. . . the story goes, perennially undersung director Tay Garnett, back from a round-the-world tour, and loaded with exotic vistas shot along the way, thought up the plot for this film as a way to use some of that fab foreign footage. And not a bad idea. Society gal Joan Bennett finds the man who caused her sister’s death and shoots to kill! Now on the run, she hides by going from blonde to brunette & hopscotches the 7 Seas pursued by lame police dick Ralph Bellamy and sharp private dick Fredric March who’s soon joined by smart/daffy asst. Ann Southern. Naturally, March falls for his mark; Bellamy tracks down the wrong gal; Southern dopes out the situation; and Bennett can’t tell if March wants her or the $100,000 reward. It’s one of those projects where everything’s in place, but is let down by a script (Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, others) that falls short in plotting & witty dialogue (heavy with mal mots), and by a pinch-penny production that blots Garnett’s travelogue footage with subfusc process work. Though it does stand as something of a precursor to the process shot happy ROAD pics Crosby & Hope started up the following year.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID/LINK: March’s ultra-womanizing character is darn close to his real lecherous self. And Bennett must have liked the switch from blonde (like elder sister Constance) to brunette, since she never went back. The change caught the attention of no less than Cole Porter who referenced her new look (veddy Hedy Lamarr) in this Danny Kaye ‘patter song’ on B’way in LET’S FACE IT. (The lyrics also rib Paramount’s Bob Hope who, ironically, played Kaye’s role in the movie version though the song went to co-star Betty Hutton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuLTpzhxCSM
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