#91

This is no stagey movie with cheap production values, but there’s something off about it. I blame the director, Leonide Moguy, who did only a few Hollywood movies. Mostly shot in France.

Part of the slackness may have to do with this mug:

I always wonder why George Raft was a star. His acting is leaden, he seems to have misplaced his charisma on the way to the studio, and he looks clumsy with dames. I suppose it had to do with his first role, the coin-flipping thug in “Scarface,” and the rumored mob connections that gave his tough-guy roles added cred.

An imdb review said the movie a low-budget number intended to see if this actress would work in the pictures.

Holy smoking crow:

It would be an insult and a sin to say that she reminds one of Megan Fox, but there is a certain resemblance. The difference is that Ava Gardner owns every single second she’s on the screen, and keeps this from being a slow yawn. Oh: Raft was 51 when he played this role; Gardner must have been half that. He’s also a loser stuck in a small town with no real career, living in a boarding house, playing cards at night.

Naturally she’s supposed to carry a torch for the guy.

Oh, there’s a scene at the county fair, so we get a little nightmare fuel, too: