Matt Sawyer (Ronald Reagan) is a junior reporter whose enthusiasm for breaking the big news is always getting him in trouble. Sometimes, he runs with a story before getting all of his facts straight and the newspaper gets sued. If not for his enthusiasm and his affability, Matt would have been fired a long time ago. Instead of losing his job, Matt just finds himself demoted to riding in a squad car with Sgt. Daniels (James Gleason) and the slow-witted Officer Slattery (Edward Brophy). Matt still manages to find a story when he and the cops discover a dead man in a flophouse.
The man turns out to have been a millionaire. The coroner rules his death a suicide but Matt is convinced that it was murder. How could the man have shot himself if he died with his hands in his pockets? Over the objections of the police and his editors, Matt investigates the man’s death. Helping him out is the man’s daughter, Jane Abbott (Joan Perry).
NineLivesAreNotEnough is one the many B-pictures that Ronald Regan made for Warner Bros. It’s only 63 minutes long and, despite the murder mystery, the emphasis is more on comedy than drama. For all of his reputation for being a stiff actor, Reagan proves himself to be surprisingly adroit when it comes to exchanging snappy dialogue with his editor. This film showcases the innate likability that made Reagan a success as both an actor and a politician. What he lacks in range, he makes up for in sheer affability. Watching Reagan in movies like this, it is easy to see the limitations that kept him from being a major star while also revealing why he later had so much success asking people to vote for him.
Considering how the press felt and still feels about Ronald Reagan, it’s entertaining to see him cast as a reporter who has a reputation for getting the story wrong. When it’s really important, though, Matt Sawyer gets it right.
Yeah, yeah, I know. That sounds kinda silly, doesn’t it? However, November is traditionally the month that classic film bloggers tend to concentrate on writing about film noir. It provides a bit of grit and cynicism in between the horror fun of October and the holiday schmaltz of December.
I have to admit that I’m a little bit torn when it comes to taking part in Noirvember. On the one hand, I love a good film noir and there’s quite a few obscure and underrated ones available on YouTube right now. On the other hand, as a natural-born contrarian, I don’t like the idea of hopping on any bandwagons.
In the end, my love of film noir won out. So, welcome to my first entry in 30 Days of Noir.
The 1942 film, Lady Gangster, opens with Dot Burton (Faye Emerson) walking up to a bank. She’s carrying a small white dog with her. Though the bank isn’t due to open for another 30 minutes, she explains to the bank guard that she’s got a train to catch and she simply has to deposit a check. The guard unlocks the door and lets both her and her dog inside.
While filling out her deposit slip, Dot puts the dog down on the floor. The dogs runs off, distracting the guard just long enough for three men with guns to slip into the bank and rob the place. Though the police quickly arrive, the men manage to escape, taking $400,000 with them.
The police are immediately suspicious of Dot, especially when she struggles to keep her story straight as to why she’s at the bank. The lead detective thinks that Dot was in on it. Dot says that she was merely out for a stroll with her dog. Dot says that her dog is named Tiny. The dog, which looks exactly like one that was recently reported missing, is wearing a collar that reads “Boots.”
The district attorney announces that Dot will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. However, a crusading radio broadcaster named Ken Phillips (Frank Wilcox) is convinced that Dot is being railroaded. Once he realizes that he went to high school with her, Ken is even more determined to help Dot. Using the power of the airwaves, he forces the district attorney to release Dot into his custody. Once free, Dot promptly confesses to Ken that she was a part of the robbery and that she’s hidden the money. An indignant Ken turns her into the police.
So now, Dot’s in prison and no one’s sure where the money is. One of the bank robbers even dresses up like a woman so that he can see Dot on visiting day but she refuses to tell him anything. Dot isn’t going to reveal where the money is unless it means she can also get parole. She needs to get released soon because she’s already got two psychotic snitches targeting her.
Fortunately, Ken has had a change of heart and is lobbying for her release. Unfortunately, Dot has been tricked into believing that Ken has once again betrayed her so, naturally enough, she sets him up to be murdered. When Dot discovers that she’s been fooled, can she find a way to warn Ken before it’s too late?
Believe it or not, all of this happens over the course of 62 minutes. With that many betrayals, twists, and crimes packed into that short of a running time, there’s never a dull moment in Lady Gangster. Though the film itself is full of huge plot holes and Frank Wilcox is a bit of a stiff as Ken, the film is totally worth seeing for Faye Emerson’s ferocious performance as Dot Burton. Dot is a force of nature. When the robbers try to steal her money, Dot instead steals from them. When Dot believes that Ken has betrayed her, she sets him up to be murdered with a moment of hesitation. When Dot discovers that Ken didn’t betray her, she immediately starts scheming to prevent the murder that she arranged. Even when Dot confesses to being a part of the robbery, she does it on her own terms. Nobody tells Dot what to do and, in that way, she represents the best of America. As Dot herself explains it, “I’ll play ball with anyone but Hitler.”
