Le Bateau-tripot

Tidy web of a plot. Deception abounds, but luckily the audience is the first to know. It's just fun waiting for the characters to discover their mutual deceptions. Every principal character is a racketeer; there are no innocents. Cary Grant's character is, of course, the most charming criminal of the bunch.

Cary Grant quits the rackets and heads to California under a fake name. He's had it, especially when he meets Benita Hume on a train. She's crazy for him, too. Trouble is her boss/lover runs a gambling ship, the mob is putting the squeeze on him, and he thinks she's located a sucker.

It's not Grant's first movie heading the cast list, but he's definitely the focus of the movie here. All three are trying to play a square game, but none of them knows how, and none of them believes the others. It's an intriguing idea, but it needs more than Louis Gasnier directing to raise it out of the potboiler status. Glenda Farrell and Roscoe Karns offer some fun.

Gambling Ship (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

After being found innocent on a murder he was set up for, gambling boss Ace Corbin (Cary Grant) decides enough is enough and leaves the business. He gets on a train where he meets Eleanor (Benita Hume) and the two strike up a relationship. Ace doesn't want her to know his past life but there's something she isn't telling him about hers. Pretty soon Ace finds a whole new set of problems due to the girl as well as his past catching up with him.

GAMBLING SHIP is a rather routine crime drama that is okay for what it is but at the same time there's no question that it really doesn't contain anything overly special or interesting. The main reason to watch this film today would be for the early performance by Grant who is actually good here. He has to play a character that is at times supposed to be cute and charming but also have a darker and more serious side. I thought Grant was fine in the role and made it a lot more interesting than what most actors would have done with it.

The supporting cast includes Jack La Rue as a thug and we've also got Glenda Farrell and Roscoe Karns. Hume makes for a rather bland leading lady and really doesn't offer any sparks. The screenplay really isn't anything fresh or original as we've seen this type of crime film countless times even by 1933 standards. GAMBLING SHIP isn't awful and it isn't good either. It's a decent crime picture but I'd say only Grant fans should check it out.

"Gambling Ship" is a rather obscure early Cary Grant film. Because it's so early, the studios didn't quite know what to do with Grant, as he hadn't developed an on-screen persona yet. That's why they have him playing a part he never would have done just a bit later...playing a mobster of all characters!

When the film begins, Ace (Grant) has just narrowly been acquitted for some crime. This close call is a wake-up call for him and he decides to retire from the mob. On the way out of town, he meets a lovely lady (Bonita Hume) on the train and you can imagine them both falling in love and settling down together. NOT SO FAST!! She also has a secret...as she's just left her life of crime as well! Neither knows the other's secret! How does all this play out and what does this have to do with an off-shore gambling ship?

In addition to seeing Grant as a mobster, the film was unusual because it also features Roscoe Karns as a gangster as well...sort of like an enforcer type! Karns specialized in playing mousy sorts of guys...the opposite of this character!

So is it any good? Well, it's not bad. Overall, it's an enjoyable little film but not exactly a must-see for most viewers...more a film that is best for Cary Grant fans who want to see his early work and see him in a VERY different role.

A relatively routine crime drama that manages to infuse a rather thin plot with an average degree of tension and pathos. The film does perhaps take a bit too long to cover a far too familiar storyline, but it is reasonably well directed, and is made further palatable it's adept cast - all of whom turn in highly respectable performances that manage to engage the viewer in the plights of the various characters. Cary Grant and Benita Hume are endearing as the protagonists attempting to escape their pasts, Jack La Rue and Arthur Vinton are convincing mobsters, and decent comic relief is provided by Roscoe Karns and Charles Williams (the slightly grating Glenda Farrell is the only major cast member who misses the boat while providing one of her usual tough gal characterizations that feels out-of-place in these proceedings). The film is not particularly memorable once it reaches it's expected conclusion, but it's well-cast ensemble makes it reasonably enjoyable while it's playing.