Sorrowful Jones

Sorrowful Jones is both the first time Bob Hope teamed up with Lucille Ball as a leading lady and it's his first try at a Damon Runyon character. It succeeded, but it's not as good as some of the other of Bob Hope's Forties comedies.

This is a remake of Little Miss Marker where Adolphe Menjou played the role of Sorrowful Jones. The problem with this version is that in the first one the main character is the little girl left as a human marker for bookie Sorrowful Jones. The little girl back then was Shirley Temple and it was a Shirley Temple picture.

No child was going to steal the spotlight from Bob Hope and this one has the emphasis on Hope's character which is all wrong. Little Mary Jane Saunders is not Shirley Temple, but who is. Anyway she does not steal the film from Hope and that's wrong.

On the plus side Hope and Lucille Ball show some really good chemistry and they did far better in their next film together Fancy Pants. Also look for good performances from Bruce Cabot as the gambling kingpin and from William Demarest as Hope's sidekick.

But if you want to see Hope and Ball at their best I recommend Fancy Pants.

In this remake of the Shirley Temple vehicle "Little Miss Marker," a little girl is left as collateral for a racetrack bet. The good news is that it's a huge improvement over the terrible Temple film. The bad news is that it's still based on the same uninteresting Runyan story. As the little girl, Saunders is much easier to take than Temple. Unlike the earlier version, the focus here shifts from the little girl to the title character, which is a good thing as Hope is always fun to watch. Hope and Ball work well together although they don't get much help from the script here. The ending is far better than the corny finale to the earlier film.

All the versions of the Runyon story are very good. It's just a great story, but this one is clearly the best. A seemingly heartless, stingy bookie accepts a little girl as a marker for a bet, but when the girl's father is killed by notorious gangsters, the bookie, Sorrowful Jones, is stuck with her. The events that follow range from hysterically funny to emotionally provoking. And those qualities are enhanced by great talents. Bob Hope is perfect as the stingy bookie, playing to his usual role. Bruce Cabot does well as the evil gangster, and Lucille Balllands another great role (she had to have the best agent in the business) as the mother figure. But the little girl, Martha Jane Smith, is absolutely divine as the sad faced girl that even makes Bob Hope melt. She is just zillions of times cuter and more emotion provoking than the bland Shirley Temple. If you don't believe me, see for yourself. A classic that need to come to AMC instead of those stupid boring movies they keep showing (Arnie movies, Stallone movies, Friday 13 movies, etc). How about showing real classics like this instead, something people will watch and enjoy!

Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker had already been filmed in 1934 as a Shirley Temple starrer, this remake changes the title and brings in the star power of Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, with great results.

Story has Hope as sly bookie Sorrowful Jones, who after accepting a five year old girl as a betting marker, gets lumbered with the child when her father is wasted by gangster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot). Initially a fish out of water with the kid, Sorrowful strikes up a loving relationship with her and aided by his ex-girlfriend, Gladys O'Neill (Ball), fights to keep the child out of an orphanage.

It's not - as some of the posters proclaim - funnier than Paleface (either of them since the sequel is better), in fact it's not close to the funny heights achieved by Hope's next Runyon adapted picture, The Lemon Drop Kid. However, Sorrowful Jones is funny, Hope gets to deliver some absolute corking lines that are guaranteed to at the least put a big grin on your face, but there's a semi-seriousness to it all which thankfully works a treat alongside the quips and wonderfully strange situations that Jones finds himself in. With a weighty support cast that also features William Demarest and Thomas Gomez helping things along, and young Mary Jane Saunders adorable beyond compare, this is a little cracker of a picture to brighten your day. 7/10

This is a remake of 1934's Little Miss Marker, a Shirley Temple movie. Sorrowful Jones, the cheap bookie, is played to a tee by Bob Hope, who suddenly has a little girl to look after when her father leaves her in his care as a bet marker, and doesn't come back. But the little girl doesn't mix well with his lifestyle, and provides him with some close shaves involving some errant gangsters, and a bout of horse napping. A predictable and sappy ending, but still a sweet little movie, with some hilarious one liners by Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. (Make sure you're not eating when you watch this, because they shoot them out so suddenly that you're likely to end up wearing your lunch.) Overall? 8 out of 10.