The Hoodlum Saint (1946)

A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding... See full summary »

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

James Hill, Frank Wead

Stars:

William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Powell	...	Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
Esther Williams	...	Kay Lorrison
Angela Lansbury	...	Dusty Millard
James Gleason	...	Snarp
Lewis Stone	...	Father Nolan
Rags Ragland	...	Fishface
Frank McHugh	...	Three Finger
Slim Summerville	...	Eel
Roman Bohnen	...	Father O'Doul
Charles Arnt	...	Cy Nolan - O'Neill's Secretary
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Mike Flaherty
Charles Trowbridge	...	Uncle Joe Lorrison
Henry O'Neill	...	Lewis J. Malbery
William 'Bill' Phillips	...	Dave Fernby
Matt Moore	...	Father Duffy

Storyline

A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding attended by many of the city's rich and powerful, meets a beautiful girl named Kay who turns out to be his ticket to meeting those rich and powerful people, and he soon manages to land a job on a newspaper. He gets caught up in the "make money at all costs" game, but receives a rude awakening when the stock market crashes in 1929. The Depression's lows uncovers new plateaus this Vet couldn't foresee while raking in the big bucks. Spiritual nudges helps Our Man to finally see the light that money can't buy everything, especially the love and happiness he's been searching for.

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Plot Keywords:

newspaper | reporter | train | scam | religion | 

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Taglines:

Was it the society beauty or the night club singer? (Title lobby card).

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 April 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Oro en el barro

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,918,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Angela Lansbury, who could sing, resented that in this and her other MGM films the studio insisted on giving her a voice double. Years later she had stage hits on Broadway in two singing roles, "Mame" and "Sweeney Todd."

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Goofs

During conversations in automobiles, rear-screen projection shows 1940s era cars, long after time story took place.

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Connections

Featured in Biography: Angela Lansbury: A Balancing Act (1998)

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Soundtracks

How Am I to Know?
(uncredited)
Music by Jack King
Lyrics by Dorothy Parker
Sung by Angela Lansbury (dubbed by Doreen Tryden)

User Reviews

odd movie starring William Powell

Everything is odd about "The Hoodlum Saint," a 1946 film starring William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, Frank McHugh, and James Gleason. It's a film about a returning World War I veteran when people were returning from World War II; it has the look and feel of a '30s film about it. At 54, the wonderful Powell is a little old for the role of an ex-soldier, and his love interest is 24-year-old Esther Williams. Apparently Williams wrote in her autobiography that she thought it was ridiculous to be cast opposite someone so much older, and states that Powell had to have elaborate makeup and wear a girdle. My question is, did she have anything nice to say about anybody in her book? The last oddity, which couldn't have been predicted back then, is that now Angela Lansbury's dubbing sounds very strange indeed as audiences have become more familiar with her singing voice.

All that being said, the story concerns a returning vet, a newspaper journalist, who has difficulty finding work. He crashes a wedding that has a lot of influential people attending. There he meets Williams and gets a job on another paper, only leaving it to join the very stockbroker he's been writing exposes about, deciding to go after the almighty dollar. This is all leading up to the stock market crash of 1929.

The acting is uniformly excellent. Williams is absolutely stunning in her role, and Powell is his usual charming, fast-talking self, delivering his lines with a good deal of irony and a light touch. Lansbury plays a club singer/love interest for Powell who becomes more sophisticated as the story evolves. Her acting is wonderful and she looks better and more glamorous in each scene. James Gleason, Frank McHugh, and Rags Ragland play Powell's somewhat crooked buddies, and they're delightful.

Powell is always worth watching, though this isn't his best.