It All Came True (1940) User Reviews

Sweet as they come

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 5 January 2009]

"It All Came True" is a delightful 1940 film starring Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn, and Zasu Pitts. Sheridan and Lynn are the adult children of business partners in a boarding house (Jessie Busley and Una O'Connor). The women are about to lose the house because of back taxes. Lynn is Tommy, a composer, and Sheridan is Sarah Jane, a nightclub entertainer. Both move back home, but Lynn brings his boss, Chips Maguire (Bogart) with him, who is hiding from the police. He's blackmailing Tommy into hiding him because the gun that killed the victim is in Tommy's name.

Chips can't leave his room, of course, and eventually grows bored with the entire arrangement. He recognizes the very attractive Sarah Jane as having been on the circuit, and decides to help her out by making the boarding house into a nightclub. He finances it and bails the women out of their financial troubles at the same time. Sarah Jane isn't interested in Chips - she's re-connected with Tommy - but naturally plays along. Tommy is uneasy; if Chips is caught, he'll tell the cops that Tommy committed the murder.

The plot may sound serious, but the film is filled with music and a lightheartedness that's hard to describe. Ann Sheridan was sort of the working man's Rita Hayworth. She was at Warner's, which put her low, sultry voice, mane of red hair and other assets to good use in a variety of roles. She wasn't as beautiful as Hayworth or as exotic, but she was more versatile as an actress. Here she's at the top of her game, singing and dancing up a storm and looking sensational. She really carries the film. Lynn, whose career lost its momentum after World War II, was a nice-looking, boy next door type of leading man, and does an able job here. Bogart is a riot; the man could do anything. Though his character is ruthless and dangerous, he comes off as extremely likable. The striking Zasu Pitts is wonderful as a boarder who sees men following her everywhere and can't handle her liquor. At all.

There's a charming sentiment about this film - it'll leave you smiling.

"I hate mudders."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 24 April 2014]

Fun WB comedy with Humphrey Bogart playing a gangster who blackmails piano player Jeffrey Lynn into hiding him out at his mother's boarding house. The boarding house is full of colorful characters such as Zasu Pitts, Felix Bressart, Grant Mitchell, and Una O'Connor. Not to mention beautiful Ann Sheridan. Before long Bogie gets the bright idea to turn the place into a night club, in part out of boredom and in part to impress Sheridan.

Bogie seems to be having a great time in a lighter role. He was really good with comedy. Sheridan is the real star of the picture. Her brassy character has all the best lines and even gets to sing some songs. The assorted kooks at the boarding house are lots of fun to watch. Great comedic character actors all. Even Jeffrey Lynn shines in this one. If you like WB gangster movies you'll surely like this. Lots of snappy dialogue and plenty of laughs too.

This cute little gem shows why Ann Sheridan was a star

[Scott-52 · 8/10 · 3 April 2004]

It isn't often a movie can change a mood, but this little piece of fluff did. Whether it was a chance to see a young Bogie doing some comic acting, or Jeffrey Lynn doing something besides standing in the shadows, or Ann Sheridan being more than a wisecracking dish, I don't know - but I expect it was the latter.

On one level this is a poor man's YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, with a dash of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE thrown in. It isn't oscar bait, but it does make you realize how much simple joy the hard working people at Warner Brothers gave to audiences during the Depression and the second world war. When I finished watching, I could just imagine pushing out into the evening air after the show, taking my date to get a piece a pie and cup of coffee someplace, and basking the warm glow of a simple happy time.

Taken for what it is, you'll have a heck of a good time with IT ALL CAME TRUE.

"Well I don't believe in villains Mr. Graselli, no, not even in real life. "

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 7 May 2006]

File this one under films you probably never heard of, but once you've seen it, it occupies a nice warm place in your movie library to help remind you of a simpler time and place. The title comes from Mrs. Nora Taylor's (Jessie Busley) romantic dream of having her son return home as a rich man to marry his childhood girlfriend. The happy ever after ending takes some time getting there, but it's fun to see how things work out, especially since it's gangster Chips Maguire (Humphrey Bogart) who helps make it all come true.

