A moderately successful comedy brought to life by an inspired
lead performance by Edward G. Robinson and Bogart waiting in the wings ready to
break out in 1940.
Certainly a factory product- Warners Bros was cranking them out
One of five collaborations between Edward G and Bogart
Like Larceny Inc. (made two years after with
Lloyd Bacon) Edward G. comically riffs upon his popular gangster role in Little Caesar (made a decade before)—his
name here is “Little John”- this is decades before De Niro would do this is in
a number of films (including Analyze This)
and Brando in The Freshman (1990)
Fast-moving- wipe
edits
Edward G. Robinson is
the standout— he has such command of the screen even at the diminutive size—and
that voice.
The ensemble is great
too. Donald Crisp in a small role, Cecil Kellaway – Ralph Bellamy rifts on his
role as a rich brainless southerner in The
Awful Truth just three years prior. I think the film asks too much of Ann
Sothern who isn’t up to snuff—should have lent more on Bogart (who is superb)-
she’s clearly the second lead here after Edward G and the film is worse for it.
The direction is
mostly pragmatic but there is one nice tracking shot and camera tilt up when he
finds himself at the monastery at 47 minutes
The rest of the film
is essentially a fish out of water comedy- and it is funny
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