Fashion Model

When two models are killed at Dorothy Christy's dress salon, stock boy Robert Lowery winds up in police custody as the murderer. His girl friend, model Marjorie Weave, believes him innocent and helps him escape. They proceed to track down the real murderer.

The first half of this Monogram mystery-comedy moves at a good clip with some nice humor. The second half gets into a long set-up, where they go back to the salon to look for clues, and window dresser Jack Norton mistakes them for mannequins It's co-written by Tim Ryan, who also plays the police lieutenant investigating the murders. Director William Beaudine gets a good comedy performance out of Dewey Robinson as Ryan's dumb-as-a-bagful-of-hammers assistant.

Peggy Rooney (Weaver) is a model and Jimmy O'Brien a stock boy at the high fashion dress store, Celeste's. Given that it's a Monogram, we get right down to business and a murder of one of the fashion models (Gray) occurs very shortly into the film. Inspector O'Hara (Ryan) and his dumb cop sidekick Grogan (Robinson) come to investigate and O'Hara at first decides it must be Jimmy O'Brien. Although I'm a fan of dumb, likable cop characters (my favorites are Ed Gargan and Tom Kennedy), Robinson's portrayal leaves me cold – he's just not humorous. Two more murders ensue; Rooney helps O'Brien escape from the police (she disguises herself as O'Brien's grandmother – which, of course, fools Grogan). Now they are fugitives and so it goes until the real murderer is caught. The best part of the movie is towards the end when Rooney and O'Brien are in the dress shop trying to evade the police. Although their initial disguise as an elderly "Southern" couple bombs as they're dressed in 19th century costumes, this is the only really jarring part of the movie. What does work is when they pretend to be mannequins and Jack Norton plays a drunken (what else?) window dresser. Norton has a pretty lengthy part and does a wonderful job. Tim Ryan also does a good job and is always fun to watch. Lowery and Weaver make a very good team and are good with light comedy.

A stock boy (Robert Lowery) is suspected of three murders connected to the dressmaking establishment known as Madame Celeste's fashion house where he works. With the help of his girlfriend model (Marjorie Weaver)he is determined to find the real murderer ...

The suspects: Mr. Davis, Yvonne's older wealthy boyfriend; and snobbish and condescending customer Jessica Van Allen and her henpecked husband Harvey Van Allen, the last two customers in the store before closing when Yvonne was murdered. All the models detest Mrs. Van Allen, who they criticized to her face on that last visit.

Fashion model has the usual thick detectives, amateur detectives and the wisecracks found in a comedy mystery of this era - it's sort of generic, but fairly entertaining with good performances and I liked Jessica Van Allen and her henpecked husband; the identity of the killer came as a surprise.

The gorgeous Marjorie Weaver is the star in this movie. Arguably, the most underappreciated actress Hollywood ever had. Her adorable Kentucky accent and her fun personality. Will win you over every time. This is a light "who done it". The movie moves along briskly with lots of suspense and humor. You'll think you have the bad guy figured out, but you probably don't. A little biased because I'm a massive Marjorie Weaver fan. I try to get every DVD she's ever made. This is a good comedy with plenty of funny bits. You will not be bored but be prepared to fall in love with Marjorie Weaver. Why she never became a big star I will never understand.

Fashion Model feels like an adaptation of a play--a very poorly written farce. Released in 1945, this B&W film has almost no plot. It is merely a series of gags, most of which fall flat.

It is as sophisticated as a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but was probably meant to be a madcap romp. At various times, it reminded me of an episode of the Superman TV show. Jimmy and Peggy reminded me of Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane with their "Aw Shucks" and "Jeepers" approach to acting.

The movie might have worked if they had Groucho Marx out front, or Laurel & Hardy. Then the core of the movie might have been funny or clever.

Unconvincing acting and horrible dialogue plague this film. The police are depicted as stupid--so stupid that, again, it feels cartoonish. Time spent watching this film could be better spent.