Doppelt oder Nichts

The story is contrived and start-stop-start in places, the night-club sequence has a lot of great touches but is perhaps overlong and the donkey-dressed stuntman was odd and unnecessary. Double or Nothing still makes for pleasant viewing. The sets are lavish, especially the lake set in It's On, It's Off, and the photography and direction are straightforward and efficiently organised. The music score has the right amount of lushness, energy and whimsy, complete with some fitting classical music, and the songs are great though not among the greatest tunes of any Bing Crosby film. The standouts are It's On, It's Off, Smarty and especially the heavenly The Moon Got in My Eyes. The choreography is lively and cleverly done, the water ballet forming It's On, It's Off is the most memorable but Ames and Amos' tango and the slow motion fight are worth looking out for as well. The dialogue crackles with wit and fits the term escapist entertainment just fine. There is a fair bit of nonsense in the goings-on but it is pleasant and part of the fun. Bing Crosby looks very comfortable here and his voice is as handsome as ever, The Moon Got in My Eyes is sung so beautifully by him and suits him like a glove. Mary Carlisle is charming, Andy Devine is amusing and William Frawley likewise. Martha Raye won't be for all tastes, her comedy can be quite farcical and not in the most subtle of ways but she looks as though she's having a whale of a time and despite having more to do she's not as emphatic as she was in Waikiki Wedding(though she was still fun in that too). Overall, good pleasant fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The film begins with some lawyers walking about town deliberately dropping wallets and purses so that someone will find them. Each is filled with $100 and an address. Four folks return the money and the four are invited to the reading of a very eccentric will. They will each be given $5000 and the first to double this HONESTLY will become heir to a $1,000,000 fortune. And, if none of them can double the money within 30 days, then the money goes to the dead man's brother and his family.

The brother, not surprisingly, is NOT happy about this scheme but instead of voicing his anger towards the four, he convinces his family to pretend to want to help them. He tells them that he doesn't need or want the money and asks them all to dinner. And, in turn, the family convince several of them to invest in stupid money-losing schemes. The problem is that the daughter (Mary Carlisle) starts to feel sorry for them--particularly Lefty (Bing Crosby).

The same DVD that contains "Double or Nothing" also contains "Waikiki Wedding". Both are Bing Crosby films and both feature Martha Raye prominently. I was NOT thrilled to see this, as Raye's brash manner is the opposite of Crosby's gentle image. Additionally, her singing is also the opposite--making up for her lack of a decent voice by increasing her volume--whereas Crosby was smooth made his songs seem natural and likable. As a result, practically every scene with her seemed like a chore to watch and greatly detracted from an otherwise pleasant story. Because of this, the film loses a few points. It also loses a few points for the final portion of the film--with too many weird review acts as well as a finale that in mindblowingly weird (such as the 'sing band') and impossible--especially with only $5000 to spend!

Bing Crosby croons his way effortlessly through this little romp, while Martha Raye and Andy Devine provide the comedy, cloyingly at times. The plot, intriguing if not original, involves a dying millionaire who instructs his lawyers to drop twenty-five wallets containing a $100 bill on the streets of New York City in order to find honest people who will attempt to return them to their owner. Each winner is then given $5,000, and the first one to double that money within 30 days will receive the entire estate: $1 million. The plot is frequently interrupted by musical interludes, since Crosby plans to double his money by opening a nightclub.

"Double or Nothing" is a pleasant Depression-era story of black-hearted millionaires and honest poor folk. A rich man's Last Will and Testament offers our heroes the chance to claim his entire fortune. Naturally this not sit well with the greedy relations. Samuel S. Hinds gets to explore his seamier side (as he will later, to all our joy, in "Destry Rides Again") and he's dandy as a schemer. Mary Carlisle is a lovely leading lady as the daughter of this paragon who falls for our jovial baritone, Bing Crosby. Martha Raye, Andy Devine, Bill Frawley and Fay Holden are also along for the ride.

A lot of entertainment is crammed into this little picture in the form of songs from Bing, Martha, the amazing Sing Band, some swell scatting, amazing slapstick and the unsurpassed drunkenness of Arthur Housman.

A satisfying Crosby movie for fans.

Among a slew of films Bing Crosby made for Paramount in the mid-thirties,"Double or Nothing" is a reminder that Bing Crosby was more than just a crooner. He had a flair for acting, a natural easy-going charm that came through on screen. In this cleverly contrived tale, he's one of four candidates for a fortune who's challenged to take a wad of cash and double it in thirty days. That's a headache for heiress Mary Carlisle who -- and this should come as no surprise -- ultimately falls for him. Martha Raye, Andy Devine and William Frawley as Bing's fellow fortune-hunters contribute stereotypical schtick, leading up to a night at an unlikely night club and an even less probable scenery-shifting send-off. Okay, the movie doesn't always make sense. But a good yarn, bright, brash dialogue and the youthful Bing make it fun to watch.