The Wonderful World of TCM: Make Mine Monogram!

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944): Not a great movie, mind you, but a really fun bit of 1940s lower-tier studio filmmaking. Hollywood must have made hundreds of movies about domestic housing shortages in WWII, and I think TCM shows them all. I haven't caught up yet, but I like the atmosphere of them, with bright and eager young servicemen, helpful young women--wait, that didn't sound the way I intended--and the wacky mixups that ensue.

It is interesting to see Simone Simon in a conventional ingenue kind of a role, playing a woman who winds up inadvertently sharing an apartment in the city (New York City--where else?) with a bunch of military men, and, wow, this really isn't sounding the way I intend now.

But it's all good, clean fun albeit with a few hints that everyone knows the risque nature of the situation. There are some smiles if not hearty laughs, some pleasant interaction among the principals, and an amusing cameo by Rondo Hatton, of all people. Why, Robert Mitchum has a key part, too, and is quite effective, and there's an all-too-brief look or two at Grady Sutton. All this plus an animated Gremlin who keeps popping up throughout the picture and causing all the mischief. It's a bizarre element that springs from Simon reading a magazine article about Gremlins (from what I've read, the playful notion of little monsters called Gremlins screwing things up became a big trendy thing in the war years), and it adds to the offbeat nature of a movie that does rely on a lot of conventional romantic misunderstandings.

The surprise ending, which also breaks from reality a bit, is a real corker, too. This is a fun way to spend a little over and hour and another good reason to Make Mine Monogram.

I also watched a couple of James Dunn B-Pictures from Monogram. The Living Ghost (1944) stars Dunn as a wiscracking ex-private eye who un-retires to solve a murder case. Leave It to the Irish (1942) stars Dunn as a wisecracking private eye who solves a murder case. Each is directed by William Beaudine, who directed tons of Bowery Boys and other cheapo pictures--not necessarily an endorsement for these, I suppose.

Even only a week or so after watching them, they do blend together a bit, but they are both quality pieces of entertainment, low-budget hourlong programmers that do their job. I think the dialogue was a little crisper in "Ghost," but I enjoyed Dunn's plucky fetching love interest, played by Wanda McKay, in "Irish." So if I had to pick one to recommend, I'd say...see both of them If you're into this sort of thing. Each is only a little over an hour long, and you'll get what you're looking for, especially if, like me, you find Dunn a likeable wiseguy.