THE LOST SQUADRON (1932)

This begins like a WWI war film and becomes a nifty little thriller of personal brutality and revenge. Richard Dix, Joel McCrea, and Robert Montgomery are pilot buddies whom we first see in the air, shooting down enemy planes in the last minutes of the war before the Armistace goes into effect. They return home to reduced circumstances--despite headlines that celebrate the bravery of our vets, the men have a hard time adjusting to civilian life and getting jobs. Dix, McCrea, and their former mechanic Hugh Herbert become hobos, riding the rails to California. At the premiere of a movie called "Sky Heroes," they run into Armstrong, who has become a successful Hollywood stunt pilot. He gets them all jobs in his next project for tyrannical director Erich von Stroheim. The director's leading lady and wife, Mary Astor, is an old flame of Dix's and the two resume a mildly flirtatious relationship. Out of jealousy, Stroheim works Dix extra hard and eventually tampers with his plane so he'll crash during a stunt. However, Armstrong winds up in the plane and, though Dix flies up to warn him, Armstrong crashes and is killed. McCrea finds evidence of Stroheim's guilt and the rest of the film follows his revenge plot, which works but at a cost. The footage of planes, in war and in moviemaking, is very good. Stroheim seems to be playing himself, or at least the public persona he had as a strict Germanic disciplinarian. Dorothy Jordan is "Pest," Armstrong's kid sister who falls for McCrea. After a couple of early scenes, Astor doesn't have much to do. The pre-Code plot allows at least one person to survive without "paying" for a crime, and there's a great (and very clear) shot of Armstrong giving Dix the finger. The movie premiere scene looks a great deal like the one at the climax of John Schlesinger's DAY OF THE LOCUST. [TCM]

I SEE A DARK STRANGER (1946)

I suspect this British film was intended to be an interesting mix of tones and genres like Hitchcock's THE LADY VANISHES, but the master's touch is missing from this one; both films were written by the team of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, but this was directed by Launder. I know little about the history of the Irish Republican Army, so some of the plot points were lost on me. Deborah Kerr is the daughter of an Irish patriot who tells tales of his exciting past fighting the British, though it turns out that most of his stories are rather exaggerated. During WWII, Kerr goes off to Dublin hoping to join the IRA, but instead she gets involved with a gang of Nazi spies who want her to smuggle some information. There are some genuine thrills here, with the threat of arrest and death always nearby. A British soldier on leave (Trevor Howard) takes a fancy to her and helps her escape the clutches of the Nazis after she realizes the extent of the betrayal she's gotten herself into. Raymond Huntley is her chief contact, and there's a good scene involving him, a wheelchair, and a cliff. Garry Marsh and Tim Macaulay are a pair of policemen on the hunt for Kerr even as she's right under their noses--these characters seem clearly to be modeled after the comic duo of Caldicott and Charters in LADY VANISHES. David Tomlinson (Mr. Banks in MARY POPPINS) has a small part somewhere, though I didn't see him. The tone shifts, from danger to humor and back, aren't totally successful, but it's an interesting movie anyway, and Kerr is funny and sly. [DVD]

MEN MUST FIGHT (1933)

A very odd film, especially considered as a mainstream studio production, a bit like the later THINGS TO COME, but with less emphasis on the sci-fi trappings. We first see Diana Wynard as a nurse, sending her pilot lover off into the dangerous skies of WWI France. He is promptly shot down and killed, leaving her alone with child. Lewis Stone, an older friend, offers to marry her for convienence. The story then jumps ahead to the future (1940); Stone is now the American Secretary of State as another world war threatens to break out, as WWI did, over an assassination. Stone has to stand by his government's decision to go to war with Eurasia, but Wynard and her grown-up son (Phillips Holmes) are pacifists. Much of the movie consists of philosophical debates about war, peace, and patriotism, and at a peace rally, Wynard proposes a solution, seemingly inspired by Aristophanes' "Lysistrata": women should refuse to bear any more children until their men stop waging war. This is dropped, however, when the rally ends in violence. Ultimately, although the pacifist side is held up as respectable, it is shown to be impractical, hence the title of the film. The enemy bombs New York City, destroying skyscrapers and injuring Wynard; she changes her mind and backs her son's enlistment in the armed forces. Robert Young is Wynard's WWI lover; May Robson is Stone's mother; Hedda Hopper and Robert Grieg also appear. The only real futuristic touches are some picture phones and the occasional streamlined set design. Even though its climax has become unexpectedly relevant after the World Trade Center attacks, the film is too talky with too many tedious stretches. The same things harm the flow of THINGS TO COME, but the sets, costumes, and effects are more interesting in that film. [TCM]

FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE (1950)

Heavy handed whimsy which wastes a potentially good cast. The movie came at the end of what was a short cycle of angel movies during and after WWII, such as A GUY NAMED JOE, HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, THE BISHOP'S WIFE, and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE; it's pretty clear that Hollywood had exhausted the theme by the time this was made. Robert Cummings and Joan Bennett are a show biz couple (he's a producer, she's an actress) who are so devoted to their careers that they have neglected to start a family; the little unborn soul which has been waiting seven years to be born (Gigi Perreau) hangs around pining away in their apartment; Clifton Webb and Edmund Gwenn are angels who have come down to earth to help nudge the couple along to grant Perreau's wish. Hearing the couple refer to needing an "angel" for their next show, Webb materializes as a rich Texan (he imitates Gary Cooper) who might back their next play. Joan Blondell is the author of the play; Jack LaRue is a gangsterish actor who can't quite get the hang of flipping a coin, George Raft style. Tommy Rettig (later the boy in TV's "Lassie") is another unborn soul who pops up occasionally; Whit Bissell is a psychiatrist who observes Webb. I like Bennett but I've never been a big fan of Cummings; they come off like a second-string version of Broadway couple Hugh Marlowe and Celeste Holm in ALL ABOUT EVE, and in fact, there is a specific EVE reference to the play "Footsteps on the Ceiling." Webb tries hard, and his Cooper imitation is fun for a while, but he's just not as casual and charming as he needs to be. Gwenn looks tired, and it feels like he thinks he's above the material, which both he and Webb are. A couple of the special effects are good, and Webb gets off a great line to Gwenn: "Successful angels do *not* use sarcasm!" A minor fantasy entry, recommended only for die-hard fans of the actors involved. [FMC]

HARD TO GET (1938)

A delightful little comedy featuring Olivia de Havilland just before she hit it big in GONE WITH THE WIND. Dick Powell plays a frustrated architect, working at a gas station, who has a run-in with de Havilland, a flighty heiress who stops by for gas but has no money on her. He makes her work off her debt, which humiliates her. She vows to get even, so she feigns interest in him and his grandiose plans for a chain of "auto courts," intending to crush his dreams. Of course, they fall in love for real and a happy ending is had by all. Both the leads are good, but a strong supporting cast is also present. Charles Winninger is de Havilland's rich father; Melville Cooper is his butler who spends most of his time playing games and wrestling with Winninger; Bonita Granville is the little sister; Allen Jenkins is Powell's buddy. Penny Singleton, the future "Blondie" of the movies, has a small but juicy part as a maid who poses as de Havilland, with de Havilland posing as the maid, during an amusing dinner scene. Also with John Ridgely and Grady Sutton. It has a screwball feel to it, and also has a couple of songs, including "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby." Worth catching. [TCM]

THE BISHOP MISBEHAVES (1935)

A jaunty comic thriller from, I assume, the MGM British unit. Edmund Gwenn is the title bishop, a big fan of mystery novels, who gets caught up in a real-life adventure involving blackmail, stolen jewels, and a variety of thugs. Maureen O'Sullivan has been wronged by Reginald Owen, so with the help of her American boyfriend (Norman Foster, director of several Mr. Moto and Charlie Chan movies), she conspires to steal some jewels and incriminating papers from Owen. Things don't go smoothly, however, and when Gwenn and his sister (Lucile Watson) stumble into the middle of things, Gwenn, acting out of a schoolboyish desire for adventure, gets involved. It's all very light, even when guns get waved around; the first half is quite fun, but it gets a bit bogged down later with lots of chases and double-crosses. Gwenn and Watson are very good, and Owen is at his blustery, befuddled best. [TCM]

BORN TO KILL (1947)

