After the very intense and downbeat Fury and You Only Live Once, Fritz Lang's third American film seems something of an anomaly for the director: a semi-comic hoodlum farce with musical moments, some of them courtesy of an (uncredited) Kurt Weill, and starring early tough-guy stalwart George Raft and the leading lady of the two previous Hollywood Lang pictures, Sylvia Sidney. An odd combination of elements, with even some Capra-esquire screwball thrown in, and yet on the whole it works. Raft and Sidney are both ex-cons trying to go straight working in a big department store owned by kindhearted Mr. Morris (Harry Carey) who fall in love; but Raft doesn't know that Sidney's a parolee, while Sidney knows his secret. They have to keep their eventual marriage quiet from everyone, and humor ensues with Sidney's efforts to do so; eventually Raft is lured into a plot by some of his ex-con buddies to rob the store that has helped them out so much and Sidney has to come in to save the day.
And odd film, as I say, with a proto-feminist very strong female lead by the always wonderful Sylvia Sidney, great photography by Charles Lang, and a noirish downbeat feel pervading an often sunny and humorous plot line, the Langian inevitability of fate and of returning to one's worst impulses never more than a heartbeat away. Unjustly neglected, seen on a decent enough quality rental VHS.
And odd film, as I say, with a proto-feminist very strong female lead by the always wonderful Sylvia Sidney, great photography by Charles Lang, and a noirish downbeat feel pervading an often sunny and humorous plot line, the Langian inevitability of fate and of returning to one's worst impulses never more than a heartbeat away. Unjustly neglected, seen on a decent enough quality rental VHS.