The Lucky Stiff (1949)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Produced by comedian Jack Benny of all people, The Lucky Stiff is one of those attempts at a mystery-comedy that turn out to be neither particularly mysterious nor anything more than sporadically comic.With one major and a handful of minor exceptions, the cast is uniformly terrible. Brian Donlevy is quite unconvincing as a brash, one-dimensional detective who has a yen for a nightclub singer but does little to save her from the electric chair when she is falsely accused of murder. Claire Trevor has the thankless role of his secretary. Despite clichéd writing and indifferent direction, she plays more competently than most other members of the cast. Worst of all is Robert Armstrong. Donlevy runs him close. Majorie Rambeau comes in a few lengths away, third.The one shining exception to the general lack of acting acumen is Dorothy Lamour. She is given an entrance, singing a lovely song called "Loneliness". She manages it so superbly as to overcome even LeRoy Prinz's somewhat tatty staging. Thereafter, although she is not always photographed or costumed at her most flattering, and though the script is confused and her motivation is muddled, she shines through by weight of sheer talent and personality. Almost alone and unaided, she makes The Lucky Stiff worth seeing.Irene Hervey and Virginia Patton should also be excused from the general stigma of bad acting. They do okay in very small roles. The only other player worth a pat on the back is Billy Vine who is occasionally amusing as a harassed barkeeper/mortician.99 minutes is too long a running time for what is a very modestly-budgeted film. Trimming would certainly help. As we wouldn't dream of cutting any of Miss Lamour's scenes, we can only suggest that the game Miss Trevor suffer further by having portion of her tete-a-tete scenes with Donlevy hit the cutting-room floor.The Lucky Stiff is a pre-eminent example of star talent surmounting trite material.

Lawyer Brian Donlevy (Malone) visits his usual nightclub where he is asked by wealthy old lady client Marjorie Rambeau (Hattie) to put a stop to the protection racket that is spreading across town and forcing prices up. He visits this particular club because he has got the hots for singer Dorothy Lamour (Anna Marie St. Clair). He arranges with nightclub owner/gangster Charles Meredith (Jim Childers) for an introduction to Lamour and requests that she sings another song. However, this song never materializes as moments after meeting Dorothy, she is arrested for shooting big boss Meredith. She gets the death sentence and it's up to Donlevy and his assistant Claire Trevor (Maggie) to get to the truth of what really happened and find out who is behind the protection racket.Beware that this is not a serious film. It is part-serious and part-comedy (but never funny) and you may be disappointed. I was. The film needed to be one or the other. There are good sequences such as Lamour appearing at a window in a cafe one stormy night after it has been announced that she is dead. Put this scene into a serious film and it's good. Put it into a comedy and it's wasted. Just as so much else is. The plot is totally stupid and half the cast play for comedy, with 2 main offenders being Inspector Robert Armstrong (Von Flanagan) who plays a stereotypical stupid policeman who is never funny but tries to be, and Claire Trevor who plays things in a slightly laid-back manner and gets lumbered with some slapstick. This takes all the tension out of the proceedings and, quite frankly, helps to ruin the film.We do get some amusing parts such as Lamour walking around with her head completely covered up, but again, this would be a nonsense in a serious film. Nobody seems to question this peculiar behaviour which is totally unbelievable. You need to suspend belief for this one and a few clichés are thrown in - you'll know the sort - someone is about to spill the beans when BANG. They get shot. Yep, that happens. More than once. There also seems a little bit too much going on at times and Donlevy never really convinces as a lead man in this mish-mash. What's a lawyer doing trying to sort this mess out anyway? It's up to the police! There is a cool car in this film, but, unfortunately, it gets involved in another tiresome slapstick routine on one occasion. Things like this dragged the film down so I have to conclude that as it is not a serious film, nor is it a comedy, nor given the title is it a porno.......it just isn't particularly good. You may or may not guess the outcome but it really doesn't matter. It's watchable but that's it.

I know that Lewis R Foster is not a film noir specialist, but rather a adventure or western one. Look for instance CROSSWINDS, CAPTAIN CHINA, LAST OUTPOST or EL PASO and so on...As film noirs, I saw ARMORED CAR, CRASHOUT, MANHANDLED, and I was not disappointed. This film is not really a crime movie, but a mix up of crime, comedy or drama with a light touch. But not charmless. Typically from the late 40's, it should please many of the film buffs. rare stuff too. The playing is quite good, but I can't consider it as an unforgettable movie. I guess Lewis R Foster made some more films like this, not westerns or adventures. Petty dramas or comedies. I only know he never directed sci fi flicks.Well, after all, why not watching this one...