Sorrowful Jones *** (1949, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest) – Classic Movie Review 9196

Damon Runyon’s short story Markie is reworked in director Sidney Lanfield’s 1949 Sorrowful Jones as an amusing vehicle for Bob Hope, spreading his wings in a straight character part as Sorrowful Jones, a bookie who has to take care of a gambler’s daughter, left by her father as an unclaimed marker for a bet.  Sorrowful Jones is a successful remake by Paramount Pictures of its 1934 film Little Miss Marker, with Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou.

Mary Jane Saunders is winsome as the child, Martha Jane Smith, Lucille Ball is a big plus as Gladys O’Neill, the Runyonesque nightclub singer Hope’s Sorrowful Jones is mixed up with (along with the usual bookies, gangsters and racetrack sharks) and William Demarest stands out in support as Regret. No regret at his casting, then.

The script by Melville Shavelson, Edmund L Hartmann and Jack Rose, which uses the original 1934 screenplay by William R Lipman, Sam Hellman and Gladys Lehman, is all decked up sparkling new for Bob Hope, who takes to it like a duck to water or a gambler to the race track.

Also in the cast are Bruce Cabot, Thomas Gomez, Tom Pedi, Houseley Stevenson, Paul Lees, Ben Welden, Emmett Vogan, Claire Carleton, Harry Tyler, Ralph Peters, Ed Dearing, Arthur Space, Frank Mills, Louise Lorimer, John Shay and Selmer Jackson.

Sorrowful Jones is directed by Sidney Lanfield, runs 88 minutes, is made and released by Paramount, is written by Melville Shavelson, Edmund L Hartmann and Jack Rose, based on Damon Runyon’s short story and the original 1934 screenplay by William R Lipman, Sam Hellman and Gladys Lehman, is shot in black and white by Daniel L Fapp, is produced by Robert L Welch, is scored by Robert Emmett Dolan, and is designed by Sam Comer.

It is shot at Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood.

It is remade as Forty Pounds of Trouble in 1962 and as Little Miss Marker in 1980.

It is the first of four feature films that Bob Hope and Lucille Ball made together, up to Critic’s Choice (1963).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9196

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