A bleak and brutal film noir, directed by Robert Wise. Renowed B-movie tough guy Lawrence Tierney is an intense psychopath (who is not nearly as attractive as all the characters keep saying he is); the girl he's seeing in Reno (Isabel Jewell) intends to make him jealous by stepping out with another guy (Tony Barrett), but Tierney winds up killing them both, then going on the lam to San Francisco. The dead girl's landlady (Esther Howard) hires a detective (Walter Slezak, coming off a bit like M. Emmet Walsh in BLOOD SIMPLE) who picks up on Tierney's trail. Also involved is Claire Trevor, who was living in the same house with Jewell while her divorce went through, and who saw both the dead bodies before the cops did. In San Francisco, Tierney lusts after Trevor, but she has a rich fiance (Phillip Terry) so he goes after Trevor's sister (Audrey Long) instead. Trevor discovers the truth about Tierney but is attracted to him for his (in her words) "strength, depravity, and corruption." Meanwhile, Tierney's buddy (Elisha Cook Jr.) tracks down Howard and tries to kill her one night on a deserted beach, but Tierney, thinking Cook has been flirting with Trevor, follows and, in a truly nightmarish scene, goes after Cook. Things just get more twisted from there until the inevitable downbeat ending. The most perverse moment in the film (and maybe in all 40's noir) is when Tierney and Trevor get all hot and bothered by rubbing against each other while reminiscing in detail about the dead bodies of Jewell and Barrett. Tierney sounds like George Raft and sometimes looks like a harsh-edged Gene Kelly. The only truly caring relationship in the movie is Cook's genuine feelings of concern for Tierney, but that doesn't get Cook a happy ending. Also with Ellen Corby, and Tommy Noonan (see DING DONG WILLIAMS, 1/16) as a cute bellboy who flirts with Howard. A good solid noir film with virtually no redeeming characters. [TCM]

DING DONG WILLIAMS (1946)

A surprising little delight of a B-movie that gets by on fun music and quirky charm. Glen Vernon (who played the martyred Russian boy in DAYS OF GLORY, reviewed yesterday) is the title character, a "hot jazz" clarinet player. When Felix Bressart (James Stewart's friend in SHOP AROUND THE CORNER) a studio music chief, can't come up with the right "modern" (Gershwinesque) music for the climax of a movie in production, his secretary (Marcy McGuire) suggests they hire Vernon for the job. They see him and his band perform and hire him, but it turns out that Vernon can't read or write music; he can improvise some great stuff, but only when he's in just the right mood. Bressart and McGuire use various tricks to try to get him in a "hot music" mood, and have arrangers Zing and Zang (Cliff Nazarro & Tommy Noonan) sitting ready to transcribe his music, but nothing seems to work. Anne Jeffreys is a studio belle, James Warren is a western star whom Vernon admires, and 11-year-old prodigy Richard Korbel plays some Chopin and Grieg. Real-life RKO music director Constantin Bakaleinikoff conducts an orchestra on camera, and Bob Nolan & the Sons of the Pioneers, who appeard in a number of B-westerns, play their hit "Cool Water." The songs are fun and the pace is zippy, although the action stops dead whenever the kid plays piano. I like Bressart being annoyed at a dance club by what he calls all the "noise and acrobats." Amusing and different, sort of a B-movie version of a 30's Rooney/Garland movie. Noonan (better known later as Marilyn Monroe's nerdy boyfriend in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES) and Nazarro are especially fun. [TCM]

DAYS OF GLORY (1944)

An effective WWII propaganda movie by Jacques Tourneur. As with his Val Lewton movies (like CAT PEOPLE), Tourneur turns a low budget into something of an asset with shadowy, expressionistic lighting and atmospheric sets. The movie rarely feels real, but taken on its own terms, it is often compelling. Gregory Peck, in his first movie, plays the leader of a small group of Russian resistance fighters who carry out acts of sabotage and murder against the occupying Nazis, while waiting for word from higher up about a major offensive due to start soon. The group lives in the underground remains of a bombed-out monastery. Though there are occasional tensions, they work together well until Tamara Toumanova, a ballerina, is brought into the fold. At first, she is resented because she is not fit for either guerilla fighting or "housework," but soon she proves her mettle and Peck falls in love with her. Glen Vernon is a young boy who has a schoolboy crush on the ballerina; near the end, when he is threatened with hanging unless he betrays the group, he is able to martyr himself because Toumanova is watching and inspiring him. Also in the cast are Hugo Haas (later a B-movie director), Lowell Gilmore, and Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone).

