Double or Nothing *** (1937, Bing Crosby, Mary Carlisle, Martha Raye, Andy Devine, William Frawley, Benny Baker) – Classic Movie Review 7389

Director Theodore Reed’s 1937 Paramount Pictures black and white comedy musical Double or Nothing re-teams Bing Crosby and Mary Carlisle after College Humor (1933), and also stars Martha Raye, Andy Devine, William Frawley and Benny Baker.

In the story by M Coates Webster, an eccentric dying millionaire (oh, that there were more of them about!) sends four random strangers – crooner Crosby (as Lefty Boylan!), Frawley (as John Pederson), Devine (as Half Pint) and Raye (as Liza Lou Lane) – bankrolls of $5,000 in money that they have to double by honest means in a month to win the jackpot – becoming his heir.

Double or Nothing is a snappily played comedy, inspired no doubt by the similarly themed 1932 classic If I Had a Million. Crosby is on good comedy and vocal form, with a pleasant clutch of tunes (including ‘The Moon Got in My Eyes’) to trill, and Carlisle, Devine, Frawley and Baker are good company, but, even so, it is the abrasive, seemingly effortlessly funny Raye who easily steals the picture.

Also in the cast are Samuel S Hinds, William Henry, Fay Holden, Bert Hanlon, Gilbert Emery, Walter Kingsford, John Gallaudet and Charles Irwin.

Crosby and Carlisle re-teamed a third time for Doctor Rhythm (1938).

It is one of the five films on the Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]: Double or Nothing (1937) / East Side of Heaven (1939) / Here Come the Waves (1944) / If I Had My Way (1940) / Waikiki Wedding (1937).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7389

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