The movie gets it's energy from free spirited Sarah Jane Ryan (Ann Sheridan), displaying her usual sassiness and snappy banter - "Why I've been discovered so many times they call me Miss America". Like Tommy Taylor (Jeffrey Lynn), the breaks in life haven't come her way just yet, but there's always tomorrow. That break might become a reality when Maguire, on the run from the law at the Taylor/Ryan boarding house, gets a little bored and comes up with the idea of turning it into a 'Roaring 90's' style night club. Under cover as Graselli, the gangster ingratiates himself with the elderly ladies who operate the home, gradually coming out of his seclusion to become their angel in disguise (a tune by the way coming out of the film).

The boarding house features it's own cast of memorable characters as well. There's The Great Baldini (Felix Bressart) doing magic assisted by Fanto the Wonder Dog, and Zasu Pitts, on the run from imaginary assailants who winds up smoking out Maguire after seeing his picture in a "Perfect Detective" magazine. You'll really sit up and take notice though when on opening night at the boarding house, a group of nine elderly ladies takes the stage and breaks into a spirited song and dance routine.

Hey, remember that great old Warner Brothers cartoon that features Bugs Bunny and a whole bunch of musical numbers? - 'Rosie O'Grady', 'Pretty Baby', 'Oh You Beautiful Doll', 'Ain't We Got Fun', 'Just an Angel in Disguise' and 'When Irish Eyes are Smiling'. This has got to be the film that's being parodied. Even Bogey gets into the act with a few lines from 'Strolling Through the Park One Day'. Now I've got to get my hands on that cartoon again!

Ultimately, Bogart's character is caught dead to rights, and does the honorable, if not realistic thing of giving himself up without any further ado. His earlier plan of fingering Tommy for a gambling murder goes by the wayside, under the spell cast by Sally/Sarah and the boarding house citizens. OK, so it's not an award winner, but there's enough entertainment here to brighten your day and provide an hour and a half of music and fun. Even if you have to force yourself through Salmon's poetry reading.

A nice change of pace for tough-guy Bogart.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 19 January 2010]

Humphrey Bogart plays 'Mr. Grasselli'--a man who is sick and living in a rooming house while supposedly recuperating. In reality, he's Chips Maguire-a wanted thug who is hiding from the law. This sort of role is hardly surprising for Bogart in 1940, as he'd been playing gangsters in a variety of Warner Brothers films during the last few years. What is surprising, though, is that this film is a light comedy--with Bogie playing a less menacing sort of thug. While it's not a great film, considering that he'd been playing so many mobsters , it was nice to see a bit of a change.

Despite Maguire wanting to remain alone in his room all the time, the two nice old ladies who run the place urge him to come out and meet the other tenants. Eventually, he slowly emerges and begins socializing--and makes friends with the harmless residents and vice-versa. One of them, Ann Sheridan, however, knows who he is and you'd expect her to turn him in to the police. However, she doesn't and what she and this thug have in mind is something you'll need to see for yourself. It's all a little ridiculous, but also great fun.

With such residents as Felix Bressart, Una O'Connor (in one of her more restrained roles)and Zasu Pitts, the movie has a lot of colorful characters and give the film a certain charm and likability. This, combined with an unusual script make this film well worth seeing--especially people who love classic Hollywood or the films of Bogart.

Bogart is marvelous as a humorously grouchy gangster...

[Sleepy-17 · 8 February 2000]

...and Ann Sheridan can be quite fetching as the "showgirl" with the heart of gold who refers to herself at one point as being "technically a good girl". Fun, cliche-ridden, but with a lot of good lines. And Bogart is hilarious as he dead-pans cheating the oldsters at cards! Also: Is this the film that introduced the song "Angel in Disguise"? I only knew the song as delivered by Bugs Bunny!