The film has a rather odd ending, one that makes you wonder just how forgiving people generally were back in 1942. But no matter! Lady Gangster is a quickly paced movie that’s just melodramatic enough to be enjoyable. It’s in the public domain and on YouTube. Watch it for Faye Emerson’s performance.
(Lisa is once again cleaning out her DVR! She recorded the 1931 film Night Nurse off of TCM on May 3rd.)
Night Nurse follows the sordid nights and quiet days of Lora Hart (Barbara Stanwyck), a high school dropout who dreams of becoming a nurse. Fortunately, she manages to get hired on as a trainee nurse at a big city hospital. Along the way, she gets a new BFF (Joan Blondell), a potential new boyfriend named Mortie (Ben Lyon), who is not only handsome and nice but a bootlegger too, and valuable life lessons on how to defend herself against smirky male doctors. Yay!
Unfortunately, even if you manage to survive the rigorous training program, the life of a night nurse is never easy. For instance, Lora gets hired to help look after the Ritchie children. The Ritchies may be rich but they’ve got so much drama going on that maybe it would be better if they were poor. The kids, for instance, are always sick and their doctor (Ralf Harolde) is apparently hooked on morphine. The mother (Charlotte Merriam) is always passed out drunk. Meanwhile, the family’s chauffeur, Nick (Clark Gable!), is a total brute who appears to have dangerous plans of his own.
Made in 1931, Night Nurse is a pre-code film, which is to say that it was made before the production code mandated what was and was not acceptable in the movies. Occasionally, among film fans like myself, there’s a tendency to assume that any pre-code film is actually going to be some sort of subversive, over-the-top masterpiece. We always think about the epic orgies that Cecil B. DeMille would slip into his silent films or maybe Douglas Fairbanks playing a constantly sniffing detective named Coke Ennyday in The Mystery of the Leaping Fish or the old stories about anonymous stagehands accidentally getting gunned down during the filming of Little Caesar or The Public Enemy. However, just as often, the pre-code label just means that a film is going to feature a few winky double entendres, a bootlegger hero, and at last one scene of the film’s heroine getting undressed. If you want to become an expert on 1930s lingerie, just spend a weekend watching pre-code films.
That’s certainly the case with Night Nurse, which only takes 7 minute to reach its first scene of nurses changing out of street clothes and into uniform. As for the bootlegger hero, that’s taken care of as soon as Mortie shows up and flashes his charming smile despite having a bullet in his hand. As played by Ben Lyon, Mortie is not exactly the most convincing gangster to ever show up in a pre-code film but no matter! He’s got charm and not every gangster can be Edward G. Robinson…
If it sound like I’m being critical of Night Nurse, I’m not. I watch Night Nurse every time that it shows up on TCM and I actually love the film. It’s a cheerfully silly melodrama, the type of innocently risqué film that could only be made during the pre-code era. Stanwyck and Blondell are a perfect team and whenever I listened to them trade sarcastic quips or watched them as they try to get away with breaking curfew, I couldn’t help but think of my own friends. Seriously, everyone should be as lucky as to have a BFF like Joan Blondell. And finally, you get Clark Gable as the bad guy. Gable is really mean and hateful in this movie and it takes a while to get used to seeing him without his mustache. To be honest, he’s not as handsome without the facial hair. But still — he’s Clark freaking Gable and, even in this early role, he had so much charisma and screen presence that it’s impossible not to watch him.
I was going to start this review by saying that Night Nurse sounded like a good title for an MCU film. However, my boyfriend informed me that apparently, there actually was a Marvel comic book called Night Nurse. Apparently, it had nothing to do with this movie. That’s a shame but hopefully, someone at Lifetime will read this review and decide to remake Night Nurse with an all Canadian cast. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this one!
Anyway, Night Nurse shows up on TCM constantly. Keep an eye out for it!
Matt Sawyer (Ronald Reagan) is a junior reporter whose enthusiasm for breaking the big news is always getting him in trouble. Sometimes, he runs with a story before getting all of his facts straight and the newspaper gets sued. If not for his enthusiasm and his affability, Matt would have been fired a long time ago. Instead of losing his job, Matt just finds himself demoted to riding in a squad car with Sgt. Daniels (James Gleason) and the slow-witted Officer Slattery (Edward Brophy). Matt still manages to find a story when he and the cops discover a dead man in a flophouse.
Through the Shattered Lens 