It All Came True (1940)

Director:

Lewis Seiler

Writers:

Louis Bromfield (story)
Michael Fessier (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 April 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Another sizzling story by the author of "The Rains Came"...and starring ANN Sheridan the one girl in all Hollywood who can really live the part of the teasing, tempting, man-handling heroine of IT ALL CAME TRUE By LOUIS BROMFIELD

Plot:

Nightclub entertainer Sarah Ryan and songwriter Tommy Taylor move in to the boardinghouse run by their mothers Maggie and Norah...

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Gangster | Boarding House | Fire | Singer

Cast

Ann Sheridan	...	Sarah Jane Ryan aka Sal
Jeffrey Lynn	...	Tommy Taylor
Humphrey Bogart	...	Grasselli aka Chips Maguire
Zasu Pitts	...	Miss Flint
Una O'Connor	...	Maggie Ryan
Jessie Busley	...	Mrs. Nora Taylor
John Litel	...	Mr. 'Doc' Roberts
Grant Mitchell	...	Mr. Rene Salmon
Felix Bressart	...	The Great Boldini
Charles Judels	...	Henri Pepi de Bordeaux
Brandon Tynan	...	Mr. Van Diver
Howard C. Hickman	...	Mr. Prendergast (as Howard Hickman)
Herb Vigran	...	Monks, Stoolie (as Herbert Vigran)
Tommy Reilly	...	Performer
The Elderbloom Chorus	...	Group Performers

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6005)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Producer Mark Hellinger's dislike for executive producer Hal B. Wallis became even stronger after this film was released. Though the film was critically acclaimed and made money for Warners, print ads at the time mentioned Hal B. Wallis as executive producer (though uncredited in the film), Jack L. Warner in charge of production and Lewis Seiler as director, but did not even mention Mark Hellinger, who had received screen credit as producer. This was one of the contributing factors to Hellinger soon leaving Warners for 20th Century Fox. (Source: "The Mark Hellinger Story" by Jim Bishop, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1952)

Quotes:

Grasselli aka Chips Maguire: You know that marriage is a pretty tough thing. I wouldn't change sentences with you for all the tea in China.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Soundtrack:

Cuddle Up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine

The Roaring Nineties

It All Came True finds Humphrey Bogart as a gangster on the lam from killing a police stoolie and using a gun that was registered to club piano player Jeffrey Lynn to do the deed. With the stoolie probably telling the cops about his regular hideouts, Bogart has Jeffrey Lynn under a blackmail threat about the weapon hide him in a boarding house that is run jointly by Lynn's mother Jessie Burley and Una O'Connor who is the mother of Ann Sheridan.

Sheridan and Lynn were childhood sweethearts, she's a chorus girl, he's an aspiring composer and the Moms hoped that they'll be joint grandmothers some day. Bogart is hiding under an assumed name at the boardinghouse, but Sheridan recognizes him.

Perhaps the fact that he's away from the police spotlight, fooling them even temporarily makes Bogart fall under the charms of the place which is a theatrical boardinghouse. O'Connor and Burley wax nostalgic about the Gay Nineties and Bogart kind of does also. Bear in mind that this was probably when he was a kid in the film.

It All Came True is the kind of film that would have been better suited to James Cagney. In fact he did several fine nostalgic type films in his career like Frisco Kid, Johnny Come Lately, Strawberry Blonde, and The Time Of Your Life. I'm betting this was a property that Warner Brothers developed for Cagney, but for some reason or other Cagney couldn't do it.

Sheridan's feet are firmly in the 20th century however, she delivers a few zingers that were quite up to date for the audience. Until Rita Hayworth was established, Ann was Hollywood's number one redhead and she had a bit more wit in her scripts than Rita got at Columbia.

Maybe with Cagney in the lead and someone like Frank Capra directing and someone like Damon Runyon doing the screenplay, It All Came True could have been a real classic. It's an amusing comedy as it is with Ann Sheridan at her career height and Humphrey Bogart on the crest of becoming a legend.