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This is a delightful comedy with film noir overtones, directed with great assurance by Lloyd Bacon. Viewing it after 64 years since it's original release, it still brings great satisfaction to anyone who is looking for a movie without pretensions, but one with a powerful message about how we get sidetracked in the pursuit of accomplishment, acceptance and being decent to everyone we encounter.
The great Edward G. Robinson makes this picture come alive. He was an actor whose presence overshadowed everything else around him. His Johnny Sarto, a man who is into rackets, has had it and decides to go straight and to things that he considers will give him "class". Alas, he discovers in the process that what he takes for class and polish his nothing of what he thought it would be.
Johnny discovers, perhaps too late, that whatever he was aiming for doesn't give him any satisfaction. Being drawn into the monastery, for the wrong reasons, he learns from the monks a thing, or two, about humility, charity and fulfillment. It is at this point when Johnny realizes he has finally achieved the class he was looking for in the wrong places.
Excellent appearances in the film by Ann Sothern, Ralph Bellamy, Donald Crisp and Allen Jenkins make this gem of a movie worth watching. Humphrey Bogart plays a minor role.
score 7/10
jotix100 26 August 2004
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0021284/ |
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28-3-2021 12:06:10