MR. LUCKY
RKO Radio Pictures (1943) Dir. H.C. Potter
100 min. / B&W / 1.37:1 / 1080p / DTS-HD 2.0
Cary Grant is Joe Adams, a man with a ship load of gambling equipment, but alas, he's been drafted into WWII. One of Adams' shipmates/gambling pals is literally on his deathbed, so Joe assumes the dying man's identify, and instantly becomes 4F from the military.
Joe – whose new identity is still named Joe – needs cash to get his gambling ship out of port and away from America; he runs into Dorothy (the be-ooootiful Laraine Day) as she's hawking tickets for a shindig that'll raise funds for the war effort. Joe has a light bulb go off in his noodle, and he proposes to bring his gambling equipment to the evening's event, and both parties will have plenty o' money for their desires. Dorothy is not into breaking the law with illegal gambling, so Joe decides to work on her to get her to change her mind.
What Joe doesn't know is that his new identity has three prior offenses with the law, and he's one step from life in the hoosegow. Romance, swindling, the law, and suaveness ensue. There's also an epiphany in the form of a letter written in Greek, and that is ironic since the word "epiphany" originated from a Greek word!
I loved this film, and it just flows from beginning to end, with no parts that bog it down. I've never heard of H.C. Potter, and I don't recall seeing his name on this site, but he does well with this film.
Whenever I watch Cary Grant, I think just that: I'm watching Cary Grant, but it seems to always work for me. Maybe it's because we'd all love to be so damn debonair.
Balcony Review by Tim “Stony” Bittner
Your Webmaster: My friend Tim, my longest movie buddy and a friend since 7th grade, passed away a few weeks ago and in tribute, I pulled out the above, which he had written about one of his favorite movies. I’m sorry he’s not here to see the gorgeous Blu-ray edition. I hadn’t seen the film before, but I’m glad I got to experience it in such a beautiful release. The Warner Archive Collection is to be lauded not only for its esoteric selection of films and TV titles but for the magnificent job they’re doing on the presentations.
I know Miss Day mainly for playing the romantic interest nurse in the Dr. Kildare series, and here she shows she can assay a different kind of role with sass and aplomb. As Tim mentioned, Cary is generally speaking going to deliver Cary, but that’s generally speaking what we go to his movies to see, although in this case, his character crosses the line from likeable rogue to hissable bounder, and he can play THAT part well too. It’s interesting to see Alan Carney as the comic sidekick; he was only weeks away from being teamed with Wally Brown as RKO’s ersatz Abbott & Costello team.
This is director Potter’s best film, although he also gave us The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Hellzapoppin' (1941), The Farmer's Daughter (1947), and was reunited with Mr. Grant for Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948).
Bonus material on the Blu-ray includes the trailer and two radio adaptations of the film with Cary, an hour broadcast with Miss Day from 1943 and a 1950 half-hour abridgment without her.
A terrific, one-of-a-kind movie that has a presentation we can all applaud.