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. ***.

NIAGARA

NIAGARA (1953). Director: Henry Hathaway.

"For a dress like [Monroe's], you better start making plans at about 13." -- Polly.

A young couple on their honeymoon, Polly (Jean Peters) and Ray (Max Showalter aka Casey Adams), become entwined with another couple staying at the same cabins near the falls. George Loomis (Joseph Cotten) is unaware that his wife, Rose (Marilyn Monroe), has taken a darkly handsome lover, Ted (Richard Allan), and that Rose wants this younger man to murder George. However, the best laid plans ... The actions of some of the characters in this are pretty dumb, but the movie is not boring. Monroe [Love Happy] looks sensational, although she's given better performances elsewhere. Cotten [September Affair] and Peters are fine, but Showalter's golly-gee-whiz attitude quickly grows tiresome, and he's not very good. The picture has an exciting, if somewhat abrupt, climax on the falls. Don Wilson and Lurene Tuttle are fine as Ray's associate and his wife. Very good use of Niagara locations. Peters and Showalter were both in Vicki.

Verdict: Monroe sizzles sexily while those waters keep rushing! ***.