Director: Sidney Lanfield
Year: 1951
Rating: 7.0
The last thing I was expecting was a Christmas story in February, but that
is what I got with this sweet comedic film starring Bob Hope and Marilyn
Maxwell. A pretty good one too that sort of combines elements from Lady for
a Day, It's a Wonderful Life and a bunch of other sentimental Christmas tales.
Both Lady for a Day and this film were based on short stories by Damon Runyon
(Madame La Gimp and The Lemon Drop Kid) who wrote about characters who lived
in the shadows of polite society - the down and outs, the con men, the hustlers,
those out to make a crooked buck - in their own or his invented style of
talking that became known as Runyonesque. Guys and Dolls comes from his work
as well. Everyone in this film falls into the Runyonesque world of rogues
or those down on their luck.
Bob Hope fits into this nicely. By 1951 he had created his film persona of
a fast talking, glib, slightly insecure, slightly cowardly, incompetent conman
character who is out only for himself - all in the name of comedy of course
- utilizing quips, occasionally talking straight to the audience, his black
hole eyes, insider jokes (ones here about Orson Welles, Milton Berle and
of course Bing Crosby) as he marches headfirst through a film. He perfected
this basic character in the Road films and this is like a Road film without
his straight man, Crosby - instead he has Marilyn Maxwell and that isn't
a bad trade.
Off the screen Hope created another fictional character - that of a loving
faithful husband married to his Delores from 1934 to Hope's death in 2003
at 100 years old. She lived even longer - to 102. They were doing something
right. But it is strongly reputed, suggested, rumored that Hope screwed around
quite a bit - hey those long USO shows - with a bevy of actresses. But the
main one was Marilyn Maxwell. They had a long affair and she accompanied
him on a number of those USO tours. This film was made right in the middle
of their affair so that loooong kiss between them was well practiced. She
was jokingly called Mrs. Bob Hope on the sets. Maxwell had another one of
those tragic endings that so many of the bombshells came to. By the 1960's
she was broke, took to drugs, is said to have worked in burlesque and died
at 50 in 1971. I really liked her in those Dr. Gillespie films of the 1940's.
Absolutely soft and stunning.
The Lemon Drop Kid is a horse racing tout in Florida - giving enough people
false tips to fill out the card. One of them had to win and so he would get
a percentage and avoid the rest. But he touts to the wrong person and costs
a gangster $10 grand. He is given until Christmas Eve to pay him back or
else. The else isn't good. He goes to NYC and comes up with a scheme to open
an Old Lady's Home and get people to put on Santa outfits and gather money
- supposedly for the home but for him to pay back the gangster. Maxwell is
his innocent girlfriend who gets roped into the scam.
Again all for laughs. Along the way the two of them introduce Silver Bells
in a terrific number as they stroll through NYC. These sorts of films are
chock full of character actors and they give us Jane Darwell (Grapes of Wrath),
Lloyd Nolan, Fred Clark (Burns and Allen), William Frawley (I Love Lucy),
Sid Melton and Tor Johnson of all people. So add this one to your Christmas
movie list. It is a good one.
