Cinzas do Passado

Roy Huggins who later wrote and produced and gained a big reputation on the small screen for quality, wrote the mystery novel on which this film is based. I Love Trouble clearly shows the influence of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in both plot and characters.

Franchot Tone is our protagonist private eye Stu Bailey, a character name that would recur again on the big and small screen. Tom Powers hires him to find his missing wife. On the trail he's aided and abetted by his loyal girl Friday Glenda Farrell who is the most memorable character in the film in a movie chock full of good character performances.

A lot of people are interested in this woman including millionaire wife Janis Carter, her 'sister' Janet Blair, sleazy nightclub owner Steven Geray and his henchmen who include John Ireland and Raymond Burr. They're a memorable bunch, but almost as memorable as Farrell are spoiled wife Adele Jergens who makes a big play for Tone and nightclub comic Sid Tomack who is not above a little information peddling on the side that costs him dear.

I'm surprised Tone did not do more roles like this. He certainly displayed the proper and expected laconic behavior for a private detective. It was that typecasting he could never get away from. The studio brass wanted him in formal evening wear dispensing bon mots and generally losing the girl in A films to the likes of Clark Gable at his first studio MGM.

I Love Trouble is not anything like the Julia Roberts/Nick Nolte film of more recent vintage. Instead it's a nifty noir mystery from Columbia. In fact it's really two mysteries that sort of get jumbled together in Tone's investigation. Hopefully that whets your appetite to see it.

When I saw S. Sylvan Simon's name on the credits as the filmmaker, I knew immediately this would be a different type of picture. Like Billy Wilder, SSS's comedic background puts a different perspective on the whodunit/mystery genre, let alone its extension into the dark side of film noir.

I especially enjoyed the light and breezy approach of star Franchot Tone to his role as gumshoe, so different from the classical models. Right from the beginning of the saga, his raised eyebrow (a la The Rock) and reactions to the most violent and mortal situations he finds himself in has a debonair as well as carefree attitude. In other hands it would appear to be satire (like a Steve Martin "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" genre revision), but instead we're carried along with endless clues, switcheroos and blind alleys on almost a romp rather than a thriller.

Just the plethora of leading ladies in major roles is quite different from the norm and all of them add greatly to the narrative. Keeping all the twists and turns straight is quite a challenge, but the final confrontation scene of bringing all the pieces and dangling threads together is a marvel of prestidigitation. For me, it made the cleverness of "Knives Out" seem like child's play.

A detective is hired to investigate the real identity of client's wife, leading him into a tangled thicket of leads.

So where is Janie Joy. Detective Bailey's having a heckuva time finding out, what with all those luscious ladies parading in and out—not that I'm complaining. But the sorting process does get difficult at times. This is a detective story, and not classic noir, more like Philo Vance than Phillip Marlowe. LA-area locations are emphasized rather than light and shadow. But it is a good look at post-war LA, including the photogenic Buster Buffin's Buffett.

As the detective, the slender Tone brings a different kind of appeal. Wisely, the screenplay emphasizes his verbal skills rather than tough-guy brawn. In fact, he almost gets shoved around enough to embarrass fall-guy Elisha Cook Jr. Still, Tone does have a ready smile and easy charm. But that's also a problem for the movie. In short, characters and events lack the kind of grit needed to generate needed menace. Sure, there is a guessing game as to where Janie Joy is, but it's more like a brain-teaser than a fear factor. Plus, screenwriter Huggins clearly knows his way around wisecracks and clever banter. Yet the story's architecture remains murky and plodding. All in all, this is a movie of individual scenes rather than memorable whole.

Nonetheless, it's a good chance to ogle the ladies and their 40's fashions, along with Detroit's four-wheel designs, post-war, that is.

A new print of "I Love Trouble" was just screened last night (1/31/07) at Noir City 5, San Francisco's noted film noir festival. (http://noircity.com)

In short, it was amazing. Roy Huggins was very heavily influenced by Dashiell Hammett, but let me tell you he could go toe to toe with the best Hammett had to offer. Every scene was filled with killer lines, right up to the last line of the film (Girl who wants to kiss the protagonist: "I didn't know there'd be a line." Girl who's kissing him: "Honey, this is the end of the line.") Franchot Tone is perfect as the suave but funny private dick who always has a wisecrack, thinks on his feet, and one heck of a set of...nerves.

This is a must-see for any film noir aficionado. Alas, it's not yet on DVD and was never on VHS; if you see it coming on cable, Tivo it, tape it, miss work, skip your vacation, stand up your date, do what it takes as long as you DON'T MISS THIS GEM.

JL

I read the other reviews so I had to add my two cents. I liked Franchot Tone as the Private Eye. It would be easy to underestimate his toughness. The story is well written and well played by the actors. Glenda Farrell's part was especially entertaining. Unlike a couple of other reviewers I didn't find it slow or dull at all. I liked the pace of the story and the dialogue. My only complaint was the very poor quality of the print. One reviewer mentioned seeing it at a festival. I'd love to see a better copy. It's a shame that the PD version out there is so awful. Still, it kept me entertained despite the terrible, almost unwatchable print. Fans of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are bound to love the character Roy Huggins created for this film.