The Return of Doctor X: I watched this one again as part of TCM's December Humphrey Bogart festival, and while it didn't magically become a good movie, it remained entertaining. I mean, this is a real Warner Brothers movie directed by a real director (Vincent Sherman), and you just have to wonder what went wrong here. I always find it compelling, though--from Bogart's oddball performance to the awkward comic relief (in what is at least 51% tongue in cheek to begin with), it's something every Bogart fan should see, if not admire.
Have a Heart: An earnest old-timey (1934) romantic picture with James Dunn and Jean Parker. It's a familiar story: Parker needs an operation to fix her leg, and Dunn must enter the seedy yet alluring world of the underground Tiddlywinks circuit to pay for it.
Well, no, that's not what happens at all, but she does need the operation, and she raises the dough, but when Dunn is falsely accused of stealing from his employer, she "pays it back" so the cops will release him. Dunn gets all huffy when he learns this and shuns his loyal girlfriend because he thinks she doesn't believe in him or some bunk like that. You know, I enjoyed this movie at the time for what it was--average pleasant romantic melodrama--but the more I think of it, the more annoyed I am at Dunn's self-righteous character. He would be a lot more interesting if he entered the underground Tiddlywinks circuit.
You're in the Army Now: I really enjoyed this Phil Silvers-Jimmy Durante teaming, and I think it gets a bum rap in my copy of Leonard Maltin's book. The guide gives a lowly two stars and says the stars work hard to overcome the material. I think this is a solid piece of entertainment, and I can assure you it wasn't much work to enjoy the material.
It's no classic, and the lengthy tank chase scenes take up some time that might otherwise be used on "Gladdaseeyas" or other bits of verbal business, but if you're a fan of wartime service comedies or the two leads, then you must see this next time it's on. It's more Durante than Silvers, but you get plenty of antics as they go from vacuum salesmen to troublemaking enlisted men, all the while driving Donald MacBride's imperious colonel up a wall.
Plus you get the longest kiss in screen history, a smooch between Jane Wyman and that legendary lover Regis Toomey. I read that trivia bit in the Maltin book, and I credit it here to show there are no hard feelings even though it underrates the movie.
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