Director: LEWIS SEILER. Screenplay: Barry Trivers. Uncredited additional dialogue: Michael Hogan. Original screen story: Sheridan Gibney. Photographed in block-and-white by Arthur Todd. Film editor: Clarence Kolster. Art director: Esdras Hartley. Costumes: Howard Shoup. Make-up: Perc Westmore. Music composed by Frederick Hollander, directed by Leo F. Forbstein. Special effects directed and photographed by Byron Haskin, with the photographic assistance of Edwin DuPar. Dialogue director: Robert Foulk. Technical adviser: Clifford Severn. Assistant director: William Kissell. Sound recording: Francis J. Scheid. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: William Jacobs. Executive producer: Bryan Foy. In charge of production: Jack L. Warner.
Copyright 23 November 1940 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. A Warner Bros—First National picture. New York opening at the Palace on a double bill with Michael Shayne, Private Detective: 18 December 1940. Australian release: 27 March 1941. 7,856 feet. 87 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Wrongfully accused of murdering his partner, a mining engineer escapes to London, but then falls in love with the daughter of the man he is supposed to have killed.
COMMENT: George Brent, head-over-heels involved in an incredibly juvenile Boys Own Paper adventure, comes across with only marginal conviction as the hero whom coincidence strikes not once or twice but six or seven times in the course of the screenplay's two acts.
In Act One, George is dumb enough to run away when he could easily prove that Snedeker was the real murderer. But the script wants us to believe that George is too stupid to realize this fact.
In Act Two, however, we are asked to credit that George has such a brilliant mind he has built up a considerable fortune by playing the stock market. Rags to riches may be a common phenomenon on Broadway, but it's not the sort of thing you can otherwise accomplish twice in a lifetime, let alone within five years!
Oh, well, Brenda Marshall looks nice and we like Tobias (even though he overacts atrociously) in a rare dramatic role. The director adds fuel to Tobias's fire by employing some nice spooky close-ups too!
Comedian Eric Blore tries his best to raise a few laughs from somewhat threadbare material. Lee Patrick comes off best as a bimbo with more fashion sense than common sense. Cecil Kellaway pours on the charm in a small part. Stephenson is likewise wasted in a fleeting role as an office-bound Scotland Yard man.
The film has been produced on a comparatively lavish scale and the pace is certainly brisk. The trouble is that, as stated, even on its own juvenile level, the plot is sheer nonsense, and the characters behave so unbelievably they waste the talents of the players who enact them on the screen.
Copyright 23 November 1940 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. A Warner Bros—First National picture. New York opening at the Palace on a double bill with Michael Shayne, Private Detective: 18 December 1940. Australian release: 27 March 1941. 7,856 feet. 87 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Wrongfully accused of murdering his partner, a mining engineer escapes to London, but then falls in love with the daughter of the man he is supposed to have killed.
COMMENT: George Brent, head-over-heels involved in an incredibly juvenile Boys Own Paper adventure, comes across with only marginal conviction as the hero whom coincidence strikes not once or twice but six or seven times in the course of the screenplay's two acts.
In Act One, George is dumb enough to run away when he could easily prove that Snedeker was the real murderer. But the script wants us to believe that George is too stupid to realize this fact.
In Act Two, however, we are asked to credit that George has such a brilliant mind he has built up a considerable fortune by playing the stock market. Rags to riches may be a common phenomenon on Broadway, but it's not the sort of thing you can otherwise accomplish twice in a lifetime, let alone within five years!
Oh, well, Brenda Marshall looks nice and we like Tobias (even though he overacts atrociously) in a rare dramatic role. The director adds fuel to Tobias's fire by employing some nice spooky close-ups too!
Comedian Eric Blore tries his best to raise a few laughs from somewhat threadbare material. Lee Patrick comes off best as a bimbo with more fashion sense than common sense. Cecil Kellaway pours on the charm in a small part. Stephenson is likewise wasted in a fleeting role as an office-bound Scotland Yard man.
The film has been produced on a comparatively lavish scale and the pace is certainly brisk. The trouble is that, as stated, even on its own juvenile level, the plot is sheer nonsense, and the characters behave so unbelievably they waste the talents of the players who enact them on the screen.