One of the more underappreciated films to come out of Hollywood, this marvelous Ben Hecht production annoyed the critics of the day for not pandering to its audience. Four leads and a host of supporting players make a single Broadway night come to life with zip and wit. Mitchell, as a
silver-tongued, alcoholic playwright, saves Qualen, who is about to commit suicide after embezzling several thousand dollars. "Dismiss your hearse," Mitchell urges him. "Live, little man, and suffer!" The zany playwright proposes a surefire scheme to dupe some big-time card sharps in a battle
royal, using Qualen's stolen loot to build a fortune. Enter slick Fairbanks, who shills for a top-drawer poker game, and his devoted but equally sharp girlfriend Hayworth. Fairbanks spots Qualen as an easy mark and intends to suck him into the game and take him for everything. Nothing, of course,
goes according to anyone's plans as Hecht's clever script twists and turns its way to a startling and delightful conclusion.
The performances, particularly by Mitchell and Fairbanks, are captivating, and the dialogue sparkles with Hecht's poetic irony: "This town's a giant dice game--come on seven!" Because the film featured Rita Hayworth, who had been hand-picked for stardom by Columbia's boss Harry Cohn, Hecht was
given a relatively free reign on this production, and went unhampered by interfering studio bureaucrats to create an unpredictable Broadway saga. Hecht earned an Academy Award nomination for his original screenplay, but lost to Preston Sturges for THE GREAT MCGINTY. leave a comment