The Rotter's Refuge...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 31 August 2023]

As Chips Maguire you've been tracked down and now you're trapped, so you escape through a false wall escape the rap, knocking off a dirty rat, putting on Fedora hat, but now you need to find a place where you can nap. Tricking Tommy takes you to his mother's place, behind closed doors you try to conceal your face, then Sarah from the shower, catches with familiar glower, it's not too long before you occupy more space. The Great Boldini and his dog then entertain, the film extends a little longer without pain, songs are sung, piano played, there's no attempt to run, evade, all in all it's ordinary, and quite plain.

The Roaring Nineties

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 30 September 2008]

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.

Another side of Bogart

[fterra · 8/10 · 21 December 2003]

The film has the feel of 1930s Broadway. Anyone who wants to see a glimpse of what Bogart must have been like on the stage should see this film. This is Bogart playing the gangster with a heart of gold. It's great fun and the supporting cast is quite entertaining in a You Can't Take It With You sort of way.

Competent New York fairy story full of sweetness and light...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 6/10 · 16 April 2005]

In this comedy-drama directed by Lewis Seiler, Bogart was a fugitive killer who hid out in a rundown boarding house harboring a collection of talented amateur performers and maternally oriented older women…

Bogart convinces them to convert the place into a night club and on opening night he is caught by the police, clearing an innocent man (Jeffrey Lynn) of suspicion in the murder he had actually committed…

Bogart was evidently having a good time as he delivered such lines as: "I hate mothers: all this silver threads among the gold stuff!" and had a very funny scene where he is "mothered" by Una O'Connor and Jessie Busley… However, The New York Times' critic, B. R. Crisler, summed up the film correct1y when he said that "It All Came True went from simple to simple-minded."

Corny ending

[AAdaSC · 5/10 · 8 September 2014]

Overbearingly annoying and motherly Jessie Busley (Nora) and irritatingly unfunny and blustering Una O'Connor (Maggie) run a boarding house of out of work people of no particular talent such as tiresome magician Felix Bressart (The Great Boldini) and his stupid dog that only seems to have one trick. I guess it's meant to be cute. That's already too many comedy characters for one film, but, regrettably there are more. Anyway, into this mix comes nightclub entertainer Ann Sheridan (Sarah Jane), who is also a pain in the arse with her energetic, whirlwind entrance into the film. Composer Jeffrey Lynn (Tommy) also rocks up at the house in order to shelter gangster Humphrey Bogart (Chips Maguire/Grasselli) and Lynn and Sheridan start to make sweet music together. Can they romance each other and get a happy ending?

Bogart is the best thing about this film and he has genuinely funny moments that will get you laughing. Unfortunately, he is more than offset by several comedy characters that won't have you laughing. Shame. A scene that stands out is when the group of non-talented wannabes are giving a performance to the residents of the boarding-house and the poet recites his rubbish poem. Bogart's reactions are hilarious. As they are when he is introduced to his room full of stuffed animals. But goodness me, that motherly Busley woman is annoying. Will Bogart shoot her? Sheridan is okay, nothing special while Lynn is particularly unlikable. Will Bogart shoot him for being a bit of a dullard?

The film contains some entertaining and some weird musical numbers which, along with Bogart's performance, elevate this film into the okay category. But all those blasted annoying characters and that terribly contrived ending………oh please……..corny stuff.

Boarding House Follies

[lugonian · 8/10 · 13 April 2012]

IT ALL CAME TRUE (Warner Brothers, 1940), directed by Lewis Seiler, with its fairy tale sounding title, is a lighthearted comedy with some serious overtones. Taken from a story by Louis Bromfield, many of its elements appears to be in connection to a short story by either O. Henry or Damon Runyan, but it's not. Surprisingly featuring the studio's resident tough guy, Humphrey Bogart, it's also one of his most overlooked roles in his career. With this being another one of many gangster parts Bogey has done to perfection through much of his career, the story in itself is relatively different from anything he's ever done before mainly due to the musical angle attached to it.

