Lucky Partners (1940)

Powerful

Just what I expected

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

After spending all evening with a family friend,I decided to end the night by watching a film. Planning to view the French Neo-Noir Mea Culpa,I stumbled on a rare RKO title about to leave BBC iPlayer,which led to me trying my luck.The plot:Walking down a street, Jean Newton bumps into a man who randomly wishes her good luck. Taking the words to heart,Newton starts experiencing good luck. Tracking down her lucky charm,Newton finds out that his name is David Grant. Wanting to see how far this luck can go,Newton gets her fiancé to stand aside and let her and Grant put a bet on the Sweepstakes. Playing his own luck,Grant says he will agree to the idea,only if Newton goes on a holiday with him. View on the film:Turning His Girl Friday down for the role, Ginger Rogers gives a sparkling performance as Newton,with Rogers delivering the Screwball Comedy dialogue with a sweetness,and giving Newton a light romantic simmering. Bouncing off Jack Carson hilariously playing Newton's geeky boyfriend, Ronald Colman gives a terrific performance as Grant,who blocks Newton's attempts to find out more about him,by Colman giving Grant a slippery, gentlemen smoothness.Getting Grant and Newton in the same bed with stylish spilt-screen, co-writer(with George Haight/Edwin Justus Mayer/ Franz Schulz/Allan Scott and John Van Druten) director Lewis Milestone & cinematographer Robert De Grasse keep the Screwball Comedy atmosphere whip-smart, with pristine pans catching the reactions from Newton and Grants playful exchanges. Playing their luck in adapting Sacha Guitry & Fernand Rivers film Bonne chance!,the writers keep the first encounters of Newton and Grant deliciously lively,with their deals on good luck leading to funny exchanges with those who don't have their lucky hands. While the ending slyly mocks rules of the Hays Code, the decision to end the movie in a courtroom leads to the flick losing a spring in its step,due to the dialogue getting used to untangle the knots in the plot,as the luck runs out.

Lucky Partners has Ronald Colman as a reclusive artist with a dodgy past who wishes Ginger Rogers good luck while she passes him on the street.Rogers gets an expensive dress that is being discarded to a house she visits. She thinks Colman is good luck and they cook up a scheme where they would go halves in some kind of Irish sweepstake's.Rogers wants the money to go on honeymoon with her beau Jack Carson. Colman wants to take Rogers on some kind of platonic honeymoon and he manages to persuade dunderhead Jack that this is a good idea.Of course on their road trip Colman and Rogers find out that they love each other and Colman decides to scarper but ends up getting arrested and it all ends in a courtroom showdown when it is revealed that Colman is a rather famous and notorious painter.Director Lewis Milestone won an Oscar for directing All Quiet on the Western Front, so maybe not someone who you might think would show a deft touch with a romantic comedy and truth to be told he makes heavy going of it.Colman looks too old to be sweeping Rogers off her feet and there is little chemistry between them. The courtroom scenes at the end was just farcical giving the movie a left turn.

A romantic comedy along the lines of 'It Happened One Night' (1934) but Ronald Colman is the incognito one. Ginger Rogers isn't in the know but agrees to take a Platonic road trip with him even though she's engaged to someone else. This is pretty risqué material for 1940 and there's a bit at the end which could be interpreted as a jab at the Hays Code (thanks to Equinox23 for that insight). Directed by Lewis Milestone ('All Quiet on the Western Front', 'Of Mice and Men') with a story that keeps one intrigued thanks to its unpredictability, it is a perfectly delightful piece of entertainment guaranteed to leave a warm fuzzy feeling. Several other reviewers here are rather harsh on this film, citing lack of plausibility, chemistry, etc. If you want plausibility see 'Judgment at Nuremberg' but if you enjoy romantic comedy don't let the nitpickers here dissuade you from seeing this charming film.

Considering the film starred Ginger and Ronald, I really did expect to enjoy it a lot more than I did. That's because no matter how good the middle of the movie was (and it was SIGNIFICANTLY better), the main plot idea was so fatally flawed and dumb that the film was majorly handicapped at the onset. Then, to top it off, the film managed to have an even worse ending--making it a truly terrible film overall.As far as the plot goes, Ginger and Ronald don't know each other, but when they pass on the street, Ronald wishes her good luck. And, surprisingly, good luck seems to come her way immediately afterwords. So, using "movie logic", Ginger reasons that Ronald is so lucky that they should both buy a lottery ticket together. While this is far-fetched, this COULD have worked. However, then, when Ronald agrees BUT only on the stipulation that if they win, she should accompany him on a vacation, the script just makes no sense at all--especially since she is already engaged to Jack Carson. So, as you can see, from the onset the film is hindered by impossibly stupid and contrived events.Now as I said above, despite these problems, this COULD have still been a delightful film--especially since when they DO go on the trip together, the film is very romantic and likable. HOWEVER, the last 15 minutes or so are absolutely dreadful!!! It was obvious that the writers had no idea what to do with the story, so they contrived the arrest of Ronald Colman and a subsequent trial--even though there isn't any real evidence any crime has been committed. They could have just checked the registration to figure out the car was not stolen, but instead it becomes a HUGE trial and all normal court procedure, as we know it, is out the window!!! Ronald is his own lawyer and asks a lot of annoying questions. This is odd but COULD have happened in a real court case. However, when the judge later lets Ginger take over as the prosecutor and ask Ronald such questions as "do you love me?", the film hits an absolute low as far as common sense goes.Aside from films like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and TOMMY, this is one of the worst films I have seen in some time. Giving it a 3 was VERY charitable and only occurred because the middle of the film DID work well. Avoid this like the plague, as I doubt either Ginger or Ronald made anything worse--and this DOES include THE STORY OF MANKIND! YUCK!!!