A stunningly mistitled film, rather loosely based on a novel of the same name by Somerset Maugham, adapted by 'Mr Flashback' Herman Mankiewicz.
On leave soldier Dean Harens wants to get to California to confront a girlfriend who has jilted him, but gets stuck in New Orleans. There he encounters pushy and dodgy journalist Richard Whorf (Juke Girl) who introduces him to nightclub singer Deanna Durbin, and she recounts her sorry story of relationship with gambler Gene Kelly.
Made with the skill I'm now beginning to fully realise as Siodmak, who moves his camera elegantly and is a master of mise en scene - for example, when we go in for the medium shot of Deanna's opening song, you can see behind her a girl in a party dress beckoning for fellow partygoers to follow her up the stairs. Crowd scenes like this seem to have a lot going on in them.
But this is kind of a crazy film and not altogether successful as we're none too sure whether Kelly is innocent or guilty until too late. Also it feels a bit padded with Cathedral and Concert scenes (obviously real footage into which the studio stuff is cut) - not uninteresting though. Gale Sondergaard is spooky as his mother, Gladys George is the nightclub owner.
Photographed well by Elwood Bredell, who also did a good job in Siodmak's Phantom Lady, and editor Ted Kent had worked with him before too. Music by Hans Salter, with good use also of Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde'. Universal.
I've been thinking about how tall the 4x3 ratio is, which may seem an odd thing to say, but it's nevertheless true.
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