It All Came True (1940)

After killing a man, a gangster (Humphrey Bogart) hides out at a boarding house run by two old ladies (Una O'Connor, Jessie Busley) who cluck over him like devoted mother hens. When he finds out that they owe past taxes, he hits on a scheme to help them out. Turn the boarding house into a nightclub! Based on the novel BETTER THAN LIFE by Louis Bromfield (THE RAINS CAME) and directed by Lewis Seiler (WOMEN'S PRISON). A gangster musical comedy? Ann Sheridan and Jeffrey Lynn as the movie's two lovebirds are top billed but it's the third billed Bogart (mega stardom would hit the following year) who dominates the film and gives it whatever spark it has. It takes a big leap of faith to accept the movie's preposterous plot but even then, it can never overcome its sentimental contrivances. The songs are a feeble lot and forgettable unless you like barbershop quartets. With Zasu Pitts (the film's one bright spot), Felix Bressart and John Litel.