Risky Business (1939) User Reviews

George Murphy and Eduardo Ciannelli Shine in Overlooked 1939 Crime Drama

[OldFilmLover · 7/10 · 10 November 2014]

Risky Business (1939) is a reasonably well-crafted crime fiction from Universal, directed by Arthur Lubin. It stars George Murphy and Dorothea Kent. Murphy, the only person in the cast who would qualify as a major star at the time (and even he wasn't all that major), is convincing as a radio journalist who, jaded by years of writing harsh film reviews, decides to make the rescue of a kidnapped heiress the cause of his career. He is aided by his secretary "Dexter" (Dorothea Kent) who loves him, though he himself feels only friendly camaraderie toward her. The main villains in the piece are Leon Ames and Eduardo Ciannelli. Ciannelli, in his few scenes, manages to steal the show. This would not be hard in a film populated exclusively by character actors (other than Murphy), but Ciannelli is malignantly villainous. After Murphy and perhaps Kent, he is the most impressive actor in the film.

Despite the lack of A-list stars, the film moves along quite nicely for its 67 minutes, carried by a decent plot, adequate dialogue, reasonably good performances by the supporting cast, and a strong performance by George Murphy. I see that it currently has a rating of 7.4 on IMDb; this, I think, is slightly higher than warranted for this "B" crime drama, but it definitely rates a 7, maybe even a 7.2.

I don't think the film has ever been available on VHS or DVD. Perhaps it occasionally shows up on late-night television. At least one ebay merchant has DVD-Rs of the film. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime dramas, not as a "must-see" (from the same year, a "must see" is The Roaring Twenties), but definitely as "worth seeing."

Interesting for its parallels to the Patty Hearst case.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 21 August 2020]

For a film made 35 years before that Infamous kidnapping, this film is pretty ahead of its time. George Murphy, already a star of musical comedy, was like Jake Paul in the sense that he wanted to get away from song-and-dance rolls and take on tougher characters. Here, he's a gruff reporter who goes undercover in the mob and faces two major criminals played excellently by Leon Ames and Eduardo Cianelli who's way of delivering lines is very crafty and manipulative.

In his relatively small time on screen, Cianelli is chilling, making me wonder how he would have been as a horror film actor rather than the crafty villains such as his evil scientist here. As Murphy's secretary, Dorothea Kent has great timing. A scene with the kidnapped girl's parents (Charles Trowbridge and Mary Forbes) is nail biting and sad. The clever writing adds to the strength of the performances, and for a B film from a secondary studio, this one is a surprise entry in the dozens of above-average films that came out during Hollywood's greatest film year.

Yawn

[AAdaSC · 3/10 · 19 August 2023]

Well, that was pretty boring.

George Murphy (Dan) is a radio announcer who gets obsessed with solving the case of a kidnapped woman and spends the film liaising with the underworld to secure her release.

The film has zero energy in terms of action and Murphy spends the whole film delivering monotone dialogue which saps the energy levels even further. We also spend a ludicrous amount of time at the beginning of the film with people endlessly saying hello to Murphy. There are way too many characters thrown at us. Receptionist Dorothea (Kent Dexter) provides the love interest for Murphy but he plays the film detached from her and her advances and is quite horrible to her.

Gangster Eduardo Ciannelli (Decarno) gets the best line of dialogue when he says "If it weren't for murder and famine, we'd have a far worse population problem". Yeah, he's right.

I asked my wife what mark she would rate this film and her response was "yawn". I agree with her.