Panama Lady *** (1939, Lucille Ball, Allan Lane, Steffi Duna, Donald Briggs) – Classic Movie Review 9894

Director Jack Hively’s lively 1939 RKO Pictures romance drama Panama Lady is a cleaned-up remake of the 1932 pre-Code film Panama Flo.

Lucille Ball takes on Helen Twelvetrees’s former role of Flo as Lucy, a weary dance-hall nightclub hostess stranded in Panama by her ex-lover Roy (Donald Briggs).

Allan Lane co-stars as rough-and-ready oil rigger McTeague, who holds Lucy responsible for a shakedown orchestrated by Roy. Lucy agrees to accompany McTeague to his oil camp in the jungle as his housekeeper to avoid landing in jail.

Lucille Ball is surprisingly good, or perhaps unsurprisingly good, and the making of an intriguing movie, shot in noirish black and white by J Roy Hunt. It runs only 65 minutes.

The main cast are Lucille Ball as Lucy, Allan Lane as McTeague, Steffi Duna as Cheema, Donald Briggs as Roy Harmon, Evelyn Brent as Lenore and Bernadene Hayes as Pearl, with Abner Biberman, William Pawley and Earle Hodgins.

The screenplay is by Michael Kanin, based on Garrett Fort’s story.

Allan Lane is best known for his Westerns. Allan ‘Rocky’ Lane (22 September 1909 – 27 October 1973) starred in many cowboy B-movies in the 1940s and 1950s, and appeared in more than 125 films and TV shows from 1929 to 1966.

Panama Lady is directed by Jack Hively, runs 65 minutes, is made and released by RKO Pictures, is written by Michael Kanin, based on Garrett Fort’s story, is shot in black and white by J Roy Hunt, is produced by Cliff Reid, is scored by Roy Webb and designed by Van Nest Polglase.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9894

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Lucille Ball as Lucy, Allan Lane as McTeague.