't particularly compelling as a mystery, hasn't very many laughs, and becomes tiresome long before the conclusion. O'Shea later did the TV series It's a Great Life.

Verdict: Stanwyck is always interesting, but this isn't one of her better vehicles. **.

IT'S A GREAT LIFE

IT'S A GREAT LIFE. 1954 TV series. Shown on American Life TV.

Before she was Aunt Bee of Mayberry, Frances Bavier was the mainstay (although supposedly a supporting character) of this lively and often amusing -- and virtually forgotten -- sitcom that has been exhumed by American Life TV. Bavier plays Amy Morgan, a widow who lives with her no-account, generally unemployed brother, Earl (James Dunn). Amy takes in two boarders, girl-crazy ex-servicemen named Denny (Michael O'Shea) and Steve (William Bishop) -- who also seem to lose more jobs than they even get hired for. Barbara Bates, who played the young fan of Eve Harrington at the end of All About Eve, played Amy's daughter Cathy for about a third of the episodes. Good-natured and enthusiastically played, It's a Great Life could be silly but there were several funny episodes, particularly one in which the gang buys a tea house, unaware that it's been used as an illegal gambling den. Bavier has a lot of fun squaring off against the tough lady leader of the gang. In the naive fifties, Denny and Steve sleep together in one bed. Michael O'Shea was married to Virginia Mayo and there are occasional in-jokes relating to the sexy actress.

Verdict: Not a terrible time passer. **1/2.