NEVER SAY DIE

You're strangely attractive, my Henry: Devine and Sondergaard

NEVER SAY DIE (1939). Director: Elliott Nugent.

"I don't want any trouble with you -- you get back here in bed!" -- Henry to John.

Scene: the Bad Gassewasser health spa in Europe. John Kidley (Bob Hope) is worth twenty million dollars, and is being chased by "black widow" Juno Marko (Gale Sondergaard). Meantime, Mickey Hawkins (Martha Raye) is ordered by her father (Paul Harvey) to marry a man she does not love, the impoverished Prince Smirnov (Alan Mowbray), only so that he can get into the country club. John and Mickey decide to marry each other to keep out of the hands of their persistent suitors, but then Mickey's boyfriend, Henry (Andy Devine of Between Us Girls) shows up and accompanies the couple on their honeymoon, with the two men sharing a bed! An added complication is that John has mistakenly been told that he only has a short while to live, not to mention the fact that the prince wants to fight a duel with him. Never Say Die is a very funny movie with a great script and terrific performances from everyone in the cast, which includes Monty Woolley [Life Begins at Eight-Thirty] as the confused doctor; Ernest Cossart as "Jeepers," John's helpful butler; and Sig Ruman [Thank You Mr. Moto] as the hotel proprietor who is astonished by John's apparent bed-hopping.

Verdict: As usual Hope and Raye make a splendid team. ***.

LIVING IN A BIG WAY

LIVING IN A BIG WAY (1947). Director: Gregory La Cava.

Leo Gogarty (Gene Kelly) got married to Margo (Maria McDonald) just before he shipped out, but the two never really got to know one another. Now Leo's back with her wealthy family, but she and everyone else feel the rushed marriage was a mistake, and Leo begins to agree. Things begin to change when Margo's peppery Granny (Jean Adair) takes her shuttered old manor house and turns it into apartments for homeless veterans and their families, with both Margo and Leo pitching in. Will these two kids finally realize they really are in love with each other?

It's funny, but for some reason I can't quite explain I've never cared for Gene Kelly. He's not bad-looking, has a fair to middling voice, is an okay actor, and an excellent dancer, but there's just something about him that I've never liked -- perhaps he lacks the genial amiability of a Fred Astaire, coming off more like a prick. This, admittedly, is just a reaction to something in his screen image, as he generally plays good guys. In one scene Kelly tells war widow Peggy (Phyllis Thaxter) that she ought to forget about staying where she met her late husband and go home to her family in the small town where she was born, but Kelly's matter-of-fact delivery of the lines only makes him seem like a rather tactless and unfeeling bastard; Thaxter is excellent, however. As for the rest of the players, Adair is wonderful (even if sometimes Granny's pithy comments are semi-moronic, consisting of badly dated epithets passing for wisdom); Charles Winninger and Spring Byington both score as Margo's parents; that cute little child actor Jimmy Hunt [Pitfall] is as delightful as ever as Thaxter's son; Paul Harvey [Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid] makes a memorably funny judge in a sequence in divorce court; and acerbic Clinton Sundberg makes his mark as the dyspeptic and opinionated butler, Everett, whom anyone but Winninger would have fired. Leading lady McDonald [Guest in the House] is attractive and competent but there's nothing special about her. Living in a Big Way boasts some excellent dancing from Kelly, and some good and amusing moments, but it never develops into anything all that terrific.

As for Kelly, according to imdb.com "he was voted the 42nd greatest movie star of all time by Entertainment Weekly [not that I take EW all that seriously] and named the fifteenth greatest actor on The 50 Greatest Screen Legends list by the American Film Institute." The question is why? Kelly was admittedly a great dancer, but a great actor, no! He must have been quite popular in his day, but number fifteen! To each his own.

Verdict: Pleasant if forgettable. **1/2.

CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU

 [Victor] Sen Yung and Sidney Toler

CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU (1938). Director: H. Bruce Humberstone.

"What a wonderful gift for science your brain would make, Mr. Chan." -- Dr. Cardigan

"I prefer to keep it for myself." -- Charlie Chan

Back home in Honolulu with his very large family, Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is awaiting the birth of his first grandchild. His oldest son, Lee, has gone to New York to study art [!] and his love of mystery-solving has been passed on to brother Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung), not to mention little Tommy (Layne Tom Jr). When a murder occurs on a freighter with passengers, these two set off to solve it while Papa is at the hospital; eventually Charlie takes over. Suspects and other characters include secretary Judy Hayes (Phyllis Brooks of The Shanghai Gesture), a witness to the crime; seaman Randolph (John King), who has special feelings for Judy; Carol Wayne (Claire Dodd of Babbitt), who is busy keeping secrets; animal trainer, Hogan (Eddie Collins) who is transporting beasts to the San Francisco Zoo and has a pet lion named Oscar; Dr. Cardigan (George Zucco), who in a weird development keeps a "living brain" in his cabin; Joe Arnold (Richard Lane), a cop who is escorting the prisoner Johnny McCoy (Marc Lawrence); Inspector Rawlins (Paul Harvey), who is Chan's somewhat befuddled boss; and Captain Johnson (Robert Barrat), who only wants everyone to get off of his ship so he can finally set sail with his cargo. Sidney Toler took over the role of Charlie Chan after Warner Oland's death, and he is excellent, if more grandfatherly, which is appropriate as Chan becomes a grandfather in this film [Phlip Ahn plays his son-in-law Wing Foo]. Sen Yung is a memorable addition to the Charlie Chan cast, and has a lot to do in the movie. Charlie Chan films had always had comedy relief, but in this film there is so much humor that it has to be considered a comedy-mystery, and it is very, very funny at times. A notable sequence has Chan testing Cardigan's deafness by throwing a coin on the ground behind him, which Cardigan turns to pick up. "When money talks," says Chan, "few are deaf." Zucco is especially good in this, but the whole cast is on top of things. Cardigan brings up the notion that the retina of the eye retains the image of the last thing the dead person saw a la Four Flies on Grey Velvet, but Chan debunks this theory immediately. ["All I see are reflections of self."] The movie boasts consistently amusing dialogue and has a generous amount of suspense as well.

Verdict: A very auspicious debut for Toler and Sen Yung. ***.

THE LAW OF THE TROPICS

THE LAW OF THE TROPICS (1941). Director: Ray Enright.

Jim Conwoy (Jeffrey Lynn, pictured) works for a rubber company in the Amazon and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the woman he's to marry. When she changes her mind and never arrives, he winds up married to woman-on-the-run Joan Madison (Constance Bennett), an entertainer in a nightclub, who accompanies him back to his stomping grounds and pretends to be the original fiancee. But a lawman is poking around asking questions... Lynn and Bennett make a good team and give good performances in a very entertaining light romance and drama which has some mild suspense to it as well. Regis Toomey is a married co-worker's of Lynn's, and Craig Stevens plays the boss' obnoxious son. Paul Harvey is the equally obnoxious father, who finds he's no match for Bennett.

Verdict: Minor but snappy. ***.