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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Slightly Dangerous (1943)

A young counter clerk (Lana Turner) in a small town drug store is bored and dissatisfied with her dull life. A contretemps with the new manager (Robert Young) causes her to flee her dreary life but the note she leaves behind is misconstrued as a suicide note. But a chance accident (she's hit on the head by a falling bucket) gives her an opportunity for the exciting life she's always dreamed about. When one thinks of screwball comedy, one thinks of Jean Arthur or Carole Lombard, not Lana Turner! Turner doesn't have the light touch the genre requires though she shines in a couple of scenes. Her hysterics after regaining consciousness is very funny and there's a sweet dance sequence while eating burgers with Young. Robert Young is pretty much a cipher here, demonstrating very little charm and no chemistry whatsoever with Turner. Directed by Wesley Ruggles (who did many screwball comedies with Lombard, Arthur and Colbert). The film is full of one of those wonderful supporting casts of character actors that so often populate the genre like Walter Brennan, Dame May Whitty, Eugene Pallette, Florence Bates, Alan Mowbray, Mantan Moreland, Norma Varden and Kay Medford.

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