Fashion Model (1945)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

I'll tell you why so serious

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"Fashion Model" is a terrible old B-mystery. Even by the relatively low standards of such films, this one is very hard to watch--and it's certainly no surprise that the folks starring in this one never went on to become big stars!The film is set in a fashionable dress shop--the type that would have models display the clothing for customers. When one of the models is murdered, two total idiots, Jimmy and Peggy, are implicated. Stupidly, pretty much EVERYTHING the pair subsequently do makes them look even more guilty. A lot of these things are supposed to be funny but they are painfully unfunny due to extremely broad acting and writing. The escape from the police and wedding gown scenes are particularly bad, as they rely on everyone around the pair to be stupider than tomatoes in order for their cockeyed plans to work! Again and again, the writer assumed the best way to handle everything was to dumb down the script--to such a low and silly level that the film becomes unwatchably bad. Additionally, the movie is filled with clichés, unlikable characters and all the charm and fun of a dead possum.

Monogram pictures was one of the first movie studios to jump on the film noir bandwagon with such early examples of low-budget artistic genius in films such as "When Strangers Marry", "Detour" and "Decoy". What looks on the outside like another attempt at conquering that genre ends up being a comic flop. There's something very "noirish" about a murder inside a fashion house, the victim a nasty model (Lorna Gray) who made a play for the another model's man (Robert Lowery). The film does start off rather amusingly with the portly Nell Craig giving a hard time to each of the models exhibiting dresses that are obviously totally wrong for her, and Craig's milquetoast husband (Harry Depp) unable to get a word in edgewise. It almost seems like the victim is going to be the snooty society matron, but when Lowery finds Gray inside a dumb waiter, that theory is proved wrong. Everybody who was in the modeling house at the time (which includes its society kissing hostess Dorothy Christy) becomes a suspect, the only clue being a missing brooch which shows up in the costume jewelry box, only to disappear, leading to another murder.What sounds easy entertainment in writing ends up being a ridiculous excuse for a "B" budget film on script. There's too many red herrings, and it seems that the two idiotic detectives (Tim Ryan and Dewey Robinson) came right out of another cheaply made Monogram comic mystery, the two "Kitty O'Day" films made prior to this. Indeed, Ryan played a practically similar idiotic detective in those films, only the names have been changed to protect the stupid. While the film actually looks pretty elegant, that doesn't cover the fact that this is really the epitome of what makes the Z-grade movie studios sometimes what PRC was commonly called-"Pretty Rotten Cinema". Monogram's film output was hit or miss, sometimes surprisingly artistic, even their hour long westerns. But "Fashion Model" deserves an extra "Z" because not only is it a massive disappointment, but you might find yourself nodding off because of its insipidness.

Fashion Model feels like an adaptation of a play--a very poorly written farce. Released in 1945, this B&W film has almost no plot. It is merely a series of gags, most of which fall flat.It is as sophisticated as a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but was probably meant to be a madcap romp. At various times, it reminded me of an episode of the Superman TV show. Jimmy and Peggy reminded me of Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane with their "Aw Shucks" and "Jeepers" approach to acting.The movie might have worked if they had Groucho Marx out front, or Laurel & Hardy. Then the core of the movie might have been funny or clever.Unconvincing acting and horrible dialogue plague this film. The police are depicted as stupid--so stupid that, again, it feels cartoonish. Time spent watching this film could be better spent.

Peggy Rooney (Weaver) is a model and Jimmy O'Brien a stock boy at the high fashion dress store, Celeste's. Given that it's a Monogram, we get right down to business and a murder of one of the fashion models (Gray) occurs very shortly into the film. Inspector O'Hara (Ryan) and his dumb cop sidekick Grogan (Robinson) come to investigate and O'Hara at first decides it must be Jimmy O'Brien. Although I'm a fan of dumb, likable cop characters (my favorites are Ed Gargan and Tom Kennedy), Robinson's portrayal leaves me cold – he's just not humorous. Two more murders ensue; Rooney helps O'Brien escape from the police (she disguises herself as O'Brien's grandmother – which, of course, fools Grogan). Now they are fugitives and so it goes until the real murderer is caught. The best part of the movie is towards the end when Rooney and O'Brien are in the dress shop trying to evade the police. Although their initial disguise as an elderly "Southern" couple bombs as they're dressed in 19th century costumes, this is the only really jarring part of the movie. What does work is when they pretend to be mannequins and Jack Norton plays a drunken (what else?) window dresser. Norton has a pretty lengthy part and does a wonderful job. Tim Ryan also does a good job and is always fun to watch. Lowery and Weaver make a very good team and are good with light comedy.