Assassinatos em Profusão

After the ban was lifted, a brewer decides to sell the beer legally, but no one wants to buy his rebellious beer, and he doesn't want to force sales. Sorry,

What a fun movie! Kind of a precursor of "Some Like it Hot" the movie has a lot of fun with the Runyonesque characters (Runyon wrote the screenplay) and the goofy goings on of a Prohibition beer baron who decides to go legit when Prohibition is repealed. Broderick Crawford is wonderful as the blustering but soft-hearted Remy Marko. The film also has a few nicely placed and very enjoyable musical numbers, and who knew Broderick Crawford could sing so pleasantly (turns out his parents were both opera singers!). The farce is generous and hilarious, with dead bodies cropping up everywhere, and Margaret Dumont putting in a turn as the usual easily offended matron. Joseph Vitale, Sheldon Leonard and Charles Cantor do a great job as Marko's lovable hood sidekicks. Harry Morgan appears but his contribution is limited mostly to climbing over transoms and in and out of windows. The production values are wonderful. All in all a surprisingly wonderful treat.

Prohibition beer baron Broderick Crawford goes legit with repeal. He doesn't change his production methods, so he also goes broke. He needs half a million dollars or he loses everything. Fortunately, one of the mugs at a party he is throwing in Saratoga to celebrate the engagement of daughter Virginia Gibson has left a satchel containing that amount from a racetrack robbery.

It's from a play co-written by Damon Runyon. Warners had made it in 1938 with Edward G. Robinson in the lead role, and now was the time to offer the world a Technicolor version. Crawford plays it as big and blustery except around wife Claire Trevor. However, while everyone puts in good effort, it's another story whose time has passed. Still, fun to see the Runyonesque characters at play, particularly Sheldon Leonard. With Harry Morgan, Margaret Dumont, and Jack Pepper.

I dislike remakes, and Hollywood has made a ton of them over the years. In the few cases where I actually liked the remakes, most of the time it was because the original film was flawed and the remake managed to work out the kinks--resulting in a better film. However, in the case of "A Slight Case of Murder", this is a very, very tall order, as this is one of the better comedies of the 1930s and one of Edward G. Robinson's best films. Because of this, I just understand why they didn't just re-release the original and remake some other film instead.

In "Stop, You're Killing Me", the film was originally seen as a remake featuring the singing and comedy of Danny Kaye. This might have worked. However, when Kaye was unavailable, they substituted Broderick Crawford--a man about as unlike Kaye as you could imagine! Hearing Crawford sing was sure interesting! Fortunately, it was quite brief and the rest of the music for the Kaye version was dropped or sung by others!

The film begins the day Prohibition ends. The good times for Marco (Crawford) and his gang of bootleggers is over--as cheaper and MUCH better booze is now available everywhere. So, Marco decides to disband the gang and retire. After a time, he gets bored and decides to re-open his brewery--legitimately this time. The problem is, his beer totally sucks and the only reason folks bought it was because his gang forced them to buy it and better stuff wasn't available. Marco is in trouble--and about to walk into more when he takes a little vacation.

There's been a huge holdup and an unrelated gang is hanging out in the mansion where Marco and his pals are headed for their vacation. To make things worse, one of the gang members ends up killing his partners and hides their bodies all over the place. Add to this a precocious and very annoying kid and you have a recipe for fun...or at least that's the way it was in the original!

The problem with "Stop, You're Killing Me" is that aside from a tiny bit of music and color, the film is just too close to the original and offers nothing new. The only major plus was Margaret Dumont--she was great! Plus, while everyone tries their best, I just couldn't help but think how much more I liked the originals--with not only Robinson but Allen Jenkins, George E. Stone, Eddie Brophy and more! Still, the original script was quite good and even though the film never should have been made, it was still pleasant and entertaining.

Warner Brothers waited just 14 years to remake its hit 1938 film, "A Slight Case of Murder." And, it's doubtful that it paid off to remake it at all. This retitled film - also based on a Damon Runyan 1935 play, had box office receipts of $2.5 million. It didn't even match the $2.9 million in box office of the 1938 film. That was with considerably higher ticket prices and more population to draw from. And, I think it's ridiculous to call a film a musical just because a couple of people sing along with a song on a record player.

To be fair, this is a good film. If the first film had not been made, this one would no doubt have done much better. But whenever a movie is remade, especially in less than 20 years between films, the comparison by critics and early viewers is a certainty. And, by no stretch can this film come close to the original. Broderick Crawford gives a very good performance here. But he would have to have given the greatest performance of all films for the past 10 years - or something like that, to have equaled Edward G. Robinson as Remy Marco. Oh, yeah, in this film the family name is spelled Marko.

Only one of the roles in this remake is up to its original role in the first film. That's Claire Trevor as Nora, Remy's wife. She's as good or better than Ruth Donnelly. Trevor gives a different touch to the role and she shines in it. As to the rest, the Brothers Warner couldn't come close to the original roles. Alan Jenkins as Mike was not to be outdone by Charles Cantor. Sheldon Leonard is good in these roles, and his Lefty is just about as good as Edward Brophy in the first film. Harry Morgan is a draw with Joe Downing as Innocence. But all the rest of this cast have considerably lesser roles or performances.

Anyone who hasn't seen the first film may enjoy this one. But, for those who have seen the original, its best to pass on this one.