Slightly Dangerous *** (1943, Lana Turner, Robert Young, Dame May Whitty, Walter Brennan, Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Florence Bates) – Classic Movie Review 6706

Director Wesley Ruggles’s 1943 MGM movie stars Lana Turner as Peggy Evans, a bored 21-year-old soda counter waitress who leaves her hick American town for New York, where she gets a make-over and masquerades as industrialist Cornelius Burden (Walter Brennan)’s long-lost daughter Carol Burden, even convincing him of the trickery.

The notable MGM players struggle against a silly romantic comedy yarn, and the lovely Lana, though game for anything, really has not got the heart or soul for comedy. There are quite a few laughs, though, from Eugene Pallette (as Durstin) and Alan Mowbray (as English gentleman) and countless others in this fast-moving, now rather rare, collectors’ item.

The lovely Lana Turner.

Dame May Whitty (as Baba) and Florence Bates (as Mrs Amanda Roanoke-Brooke) are welcome as always, and stylish Robert Young is an asset in a polished comedy performance as Turner’s rejected store manager Bob Stuart, who follows her to New York when he reads the story about her new identity.

Slightly Dangerous is written by Charles Lederer and George Oppenheimer from a story by Aileen Hamilton. It runs 94 minutes, is shot in black and white by Harold Rosson, is produced by Pandro S Berman, is scored by Bronislau Kaper and Eric Zeisl, and is designed by Cedric Gibbons and Malcolm Brown.

Also in the cast are Howard Freeman as Mr Quill, Millard Mitchell as Baldwin, Ward Bond as Jimmy, Pamela Blake as Mitzi, Ray Collins as Snodgrass, Paul Stanton as Stanhope, OK Ford as music lover and Emory Parnell as policeman.

The sequence when Peggy works at the soda fountain while blindfolded was directed by an uncredited Buster Keaton.

Turner was big news at this time. Slightly Dangerous cost $918,000 and earned $1,579,000 in the US and Canada and $672,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $4,776,000.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6706

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com