Sailor's Luck (1933) User Reviews

Victor Jory Gives This One Pep!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 23 April 2020]

Sally Eilers and James Dunn were given the roles of a life time as the pair of street wise New Yorkers who face trials and tribulations when they marry. Sally was originally a Sennett girl whom Sennett called "the most beautiful girl in movies" - she did get around socially but movie stardom evaded her. With "Bad Sister" both she and Jimmy could show their true talent but even though both they and the film were praised to the skies, Fox saw them as a B team - Sally may have scored a hit on her own with "State Fair" but together their films were double bill fare. Sally was also having marriage problems which along with her forth right opinions and salty language may have been why Fox never really got behind her. "Sailor's Luck" was her first movie after her divorce woes and once again she was co-starred with Dunn.

Dunn plays extrovert sailor Jimmy who meets swim instructress Sally (who can't swim!!) - which makes for shennanighans at the local pool. Not a movie up there with Raoul Walsh's best, seems to rely on comic turns from the supporting cast, as well as the charm of Jimmy and Sally. Victor Jory helps a lot - he does his best to give the film a bit of grittiness, he is Baron Portolo, the sleazy hotel manager where Sally is staying. Jimmy promises to return but once he is aboard all leave is cancelled!! So the Baron moves in on her!!

There is the usual misunderstanding - Jimmy returns and feels Sally's room is like Grand Central station - what with the Baron and frazzled Mr. Brown, whose little boy Elmer Sally is minding. Sally gets fed up with Jimmy's moods, impulsively enters a dance marathon organised by the Baron and soon there is a free for all on the dance floor!!

Victor Jory had a bumper movie year in 1933 with 9 releases. This is very light weight fun!!

A fun wild and wacky comedy that never lets down for a moment.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 31 October 2013]

Sally Eilers and James Dunn make a great pair in this naval comedy in a year when "She Learned About Sailors", "Son of a Sailor" and a variety of other amusing looks at life at sea came out to brighten up the lives of depression era audiences. This is one of the more obscure and grabs you from the get-go, never letting go. Eilers is an innocent young woman down on her luck who is helped by Dunn yet not helped by some misunderstandings concerning a divorced man raising his son alone and the lecherous landlord (Victor Jory) who makes a play for the pretty Ms. Eilers. Esther Muir has some very amusing lines as a hard-boiled dame whom you know is hiding the proverbial heart of gold. The film's one minor flaw is the change in direction at the very beginning (where Eilers is seen as a swimming instructor who can't swim) and switches gears without explanation. But once it does get to the direction which takes up 3/4 of the film's very short running time, everything is fine, and speedy direction by the legendary Raoul Walsh makes for an amusing pre-code comedy with tons of innuendo galore.

Avoid

[AAdaSC · 1/10 · 22 May 2020]

What a load of cack.

I had stopped writing film reviews as I was just watching too many to keep up. There are a sizeable number of films from the 1930s that I just didn't get around to writing up and, for this, I apologize to all my fans. However, this atrocity of a film has brought me back for a one-off as I feel that the 3 other reviewers have been very misleading in the drivel that they have written about this film. Having read their reviews, I bought myself a copy and I now feel it my duty to relay the truth about this nonsense.

The film is a love story wherein sailor James Dunn (Jimmy) and unemployed Sally Eilers (Sally) find happiness together. However, there is no real story as such. It's a case of idiot sailor falls in love with girl and she falls in love with him. The end. The genre is listed as a 'comedy' but it's not ever funny. It contains shouty scenes with so-called comedy characters and some "hilarious" prankster sailors running around adding nothing to the film other than to stretch the audience's patience.

Are we meant to identify with James Dunn? Impossible to do. He has a false innocence with an inane grin that makes him look stupid as he keeps his mouth constantly open (terrible acting). Shut your mouth when you're happy, you muppet!! And he has a horrendous jealousy streak which we are meant to identify with??!! It fuels his bullying behaviour which manifests itself in violence towards his girlfriend Eilers (whether tearing up clothes or smashing things) or punching innocent people such as Sally Eilers' dancing partner at the dance contest. He is meant to be a role model for us??!! This is just atrocious garbage with misguided messages to the youth and impressionable adults watching. The writers should be fined for submitting this rubbish. I have nothing good to say about any of the cast. It's a complete waste of time.

One added annoyance is that the imdb running time gives the film's length at 64 minutes. However, my copy ran for an insufferable 15 minutes longer than this.

It is just plain awful.

Enjoyable little comedy

[hmpulham · 8/10 · 19 February 2002]

James Dunn's flair for comedy, and Sally Eilers' sexiness, added spark to this old Fox comedy. The older Fox films, before the merger with Twentieth Century Pictures, have not been as well preserved, vis a via say, MGM or Warner Brothers. I hope "Sailor's Luck" still survives.