Actors and Sin

Firstly, there absolutely IS an apostrophe in the title of this film! The title is shown on screen as 'Actor's Blood and Woman of Sin' with the words 'Actor's', 'And' and 'Sin' in bold, while the other words are in grey; the title is therefore meant to be 'Actor's and Sin'. I agree that some posters and references miss out the apostrophe, but it's there in the film!

As regards the film itself, it is far from being alone as a portmanteau production, and the two parts are meant to complement each other. The first story - 'Actor's Blood' - is a melodramatic tale about the theatre which is very theatrically staged. The actors play it very straight. Edward G. Robinson, in particular, is very stilted and stagy in his performance; there again, he is playing a former 'ham' actor whose reviews said as much, so his take on the role is fitting. The story is no match for Conan Doyle, but is an entertaining enough whodunit with an implausible but acceptable twist at the end. Marsha Hunt and Dan O'Herlihy are reliable, as always. The second story, 'Woman of Sin' is a farcical skit on contemporary Hollywood. The plot doesn't bear analysis, but that's not the point. I found it funny and witty (not the same things!). Eddie Albert, Tracey Roberts and Alan Reed deliver fluent, satisfying performances which drive the narrative forward convincingly. Ben Hecht's daughter Jenny plays Daisy as a precocious yet amusingly infantile nine-year-old. She made me laugh, anyway, especially near the end when she is unseen, in the taxi, answering Higgins's orders with 'Check... check...'. The only weak link was Alan Mendez as Daisy's friend, Capt. Moriarty. He IS only a kid though! I enjoyed this film though I recognise it's no 'Citizen Kane'. There again, it wasn't trying to be.