The opening credits are narrated, with a solemn announcement about Peck's great talent. The first scene is of two Nazis on motorcycles who get picked off by a guerilla fighter who turns out to be a female (Maria Palmer). Most of the movie is effective, except for a moment when Toumanova wakes up startled at the same moment that one of the group is killed--it's an almost supernatural scene of empathy that doesn't work. The finale is also a bit much, with Peck declaring his love for Toumanova as she takes the "official" Resistance pledge while both are lobbing hand grenades at oncoming German tanks. The pro-Russian slant is heavy and sometimes a bit hokey, but as a movie that wears its propaganda on its sleeve, it generally works quite well. [TCM]

LADIES MUST LIVE (1940)

A Warners B-film adaptation of a George M. Cohan play, "The Hometowners." Wayne Morris plays a rich farmer; Rosemary Lane is a big city chorus girl whose car gets stuck in a pothole on his property. He helps her out and she thinks he's just another hick until they meet up again in New York City and fall in love. As their wedding day approaches, Morris's best friend, Pighead (Roscoe Karns) and his wife (Lee Patrick) enter the scene. Karns thinks that Lane is just a gold digger and that her entire family will take advantage of Morris's money. Complications, based on prejudices about farmers and city folk, ensue. Generally, this is a fast moving comedy that feels like it's been edited down a bit too much, especially in the set-up. Morris is an attractive cornfed hunk; Lane doesn't register much one way or the other; Karns is amusing, as usual, but best of all is Lee Patrick (Effie in THE MALTESE FALCON) in a Ruth Hussey-type role. She gets the best lines and delivers them well. It's a shame she never had a stronger A-film career. George Reeves is Lane's brother and William Hopper is a jock ex-boyfriend. [TCM]

A LOST LADY (1934)

This is based on a Willa Cather novel, though most reviews say that only the title and character names remain intact. Barbara Stanwyck is on the eve of marrying Philip Reed, but he is shot and killed by the husband of a woman Reed was seeing on the sly. Stanwyck has a breakdown and is convinced that she will never love again. Her family sends her off to a mountain retreat to recover, and while hiking one day, she is injured. Lawyer Frank Morgan finds her and nurses her back to health, both physically and emotionally. She agrees to marry him because she feels in debt to him, but they agree it will be a sexless, non-romantic relationship. She's happy for a while, and even fends off the advances of the handsome Lyle Talbot, who works for Morgan. Then the soap suds start up when she meets obnoxious but rich pilot Ricardo Cortez and, despite his general brashness, falls in love with him. Stanwyck decides to leave Morgan, and he promptly has a heart attack. Will she run off with Cortez or stay and nurse Morgan? A rather bland melodrama; everyone is rich but no one is particularly likeable. Frankly, I was rooting for Talbot to come back at the end and take her away. For all the plot threads, it's very short and doesn't have a strong supporting cast to give it some color. Morgan's Lassie-type dog is as interesting as any of the human characters. [TCM]

THE INVISIBLE MENACE (1938)

Despite the title, this isn't horror or sci-fi, but a Warners B-mystery, set on an isolated military base on the West Coast. One foggy night, Army private Eddie Craven smuggles his new bride (Marie Wilson) onto the island; it also happens to be the night that a man is found murdered (and tortured, with bayonet slashes across his chest). The island is quarantined and the chief suspect is Boris Karloff, who has a criminal record which he claims is due to a past wrongdoing by the dead man. The commanding officer (Henry Kolker) gets an Army Intelligence man (Cy Kendall) to fly in that night to investigate. It's not hard to figure out that Karloff is a red herring; other suspects include Charles Trowbridge as a civilian doctor who seems awfully dead set against Karloff, and Regis Toomey as an efficient lieutenant who helps Kendall with his investigation. Kendall himself comes off as rather suspicious for a while. Frank Faylen and John Ridgely also appear. Everyone talks very quickly and it's over in an hour, no muss, no fuss. As usual with Warners, the (limited) sets are very good for a B-film, though undoubtedly the fog helps hide any budget limitations. Marie Wilson is good, as she always is, but is underused. The amusing last scene is of Craven and Wilson finally consummating their marriage in a tent, under the watchful eye of a sentry! [TCM]

