O Dobro ou Nada

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

... from Paramount Pictures and director Theodore Reed. When an eccentric millionaire dies, his will instructs his executors to plants purses and wallets containing $100 around the city. Anyone who returns the items to the address enclosed gets to participate in the next aspect of the will. They are each given $5000 in cash and have one month to double the amount through any reputable means (which excludes "gambling and speculation"). The first one to do so inherits the entirety of the deceased's estate, valued at over $1 million. If none of the people can double their money, then the deceased's cynical brother inherits it all. Only 4 people return the initial $100: singer Lefty (Bing Crosby), businessman John (William Frawley), layabout Half-Pint (Andy Devine), and obnoxious showgirl Liza Lou (Martha Raye). While the four try to double their money, the brother (Samuel S. Hinds) and his family try to stop them from succeeding. Also featuring Mary Carlisle, Benny Baker, William Henry, Fay Holden, Bert Hanlon, Gilber Emery, William Kingsford, and John Gallaudet.

Bing sings several songs, Martha Raye sings a couple, and there's a lengthy nightclub act sequence near the end, including a humorous slapstick dance from Ames & Arno. The cast is appealing, although Raye can be like nails on a chalkboard, which I know is intentional, but at times she's too successful. This is a pleasant time-waster, but nothing memorable.

DOUBLE OR NOTHING (Paramount, 1937), directed by Theodore Reed, is an enjoyable, but not particularly original, musical-comedy with a typical story about how found money can change or ruin a person's life. Similar in ways to Paramount's earlier IF I HAD A MILLION (1932), this production focuses primarily on four people in one simple plot instead of separate episodes dealing with different central characters in ten minute segments. It also capitalizes on the quite common rich girl-poor boy theme and setting it to musical interludes.

The film begins with a couple of men walking about town purposely dropping wallets obtaining $100 bills on the sidewalks and over the fences. Numerous people find it and go about their way, followed by a lone dog picking up the wallet by his mouth, trailing around until he locates "Lefty" Boylan (Bing Crosby), found singing on the stool in a diner while waiting for his meal. Instead of keeping the money, Lefty encounters the address in the wallet, and although he could use the money, he decides to do the correct thing and return it to the rightful owner. Entering a lawyer's office, Lefty finds himself being seated along with three other people, Liza Lou Lane (Martha Raye), a former burlesque entertainer, "Half Pint" (Andy Devine), a tramp, and John Pederson (William Frawley), a gambler. These four turn out to be the only ones honest enough to not take the money and run. They then learn from an attorney the purpose of the wallets and of a last will and testament from a deceased millionaire who wants to prove that there are still intelligent and honest people left in the world, and as for their honesty, they are each rewarded $5,000 with the agreement that the first one to double that gift legitimately within thirty days will get to inherit a million dollars, or else, acquire nothing. The foursome have their own individual ideas on how to double their money and agree they should divide half of the estate among others. Lefty, an unemployed singer, decides to use his good fortune and open up a night club featuring entertainment acts. However, situations arise when the deceased millionaire's brother, Jonathan Clark (Samuel S. Hinds), feeling cheated of his inheritance, schemes to foil these people's plans, especially in using his pretty daughter, Victoria Clark (Mary Carlisle), to romance Lefty while his younger son, Egbert (William Henry) to do the same with Liza Lou.

In between the plot comes a handful of good listenable tunes, scored by Arthur Freed, Burton Lane, Johnny Burke, Arthur Johnston, Al Siegel and Sam Coslow, including: "Double or Nothing" (sung by chorus during opening credits); "Smarty" (sung by Bing Crosby, accompanied by a singing chef, played by Alfonse Berg); "All You Have to Do Is Dance" (sung by Crosby to Mary Carlisle, with brief dance solo by a policeman, played by Jimmy Notaro); "It's the Natural Thing to Do" (sung by Crosby to Carlisle); "It's On, It's Off" (sung by Martha Raye); "The Moon Got In My Eye" (sung by Crosby); "Listen, My Children" (sung by Martha Raye); "Swan Waltz" (instrumental); "It's On, It's Off" (reprise by Raye); "Double or Nothing," "Double or Nothing" (reprise/ sung by chorus); "Clarinet Virtuoso" (performed by Ames and Arno); "The Moon Got In My Eye" (reprise, sung by Crosby); The Calgary Brothers Comedy Act (performed by Steve and Andre Calgary) followed by them singing "The Moon Got In My Eye," "After You" (sung by Frances Faye, Martha Raye, Bing Crosby and Harry Barris) and "It's the Natural Thing to Do" (reprise by Crosby). Of the Crosby tunes, the ones that come off best are "It's the Natural Thing to Do" and "The Moon Got In My Eye," with the latter beautifully performed instrumentally by a sing and humming band of twenty voices in the place of an orchestra. A novel idea. On the funny side, Martha Raye, a burlesque dancer, finds herself unable to control herself by doing a striptease act every time she hears the music to "It's On, It's Off," and at one point, continues to sing under the bubbles while submerging under water during a police raid. For the finale in the night club variety act comes the jive singing of Frances Faye and Martha Raye to the tune "After You." With their last names sounding alike (Faye and Raye), so does their loud vocalizing.

The supporting players include: Benny Baker as The Sailor; Fay Holden as Martha Sewell Clark; Walter Kingsford as Dobson; Gilbert Emery as Mitchell; John Gallaudet as Johnny Rutherford; and Harry Barris, (a familiar face in numerous Crosby musicals, mainly because he was part of his "Rhythm Boys" singing trio in his early days), playing an orchestra leader. Resident Hollywood drunks Charles Irwin and Arthur Housman can be seen briefly in the golf course scene, which is highlighted by Martha Raye opening her big mouth, belting out a giant cry that stops her short when a flying golf ball enters her mouth, causing her to swallow it.

Bing Crosby and his doll-faced blonde co-star, Mary Carlisle, make a fine on-screen couple. First paired in COLLEGE HUMOR (1933), they reunited for the third and final time in DOCTOR RHYTHM (1938), in which Andy Devine, who appears in DOUBLE OR NOTHING, appears with them once more.

The story used in DOUBLE OR NOTHING appears to be more interesting than the somewhat overlong musical and comedy acts performed in the night club sequence shortly before the close of this 94 minute production, but the good tunes, lavish sets and fine performances keep this from being just another mediocre musical. Rarely seen in recent years, it's worth rediscovering again. (***)

"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.

in 1937, paramount films, along with other studios, was in deep trouble in the recession. bing crosby was paramount's main source of easy money. the public then was willing to see anything with bing in it, or for that matter, hear him on records and on the radio. in "double or nothing", bing gave them some of all three media. four crosby-type numbers, "smarty", "the natural thing to do", "moon got in my eyes","all you wanna do is dance" which crosby does with that effortless, casual insouciance for which he was so famous. at that time, crosby's kraft music hall was one of the top radio shows, and the night club scene had bing emceeing just as he did on radio. pretty mary carlisle is the love interest, and a capable cast of martha raye (great in "it's on, it's off"), bill frawley, andy devine round out the foursome, with bing, trying to win the million dollar jackpot, courtesy of a multi-millionaire's whimsy. samuel s. hinds (jimmy stewart's father in "it's a wonderful life") plays one of his hundreds of supporting roles, as bing & co's adversary. not a "great" movie, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.