A Luva Perdida

During the era in which "Washington Melodrama" was made, there must have been a bazillion murder mystery B-movies. However, this film uses the familiar formula and brightens it up with an A-movie treatment. This means that instead of a 60 minute (give or take) running time like a B would have and mostly unknown actors, this one has a few bigger name actors, a running time of 80 minutes and a nice polished MGM look.

When the film begins, Calvin Claymore (Frank Morgan) is in DC pushing for a war relief bill. His family, on the other hand, are traveling about and he's left alone...alone and lonely. So a Senator decides to take him for a night on the town...at one of the strangest nightclubs in film history!* Morgan meets a nice young lady and soon they begins spending time together...platonic time...nothing sexual. However, after breaking off their friendship before it goes further, her vicious boss arrives at her apartment and he murders her. There doesn't appear to be any evidence the boss was there...but there is about Calvin and soon he'll be the #1 suspect. To help save his butt, his daughter (Ann Rutherford) comes to the rescue.

The acting and plot are quite nice and the film enjoyable. Overall, a very good film with a few noir qualities--such as the incredibly brutal murder--one of the nastiest and most vivid of the era!

*The nightclub features a water show...which makes little sense because it would be difficult for the audience to really see the ladies doing their synchronized swimming. In fact, the only way to really see them well is from above...and filmmakers of the era employed this odd technique quite a few times. Odder yet was when audience members were given fishing rods and were told to try to catch the girls!! Weird.

This is a "nice" movie, typical of the times. If you are a Frank Morgan fan, as I am, you will like this film. Ann Rutherford is great with a Spanish accent. Dan Dailey plays the bad guy, and, as usual, is very convincing. All ends well, as it always does in these "old" movies.

MGM had 2 stalwarts under long time contract: Lionel Barrymore and Frank Morgan... okay, you might throw Lewis Stone in there too. But of all of them, Frank's the most lovable and not given to the hammy theatrics of Barrymore. Here he's a lonely wealthy do-gooder, whose wife's off on an extended vacation in South America. He get's hooked up with a night club floozie at the urging of her coniving partner (Dan Dailey, playing against type) and after an innocent flirtation (she actually begins to care for Frank), she's MURDERED and obviously all fingers seem to point to him, which threatens everything. His daughter (the extremely attractive Ann Rutherford who does a mean French accent when called for) helps save the day with the help of her publisher boyfriend. There's some interesting debate on helping the innocent victims of WWII (we weren't in it yet) and you can see where our sympathies were. This isn't a who done it... it's more of a "how does he get out of it." Is it just me or does Douglass Drumbrille always seem to play the part of Lionel Atwill?

This has some cheery trappings but it's a brutal little movie. Dan Dailey could be a mean villain. He certainly is here.

Frank Morgan is framed, but the real noir heroes -- heroines --are the two pretty dancing girls.

This movie has a lot of bite, despite its having been directed by a workaday director and its starring the generally affable -- always, always likeable Morgan

Calvin Claymore (Frank Morgan) is a tycoon trying to pass a humanitarian bill for Nazi occupied Europe. He is opposed for helping the enemy. He gets drawn to a nightclub and becomes attached to showgirl Mary Morgan. Their encounter was set up by a blackmailer. When she turns up murdered, the blackmailer frames him for it.

Morgan's politics is naive at best and wrong at worst. The audience would know it soon enough. His political position actually bugs me a lot and the other side isn't that helpful either. They are debating about the effects without trying to fix the root cause. In the end, that part isn't necessary to the blackmail. He would still be after his money with or without the issue. As for Calvin, he is still the cause of his own problem no matter how much of a gentleman he tries to be. He willingly gets hooked. He has no one to blame but himself. Well, it's in the title. It's all melodrama.