THE ADVENTURES OF JANE ARDEN (1939)

Fairly undistinguished B-thriller based on a popular 30's comic strip (which ran through the 60's). The title character, played charmlessly by Rosella Towne, is a go-get-'em girl reporter who winds up on tracking down a gang of gem smugglers who use women to bring in the stolen booty, then kill them when the trail gets too hot. What interest the movie has is provided by a decent supporting cast. James Stephenson is very good (slick and ruthless) as the chief bad guy; William Gargan has some charm as Arden's editor, but he doesn't have much to do. Dennie Moore (very funny as Olga the gossiping manicurist in THE WOMEN) and Benny Rubin (Warner's stock Jewish comic) supply solid comic relief. John Ridgely is a reporter. There is a surprisingly brutal killing in the first few minutes of the film, all the more surprising because the victim is a woman. The hour-long movie is not bad, but not terribly compelling, undone mostly by the lead. [TCM]

STAR DUST (1940)

Charming show biz comedy, apparently based loosely of the early career of actress Linda Darnell. Roland Young, a talent scout for Amalgamated Pictures, heads southwest by train to find new talent, even as we see the studio send back to the Midwest yesterday's new faces who didn't quite make the grade (including George Montgomery in a tiny role). It's interesting that the sendoff is played not for laughs, but in a bittersweet (though not despairing) tone. Young discovers three young people to send to Hollywood: John Payne as a college football star, Mary Healy as a singer, and Linda Darnell as a 17-year-old aspiring actress. Young actually thinks Darnell is too young, but she outsmarts him and gets handpicked by the studio head (William Gargan). The rest of the film is concerned with the ups and downs of the three, focusing on Darnell who winds up competing with a newly signed starlet (Mary Beth Hughes). A good supporting cast includes Charlotte Greenwood as the studio acting coach (who has some fun scenes with Young), Donald Meek as a rival talent scout, and Jessie Ralph as Darnell's aunt. Frank Coghlan Jr., who played bellboys and messengers in dozens of 30's and 40's movies, and Mantan Moreland have small roles. Sid Grauman, of Grauman's Chinese Theater, has a cameo as himself. Gargan is fun, playing a caricature of the real Fox exec Darryl Zanuck. In a running gag, Payne keeps breaking his nose at inconvenient times. It's not a musical, but Healy and Greenwood have a fun number, "Don't Let It Get You Down." [FMC]

YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH (1941)

This first of two films for Columbia that paired Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth is sillier than any of the Astaire/Rogers movies (and they could get pretty silly), and worth watching only for the dancing. Astaire is a dancer who gets entangled in his producer's extramarital intrigues, leading to complications involving his fellow dancer Hayworth. To get out of the situation, he goes to the draft board and gets in the Army (even though he's underweight), but Hayworth and the producer (Robert Benchley) wind up at Astaire's camp to put on a free show. More complications ensue. There's no denying that Astaire and Hayworth have some great dancing moments, but the rest of the movie is stolen by the drily funny Benchley and Frieda Inscourt doing what amounts to an Eve Arden impersonation. A bland nobody named John Hubbard is Astaire's romantic rival; Cliff Nazarro, an expert in double-talk, has a couple of nice moments as a soldier nicknamed "Swivel Tongue." The songs are by Cole Porter, including "Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye" and "The Wedding Cake March," which includes a snatch of "Night and Day." Astaire does a nifty number in a guardhouse with accompaiment from the Delta Rhythm Boys, an all-black combo. Generally mediocre. It doesn't make me want to see the second Astaire/Hayworth film, YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER, but against my better judgment, I still might. [TCM]

MOON OVER MIAMI (1941) & THREE BLIND MICE (1938)

