Tragico destino

Thanks again to MOVIES Net for showing this 40s noir, saluting Janis Paige who passed at age 101 in 2024. An inspiration.

Not a classic, but close enough to the bullseye, a film that shows off her singing talents and some stunning wardrobe changes for the star attraction. Warner Brothers wisely cast all around bad guy Zachary Scott as yet another party crasher, this time a shady nightclub owner who runs a cozy gambling operation in the back. Enter Janis as Scott's lead singer and she's a dazzler.

Complications; Janis falls for two-fisted columnist Dan Corwin (Dane Clark) and three's a crowd. That said, Scott seems to somehow, someway win out, also with the death of Faye Emerson on his hands. A few well staged action scenes on tap, thanks to director Fred De Cordova (MY THREE SONS), the bullet-proof glass scene with Scott firing away is a gem. Very ingenius.

Beautiful rendition of "Body and Soul" by Janis Paige, one of the few noirs featuring musical interludes. As far as mystery ladies go, Paige is not Lizabeth Scott or Lauren Bacall, but memorable enough and fittingly teamed with Zachary Scott the master of slick.

Scott would next co-star in CASS TIMBERLANE with Spencer Tracy and Lana Turner.

On Warner Brothers dvd, likely re-issued with the passing of Janis Paige. Keep watch for blu ray releases.

Based on the adjectives used by my IMDB colleagues below to describe this 1946 gangster film..."routine", "mediocre", "formula", "typical"...I'd say they had it pegged pretty accurately. I would only add the caveat that, for me, no film in which Zachary Scott is the star, giving his usual inimitable take on amoral, self pitying, alternately charming and sleazy bon vivants ,can be entirely shrugged off. So let me add my own adjective, one I've just coined, to delineate this film,"teeter-totter-ish". Whenever Scott's in the picture it rises a bit above the schlock line and when he's not, especially when the proceedings are weighed down by the poor man's Richard Conte, Dane Clark, and the voluptuous but talentless, as both actor and singer, Janis Page, it falls. Give it a C plus.

PS...Paradoxically, I'm happy to note that Ms. Page is (hopefully) still going strong at 100.

PSS...Sickest and therefore most interesting relationship in the film is that between Scott and his adoring, Widmark-esque, punk gunsel, Candy, played to perfection by future Los Angeles hamburger entrepreneur, Harry Lewis. Yet another reason in my opinion why this film cannot be completely thrown into the generic dumpster.

It's a gangster flick, interrupted now and then by musical numbas. Dane clark, janis paige, zach scott. A love triangle, towards the end of the film code. Right at the open, we hear the name steve maddux, and a reporter is ... reporting something big has happened, but we're not sure just what. Let's flash back to see how we got here. Georgia is singing in a show in chicago on new year's eve, but gets an offer to come to new york. But steve gets caught up in a murder. And the reporter gets caught up in georgia. Now it's a tangled mess. And the cops are closing in. Where does georgia fit in with all this? Keep an eye out for joe marino.... george tobias was also abner kravitz in bewitched! Scott was always great at playing the underhanded sleaze... as he did in mildred pierce. Sadly, he died young at 51 of a brain tumor. A pretty huge list of extras in the nightclubs and pool halls. Imdb shows us that filming took place august and september of 1945, so naturally, there's a patriotic wartime theme at the start.... right at the end of world war two. Directed by freddy decordova, the second film he directed. But he's better known as johnny carson's producer for years. Playing on the turner classics. The end scene is pretty silly, but over-all, the film is fun to watch!

ZACHARY SCOTT is a nightclub owner, using his club as a front for a gambling joint. He has a singer girlfriend (JANIS PAIGE) who doesn't seem to care how involved he is with gangsters, no matter how selfish his motives are. As his loyal girlfriend, Janis Paige gives a completely lackluster and low-key performance, instead of the usual vivacious one she was capable of.

When the police raid his gambling joint, he accidentally shoots his sister (FAYE EMERSON) during the raid while taking a shot at her husband (GEORGE TOBIAS) who was trying to be a peacemaker. Scott has to go into hiding once he escapes the clutches of the police and even then his girlfriend stands by her man. In true form, he gets his comeuppance before the final shootout. DANE CLARK is a reporter with an ambiguous friendship with the heel.

Typical Warner Bros. melodrama lacks the punch it needs to make it more than average as entertainment.

Never rises above its routine script despite some terse dialog amid dangerous situations.

A good cast does its best with "Her Kind of Man," a 1946 Warner Brothers film directed by Frederick DeCordova. The film stars Zachary Scott, Janis Paige, Dane Clark, and Faye Emerson.

Scott plays Steve Maddox, a gambler who eventually opens his own nightclub with a gambling establishment in the back. His sister Ruby (Emerson) is married to another club owner, Joe (George Tobias).

Steve is in love with the beautiful Georgia (Paige), a singer. Dane Clark plays a reporter who is in love with her, too, and would love to get her out of Steve's clutches.

Pretty much by the book. The big interest for me was seeing the young Paige. Growing up, she was always the glamorous older woman. My father loved her. She was a gorgeous young woman, too.

Though a good singer, her voice was that of a belter, so she's dubbed here for a more lyrical sound. I was disappointed the whole song "Body and Soul" wasn't performed. It's one of my favorites.

Okay.