The story revolves around two matronly ladies managing a boarding house in the theater district of New York City, a building they've inherited from the late Miss Minnie. Among those out of work actors tenants are Minnie Flint (ZaSu Pitts), a housekeeper and avid mystery book reader; Rene Salmon (Grant Mitchell), a poet reciter; The Great Boldini (Felix Bressart), a magician; and Mr. Van Diver (Brandon Tynan). Norah Taylor (Jessie Busley), the owner, has a very positive outlook in life even though she owes back taxes on the place and is about to face foreclosure proceedings. As for her partner and cook, Maggie Ryan (Una O'Connor), her outlook in life isn't quite the same. Her daughter, Sarah Jane (Ann Sheridan), dreams of becoming an actress. Not having much luck in Atlantic City and the outside world, she returns home to start over. Norah's son, Tommy (Jeffrey Lynn), whom she hasn't seen in five years, is a struggling composer working for the "king of gamblers," "Chips" Maguire (Humphrey Bogart) at his Cairo Club. As the gambling casino gets raided by the police, Chips and Tommy sneak out the back way where Chips takes Tommy's gun to shoot down the informing Monks (Herbert Vigram) outside the alley. Because the murder weapon is licensed under Tommy's name, the young composer is forced to hide Chips from the police by taking him to his mother's boardinghouse. Introduced as his friend, Mr. Graselli, "Chips" lives a secluded life, having his meals sent to his room. The mysterious boarder arouses suspicion by Sarah Jane, who recognizes him as the man for whom she once worked, and the nosy Minnie Flint who finds Maguire's photo in a detective magazine. As Maguire's solitude gets the better of him, he arranges to bring some life and excitement to the place by turning it into a "Roaring 90s Club." As things start to come true for Mrs. Taylor, situations occur that could prove the opposite.

As motion picture studios releasing some fifty movies annually, with writers coming up with material of some originality, and most important, to hold interest, IT ALL COMES TRUE at 97 minutes succeeds on both levels. At first glance, the film doesn't appear to be interesting at all. Only through the headlining stars of Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan (billed in that order in the opening credits, changed to Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn and Humphrey Bogart for its closing), that should attract some attention for anyone unfamiliar with this title. If the story, set mostly inside a boarding house, doesn't show great promise, then the latter portion featuring song numbers and Ann Sheridan's vocalizing should.

With its combination of new and nostalgia era songs featured, the soundtrack includes: "Angels in Disguise" (by Kim Gannon, Stephen Weiss and Paul Mann); "Gaucho Serenade (by James Cavanaugh, John Redman and Nat Simon); "Daughter of Rosie O'Grady" "Memories" and "Pretty Baby," "Ain't We Got Fun; "Memories" (reprize); "Silver Threads Among the Gold,"Oh, You Beautiful Doll," "Angel in Disguise" (reprize); "Oh, Mr. Dooley," "Cuddle Up a Little Closer," "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet," and "Irish Eyes Are Smiling." "Angels in Disguise" a promotional song heard during opening and closing credits, is no doubt the film's best tune, getting several reprises and underscoring along the way.

While the first half of IT ALL CAME TRUE plays like a typical Warner Brothers programmer, the final portion takes off like a 20th Century-Fox musical (minus Technicolor) with Ann Sheridan and Jeffrey Lynn enacting their roles in similar fashion of Fox's own Alice Faye and John Payne had they been allowed to appear. Even the nostalgic songs are reminders of the Fox musicals, especially "Cuddle Up a Little Closer" most associated with Betty Grable. Jeffrey Lynn, a fine actor who never made the grade as top leading man, does his piano interludes almost in the same fashion as John Garfield enacted in FOUR DAUGHTERS (1938). His performance is well done, but hardly one to steal the attention away from either Sheridan or Bogart. While the overall story may not ring true to life, it all came true to Mrs. Bosley, which really matters to the content of the story anyway.

Never quite a masterpiece, IT ALL CAME TRUE should be something to consider whenever presented on Turner Classic Movies. It's also available on DVD. (***1/2)

Ann Sheridan--what's not to like? But wait--there's more.

[bob-790-196018 · 6/10 · 19 June 2013]

This movie has everything but the kitchen sink. A preposterous movie that is nevertheless enjoyable.

There's Ann Sheridan, always totally likable--plus, in this movie she sings "You're Just an Angel in Disguise." There's also a funny dog act.

