Most of the six previous reviews of this movie compare it to *Three on a Match* and find it inferior. Since I haven't seen that movie, I'll focus on this movie, which has its good and bad points.
The good point is Ann Sheridan. She hasn't got a great part here, but she does what she can with it, and in her typically brash way comes across as very engaging.
The problem here is Margaret Lindsey. Unlike Sheridan, she has no screen presence. I could as easily have seen her husband, Stanley, deciding to leave her because she was boring. Yes, attractive in a pretty sort of way. But boring and unremarkable. If Sheridan was the "Oomph Girl," Lindsay was the "No oomph whatsoever" girl.
Early on her character, Isabel, decides to leave her husband - and give up her child - to follow a gambler. And no, he's not particularly handsome or attractive. Do NOT imagine Nicky Arnstein as played by Omar Sharif. Any woman who gave up her child to follow another man would have lost pretty much all audience sympathy in 1938. That becomes a real problem, because Lindsay has top billing in this movie. Sheridan's Fay ends up marrying Stanley and is a good Aunt Fay to the little girl, but that doesn't excuse Isabel's abandonment of her child.
So, at the end, in order not to lose the audience altogether, Isabel has to sacrifice her life in order to save the life of her child. It's not very convincing, and I don't know how audiences in 1938 would have seen it. It really comes out of nowhere, because for most of her time away from her daughter Isabel doesn't particularly seem to miss her.
This movie makes Sheridan look good. Marie Wilson had better parts. Dewey Robinson, as the gangster with a good heart for children, stands out in a small part. Otherwise, the rest of this movie is pretty forgettable.
The good point is Ann Sheridan. She hasn't got a great part here, but she does what she can with it, and in her typically brash way comes across as very engaging.
The problem here is Margaret Lindsey. Unlike Sheridan, she has no screen presence. I could as easily have seen her husband, Stanley, deciding to leave her because she was boring. Yes, attractive in a pretty sort of way. But boring and unremarkable. If Sheridan was the "Oomph Girl," Lindsay was the "No oomph whatsoever" girl.
Early on her character, Isabel, decides to leave her husband - and give up her child - to follow a gambler. And no, he's not particularly handsome or attractive. Do NOT imagine Nicky Arnstein as played by Omar Sharif. Any woman who gave up her child to follow another man would have lost pretty much all audience sympathy in 1938. That becomes a real problem, because Lindsay has top billing in this movie. Sheridan's Fay ends up marrying Stanley and is a good Aunt Fay to the little girl, but that doesn't excuse Isabel's abandonment of her child.
So, at the end, in order not to lose the audience altogether, Isabel has to sacrifice her life in order to save the life of her child. It's not very convincing, and I don't know how audiences in 1938 would have seen it. It really comes out of nowhere, because for most of her time away from her daughter Isabel doesn't particularly seem to miss her.
This movie makes Sheridan look good. Marie Wilson had better parts. Dewey Robinson, as the gangster with a good heart for children, stands out in a small part. Otherwise, the rest of this movie is pretty forgettable.