THIEVES FALL OUT (1941)

A Warners B-comedy which, like many of them, begins well but peters out quickly. The charm of the young, attractive Eddie Albert goes a long way toward giving this movie life, but his character isn't particularly well-written or consistent. Albert, the son of a mattress factory owner (Alan Hale), marries the daughter (Joan Leslie) of his father's chief competitor. At the urging of his meddling grandmother (Jane Darwell), he sells his mother's legacy to get the money to buy a company that supplies both his father and his father-in-law with mattress parts. Naturally, things go awry. Darwell is pretty good in a role that's very different from Ma Joad (THE GRAPES OP WRATH). Anthony Quinn and Frank Faylen are gangsters that Albert gets tangled up with. Other supporting cast members of note are John Litel, Edward Brophy, and William T. Orr as a rival for Joan's affections. The film is short but the last half drags, redeemed when Darwell stands up to her kidnappers, who have mistaken her for Albert's mother. The earlier sparring between Darwell and Hale is fun, and Albert carries as much of the picture as he can. At heart, it's a feisty grandma movie.