Humphrey Bogart plays his stock gangster role, but this time he has to deal with ZaSu Pitts and Una O'Connor as two spinsters, one a feisty spark-plug and the other delusionally lovelorn.

At one point, tough guy Bogie as much as says, "Hey, gang, let's put on a show!" And they do. That's where the dog act comes in.

Plus there's a nostalgiac Gay Nineties review, including a barbershop quartet.

And a number of Irish songs in the background and, ultimately, in the spotlight, including a rousing version of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."

I won't give away the ending, but trust me, you'll say, "Aw, ain't that nice!"

Kind of a fun movie.

Offbeat Idea That Works Pretty Well as Light Entertainment

[Snow Leopard · 18 September 2001]

This is a really offbeat idea for a Humphrey Bogart movie, but it ends up working pretty well as light entertainment and as something of a showcase for co-star Ann Sheridan. It combines a lighter version of the kind of gangster character that used to be Bogart's specialty, a pleasant if silly scenario, and ample opportunities for Sheridan and some of the supporting cast to steal a few scenes.

The story is lightweight and goofy, with barely any plausibility at all (if that much). Fortunately, the good acting makes all of the oddball characters likable, and makes the story worth following for the sake of entertainment. Sheridan gets a good character and a chance to sing a few songs, and the minor characters include good roles for Zasu Pitts and Felix Bressart, among others.

Bogie and the couple

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 24 June 2020]

Elderly friends Nora Taylor and Maggie Ryan own a weird boarding house full of wacky characters but the bank is threatening to take it away. Maggie's daughter Sarah Jane (Ann Sheridan) is trying to be a showgirl while still being a good girl. Nora's aspiring songwriter son Tommy Taylor (Jeffrey Lynn) plays the piano at a nightclub owned by gangster Chips Maguire (Humphrey Bogart). Tommy is tired of Chips' empty promises. When Chips kills a police snitch, he blackmails Tommy into getting him a room at the boarding house.

The problem with this movie is that Tommy is a complete stiff. Bogie has more charisma in his little pinky finger than that man's whole body. For a cinematic romantic pairing, Sheridan needs to get together with Bogie but the story requires that Sarah gets together with Tommy. That's the rub with this movie. Bogie is the most compelling actor and his character has the most compelling redemption arc. In a certain light, this should be his movie and this should be a character study of Chips.

Who needs a script?

[MikeMagi · 6/10 · 24 March 2013]

"It All Came True" is about as dopey as anything Hollywood churned out in the early 1940s. But Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan sail blithely through it as if the story makes sense. Bogart is a hood the cops want to put away for the next hundred years. As a hide-out, he picks a New York boarding house, run by two little old ladies, one the mother of Ann Sheridan who quit her chorus girl job to keep her status as a "good girl" (wink wink.) Things turn serious -- or seriously silly -- when the bank threatens to foreclose on the old dears and Bogart saves the day by turning their boarding house into a lavish night club with a gay nineties theme, a staff of about 100 singing waiters, two chorus lines (one young and lovely, the other geriatric) and hundreds of patrons crammed into what earlier appeared to be a very small dining room. Between Bogart's sly send-up of the ruthless gangster he more often played and Sheridan's brash bonhomie, it's easy to overlook the gaping holes in the plot. Zazu Pitts as a ditzy old maid and Felix Bressart as an inept magician add to the antics but Jeffrey Lynn as Sheridan's childhood chum (and would-be lover) seems to have wandered in from another movie.

Unpretentious offbeat mix of comedy, drama and music is a pleasant diversion...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 27 April 2012]

IT ALL CAME TRUE is a strange mixture of comedy, drama and old-fashioned musical turns featuring Ann Sheridan and Jeffrey Lynn as two show biz sweethearts who get mixed up with a criminal (Humphrey Bogart) wanted by the police who takes shelter in a boarding house run by Lynn's eccentric mother (Una O'Connor) and another lady.

