Les deux escrocs

Two Smart People (1946)

An odd, charming, crime romance with a series of great locales and a real sense of love triumphs over everything. You might expect this from MGM somehow--it lacks the intensity we think of with Warner Bros. crime flicks--but it has more warmth and aura that critics give it credit for. And when it gets to the crazy Mardi Gras scenes, it's really pretty fun.

The star here is Lucille Ball. Yes, the comic queen of the 1950s in a dramatic role, and she's convincing, despite the fact that she was unhappy to be in the film (she knew it was her last with MGM). Ball actually made a lot of films before television took her to the top, and she's always really good if never quite sizzling or memorable. She (and everyone) blames the weak script for her lackluster appearance here, but I thought the whole mood of the movie took on its own life and it worked well. The cinematography is led by legendary Karl Freund who later filmed 149 "I Love Lucy" episodes and who had already shot classic movies like "Metropolis," "Dracula," and would later do "Key Largo."

Across from Ball in the romantic male lead is John Hodiak, who tries to light up the screen but seems to be slightly trying, as if he knows the kind of charming con man he is meant to be and can't quite "become" it. Still, he's likable, and his chemistry with Ball isn't bad. A third lead has to be mentioned, Lloyd Nolan, because he's the laid back cop who is the most at ease in the film, and who is used to bounce the romance off of.

It's true, the script, both the dialog and plot, are routine stuff. But don't let that worry you. The ploy of the stolen bonds hidden in the book (seen in the first scene) is a little overdone as it goes (with a small twist in the final minutes), but it's really just a way to keep a slight suspense going. As the two leads fall for each other in the most impossible circumstance, there is the feeling that maybe the bonds are really the goal, and not true love. Great character actor Elisha Cook Jr. is creeping around in the background, waiting for the money to turn up.

Like many post-war films, the filming here is intensely moody, sharp, and filled with moving camera. It's a pleasure just to watch. Director Jules Dassin has several truly great films to his credit, and this one is usually brushed off as a failure of sorts, but I wouldn't do that. I enjoyed every minute. Even when there were cracks in the plot, I still wanted to be there, to go along for the ride. And that's good enough!

This was Lucille Ball's final film for MGM. Though she didn't like it, she's very good and has nice chemistry with John Hodiak. They are ably supported by Elisha Cook, Jr., and Lloyd Nolan.

Con man Hodiak is headed back to prison on a train with detective Nolan when they meet con woman Ball. Gangster Cook wants the bonds Hodiak is hiding. The two leads fall for one another. There is a long Mardi Gras scene at the end of the film. Ball looks fantastic in the festival gowns.

Light fun. Directed by Jules Dassin without the flair that would make him one of the great directors.

Oil paintings and oil wells. Ricki ( Lucy) and her friend "Ace" are somehow involved in selling things. John Hodiak is "Ace" Connors, and he and Ricki are trying to sell oil wells or paintings, but neither one seems to be authentic, so the buyers back out, and then there are the mysterious missing bonds. Elisha Cook is the dark horse "Feletti". It's all very 1940s noirish, with Lucy all dolled up in fancy costumes, and many things are only partially explained. They all meet on a train when Bob Simms (Lloyd Nolan), is bringing Connors in for justice. Simms tells Ricki why they are on the train, and tries to get her on his side. Then, they end up on the Mexican side of the border. Now, they are all at a Mardi Gras party. Wow, they sure have a lot of adventures for someone on their way to Sing Sing; it's all in good fun as we wait to see if Simms, Feletti, or someone else will find the stolen bonds. You have to really pay attention or you'll miss important details. It's more of a get-away adventure than a who-dunnit. It's okay, but not a lot of meat on the bones of this story. This was a couple years before I Love Lucy. They hardly ever show this one, but her best films were Long Long Trailer, Big Street, Fuller Brush Girl, and Meet the People. Hodiak had just done Hitchcock's Lifeboat, and Harvey Girls.

Directed by Jules Dassin, nominated for two Oscars for "Pote tin Kyriaki" 1960. He had also directed Rififi and Topkapi, and was harassed by the House Unamerican Activities Committee in the 1950s. Looks like this is the only time Dassin and Lucy worked on a project together.

Con man John Hodiak meets confidence woman Lucille Ball and they fall in love. Or does she? Hodiak is heading to Sing Sing with cop Lloyd Nolan for stealing half a million dollars in bond. Five years sewing mail bags wil net him that half a million, so he's doing it willingly. Or is he? Miss Ball is definitely on his mind, as is Elisha Cook Jr., who wants half the money. Or does he? Might Miss Cook and Miss Ball want all the money?

This was a failure at the box office, and it's easy to see why. Everyone seems slightly miscast, save Nolan, who gives one of his usual dependable performances, and Vladimir Sokoloff. Yet I enjoy this movie immensely. It's the big Mardi Gras sequence at the end of the movie, and Karl Freund's camerawork. His portrait photography shows he can do MGM's high-lit shots as well as any, and he makes Miss Ball more beautiful than she had ever been, before or since. No wonder he became the chief cameraman for Miss Ball's TV show!

Anyone coming to Jules Dassin's Two Smart People in expectation of the hard-core noir of his Brute Force, The Naked City, Thieves' Highway or Night and the City will have a surprise in store. Here, Dassin betrays his continental roots in fabricating a light if poignant romance between two con-artists. And though the movie has a noir veneer, it's less suggestive of Fritz Lang or Robert Siodmak than of Ernst Lubitch – specifically the Lubitch of Trouble in Paradise, another elegant romance sparked between larcenous lovers.

The pairing here is between Lucille Ball, on the lam from a job she pulled in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and John Hodiak, being escorted back from the west coast to finish a stint at Sing Sing by cop Lloyd Nolan. While trying to sabotage one another's swindles, Ball and Hodiak fall in love, and she joins him on his train journey to that castle on the Hudson. Also in play are half a million in bonds which are tucked away in a fancy cookbook (all ortolans and truffles) that Hodiak, a bit of a gourmet, keeps with him for bedside reading. And the wild card is nasty Elisha Cook, Jr., one of Ball's former partners in crime, who wants the bonds for himself.

Dassin keeps a delicate balance between the intrigue and the romance, but the romance wins out (and who's complaining). Hodiak takes to the lighter, more debonair style with greater conviction than he does the harder-boiled roles he played in Somewhere in the Night and Desert Fury that same year. Ball, in a role that is neither too broad (like The Fuller Brush Girl or Miss Grant Takes Richmond) nor too melodramatic (like The Big Street), delivers a subtle and winning performance – and she looks smashing.

For his finale, Dassin whisks us to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, granting Cook a flamboyant exit. It's a gaudy set-piece crowded with costumed revelers that raises the spirits before they grow subdued at the surprisingly bittersweet ending. If Two Smart People can be counted as part of the noir cycle (and it often is), it's possibly its most effervescent title. If not, who cares? It remains an offbeat delight all its own.