These Fox movies are both based on the same source material which was used by Fox again in the 50's for HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE. MIAMI is a colorful Fox musical, not quite as fun as the same year's SUN VALLEY SERENADE (reviewed 4/03), but better than average. Betty Grable and Carole Landis are sisters from Texas who work at a drive-in restaurant. When they come into a small inheritance, they take off to Miami in order to land rich husbands--I guess the city had a reputation for being overrun with wealthy bachelors. Grable pretends to be a successful businesswoman, Landis poses as her secretary, and their aunt (Charlotte Greenwood) goes along as a maid. Jack Haley is a bellhop who, not realizing that the girls are poseurs themselves, offers to help Grable steer clear of gold digging men. Grable meets Robert Cummings and they begin romancing, but the man she really has chemistry with is Don Ameche, who turns out to be one of those gold digging men, thanks to a busted family fortune. After some rough patches, everyone winds up with the right people, even Greenwood (with Haley). Robert Greig, who was very good as Hives the butler in ANIMAL CRACKERS, plays another butler here, and Fred Astaire's choreographer Hermes Pan dances with Grable in one number, a conga set to nursery rhymes. Most of the songs are not especially memorable, but the sets are nice and the whole thing has a fun Astaire/Rogers feel to it. The leads are fine (Landis is a bit bland), but Haley and Greenwood are the most fun. Some location footage from Florida is used, but feels superfluous. Generally, good escapist fare. THREE BLIND MICE is not a musical and compared to MOON feels a bit draggy, but it's worth seeing for its cast. In this one, Loretta Young has the Grable role, with relative unknowns Marjorie Weaver and Pauline Moore playing her sisters. Both of the men who seem to be rich (Joel McCrea and David Niven) aren't; the man with the money is bartender Stuart Erwin (the Haley equivalent here). Also in the cast: Binnie Barnes, Franklin Pangborn, and, in a tiny role, Elisha Cook Jr. as a boyish romancer--a startling change of pace from most of his later roles. [Fox Movie Channel]

LIFE BEGINS (1932)

A slice-of-life melodrama set in a maternity ward; it's based on a play and it often feels rather stagy. Aline MacMahon presides over a ward of "problem" cases. When a police matron brings convicted killer Loretta Young in, we see that MacMahon acts all tough, but is a softie inside. Young's boyish husband, Eric Linden, is nervous and a bit hysterical at times--he comes off like a grown-up Dead End Kid. We never learn much about the couple's circumstances (she claims to have killed in self-defense, though the jury didn't seem to buy it), but we do see Linden hock his overcoat to buy her a scarf, so clearly they are both in tough straits. Other expectant mothers in the ward include Clara Blandick, an old pro at childbirth with six previous kids, and Glenda Farrell as a tough cookie who is expecting twins and is trying to "sell" them to a good mother. She puts gin in her hot water bottle and drunkenly (and callously) sings "Frankie & Johnny," a racy song about a murderess, to Young. However, before the end of the movie, we see Farrell get all nurturing and decide to keep the kids. Dorothy Peterson is a psycho case who wanders through the wards, stealing babies. Frank McHugh is a nervous father sent off on a fool's errand (to buy more ether for the hospital!!) to keep him out of the nurses' hair. Preston Foster, Elizabeth Patterson, and Gilbert Roland also appear. Linden and Young have chemistry together; we know that, one way or another, their story will not have a happy ending, and we're not disappointed in the tear-jerking conclusion. Good soap opera movie. [TCM]

THE MILLIONAIRE (1931)

Mildly amusing story in the "eccentric rich people" mold so popular back then. George Arliss is the head of a manufacturing company who is told by his doctor that he should slow down for his health. He retires and finds himself drifting toward total inactivity. A visit one day from a fast-talking insurance salesman (James Cagney) convinces Arliss to find something he can throw himself into to get reinvigorated, so he decides to buy a small gas station from Noah Beery whom, we discover, is selling because he knows the opening of a new highway will kill the old business. Arliss' business partner is young David Manners, who doesn't know that Arliss is a millionaire. The two raise money, get rid of the old property, and build a new station along the new highway and wind up competing with Beery. This new double life does re-energize Arliss, much to the pleasure of his wife, Florence Arliss, and his doctor, both of whom think that his recovery is the result of rest and medication. Manners meets and falls in love with Arliss' daughter (Evalyn Knapp), who is in the process of dumping her rich but shallow boyfriend, Bramwell Fletcher. Will the business succeed? Will the nice guy get the rich girl? There are no surprises, but the film is light and fluffy stuff that is easy to sit through. Arliss, a grand old man of the stage and screen who was over 60 when he made this, is a bit stagy but is convincing in his transformation from sickly to robust. Manners is his usual passive but handsome self, and Cagney gives the movie a shot in the arm with his single high energy scene. [Turner Classic Movies]