Somehow, the mix of elements are strung together in a way that provides a number of charming moments, mostly involving Sheridan (who has a way with a zinger) and Bogart, who gets some gentle humor out of his gangster role and creates a likable enough character with ease. Lynn is good at portraying the nimble fingered piano player but is stiff when asked to perform as Sheridan's musical partner.

Una O'Connor gets a number of good laughs out of her irate landlady role and Zasu Pitts is amusing as a paranoid woman who has read too many detective stories.

None of it is memorable but it passes the time pleasantly enough. A talented cast overcomes a rather clumsy script that wanders all over the place. At least, it's unpredictable and good for a few laughs.

Unique

[drjgardner · 6/10 · 9 June 2016]

It's hard to know how this film got made. The elements of the musical (Ann Sheridan), the comedy (Zazu Pitts, Una O'Connor, Felix Bressart), the romance (Ann Sheridan and Jeffry Lynn) and the gangster (Humphrey Bogart) don't mix well, yet there is something nonetheless fascinating about the film. Maybe it's Bogart trying to be funny, or the screwball elements of the boarding house, or the sweet romance between Sheridan and Lynn, but the film isn't as bad as it sounds.

On the other hand, there are certainly better films in all these categories, but equally as certain, there is no film in all of these categories simultaneously.

Great little hybrid from Warner Brothers

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 30 January 2021]

Humphrey Bogart plays Chips Maguire, a gangster, and Tommy (Jeffrey Lynn) is a pianist in his club. When Chips kills somebody with a gun registered in Tommy's name, then Tommy is obligated to help him hide out, or else he will be on the hook for the murder. They hide out in Tommy's mother's (Jessie Busley's) boarding house which she runs with Una O'Conner. O'Conner's daughter, Sarah Jane, played by Ann Sheridan, has also returned home since she is low on cash. Chips' hopes of laying low are put in jeopardy when Sarah Jane recognizes him, and although she doesn't know about the shooting, she does know his true profession. She stays mum because she doesn't want her mother or Tommy's mother in trouble with the law.

The two mothers have always hoped that their kids would get married, and - this is where my eyebrows raise - the original synopsis says "but Tommy seems indifferent to Sarah Jane". Oh, Warner Brothers, who got so many things right, why did you have so many of your pretty pre-war song bird actresses falling for this bland scarecrow, Jeffrey Lynn? Actually the disdain between the two is mutual .Let's just say complications ensue.

The fun of this film is seeing Bogie, on the verge of stardom but of course not knowing that because it will require several consecutive bad career moves by George Raft, acting in a very un-Bogie like manner. He wears a fedora the entire time he is locked up in his boarding house bedroom, including when he is in pajamas. He is in bed with a cigar in his mouth. He is fed soup in bed - under protest - by the two matronly boarding house owners. And he laughs out loud when the eccentric boarding house residents put on a show for him.

Ann Sheridan is a stand out here too, and got to demonstrate considerable more range than in previous films she had been in. And let's face it, you'd have to be a good actress to convince me you are in love with Jeffrey Lynn. Zasu Pitts is excellent as a resident of the boarding house who reads too many crime magazines for her own good.

This is just a fun comedy/drama with both a gangster and a musical angle with Bogie in a role that he would never have agreed to just two years later.

Silly But I Like It

[boblipton · 6/10 · 2 September 2023]

Gangster and night-club owner Humphrey Bogart shoots a man, so his piano player, Jeffrey Lynn, takes him to hide out in Lynn's mother's boardinghouse. Bogart hides in his room, claiming to be an invalid, but he's recognized by showgirl Ann Sheridan, whose mother co-owns the boardinghouse. The house is about to be repossessed for back taxes, so Bogie, who's bored out of his mind, decides to turn it into a night club with an 1890s theme.

It's an absurdly thrown-together kitchen sink of a movie, with comedy provided by Zasu Pitts and Felix Bressart as two of the boarders, the songs lifted from the Warners catalogue to be written by Lynn and sung by Miss Sheridan, and held together by Miss Sheridan's ability to read a line convincingly and in the moment, no matter how absurd it is. I liked it, but that's undeniably as much a statement of my taste for old-fashioned baloney as to the general competence that Warner Brothers could bring to any movie, no matter how ill-conceived. With Una O'Connor, John Litel, Grant Mitchell, and the Lady Killers Quartet.

HUMPHREY BOGART GAVE A DIFFERENT PERFORMANCE!

[whpratt1 · 10/10 · 14 May 2003]

This film had a cast of Hollywood's greatest actors of all time. Humphrey Bogart was an actor who could do comedy, romance("Sabrina" with William Holden) drama,("The Caine Mutiny,1954) Bogart was under contract and he had to make pictures which were sometimes a B movie, like this one was. Hollywood did not pay actors hugh salaries like the actors today, and every picture they made was a step up the ladder of success in hard times after WWII. Ann Sheridan(Sarah Jane Ryan) was often paired with Bogart and it was a great 1940 film in those days and they both made this film an all time classic. Zasu Pitts(Miss Flint) and John Litel gave great supporting roles. Bogart was a gangster in this picture who had a change of heart in the end and DID HIS THING! Any film that Humphrey Bogart appeared in is a CLASSIC forever and ever!

Tiresome Excuse to Play Popular Music from the Time

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 5 September 2023]

I watched this to see Bogie because of a series on TMC. I lasted about a half hour before boredom came in. Many are saying this is another side of Bogart. The only difference here is that he is the one who is going to take the rap. He is a big time gangster and it means life without any chance of parole. But at least he will feel good for what he did. He is not a Mary Astor. Too pat. Too many insipid songs. The old ladies are pretty cute, but it's not enough. Of course, the good guy gets off, which is what people would have wanted in 1940. I had no idea what this was about and now I can put it away in some corner.

Bogart and a musical?

[didi-5 · 22 March 2001]

Would this work? Well, of course it does. Ann Sheridan is charming, Bogart is same as ever, Jeffrey Lynn is slightly irritating in a cute kind of way, the character actors are impeccable and the film moves along at a good, relaxing pace. One of those late night weekend films to watch with a sherry and a box of chocs.

When everything goes wrong it can still go right

[clanciai · 10/10 · 9 June 2021]

Ann Sheridan lacked everything that used to make a film star. She was too ordinary looking to be beautiful, she was more common than Ida Lupino, she was not attractive to men, she was too cool to ever make any convincing romance, her hair was terrible, but instead she had something different from all the others. She had personality and was intelligent, and in every one of her films her integrity is stunning. She acted well enough, and here she even sings well enough, actually better than Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake. She really makes the film by the impertinent audacity of her character, immediately recognizing Humphrey Bogart as the gangster and wanted murderer he is, and getting more familiar with him at once than what suits her lover, Jeffrey Lynn, here a very gifted bar pianist working in one of Humphrey's joints for him and getting awkwardly involved in his dirty business. When Humphrey has to get away, Jeffrey houses him with his mother (Una O'Connor) with other irresistibly adorable old ladies of the same sort (like Zasu Pitts and Jessie Busley), actually transcending even the old ladies of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in delightful old age idiosyncracy. Jeffrey and Ann perform together, Humphrey likes their style and decides to transform the boarding house of old people close to their demission into a night club. Of course, the police eventually ultimately has to find him out, and there is a great finale that includes everything, turning this extremely well written novel by Louis Bromfield into first class entertainment. You will have many good laughs here.

VERY well done cross-genre comedy

[CatTales · 10/10 · 8 January 2006]

Noticeably very well-filmed, edited, and acted comedy-drama-romance-gangster picture. Menacing gangster Bogart, sexy wise-girl Ann Sheridan, her family and quirky peripheral characters make this situation comedy more than the sum of it's parts. Very funny, touching, unpredictable, and a cultural time-capsule. 10 thumbs up! I'd rather not spoil the movie but IMDb requires more lines...one interesting scene is the initial intimacy (the intensity is as close as we get to romance/sex) between the love interests: it's musical in nature and their only way to bond. It's not performed as yet another tiring duet but a rehearsal with mistakes. That's another example of what makes this movie refreshing and quite different from movies of then and now.