Half a Sinner

Spring fever hits school teacher Heather Angel hard. She buys a nice frock and silk stockings, and walks to the park. She's enjoying herself until gangster Henry Brandon tries to pick her up. She sees his gun, panics, knocks him down, and steals his car. She doesn't notice the stiff in the back, but Brandon's boss wants the body dumped and his overcoat returned, so off they go. The appearance of John 'Dusty' King in the car puts them off. Hardly surprising given that he confesses to Miss Angel that he's a hardened criminal.

It's directed by Al Christie, who'd been in the motion picture racket since 1909. He mostly produced and directed for his own company with brother Charles, particularly short comedies. The coming of sound had made those less profitable, so he did this one for Universal, using some of their contract stars, and some people he'd known for a long time. The script is good enough, but the leads seem to be speaking their lines too fast for any impact, and some of the characters (like Clem Bevans) look interesting, and then disappear. Most of the real fun is delivered in the second half by Constance Collier, as a snooty busybody who takes a shine to the youngsters. The result is an okay little film that takes only an hour.

Part film noir, part mystery, part thriller, part adventure and all comic romance, Half a Sinner is a 1940 charmer which is worth seeing.

Fred Jackson (screenwriter) and Al Christie (Director/Producer) teamed up in 1940 to bring a clever Dalton Trumbo story about a schoolteacher on the run to the screen. Both Jackson and Christie had been successfully making films since 1912 - including a great deal of B and B+ comedies such as 1937's Wells Fargo. Christie's experience shows in this well-directed and well-shot melange of genres, but unfortunately, Jackson appears to have had some difficulty working with Trumbo's material. At home in comedy, Jackson appears to have grafted most of the film's humorous elements onto characters Larry Cameron (John King) and Mrs Breckeridge (Constance Collier). Collier (Rope, The Perils of Penelope) is as superb as usual, but King is monotonous and awkward.

The plot, and Angel's charismatic performance and likable character are what make this film fun and worth a look.

Miss Gladden is a mid-twenties school teacher who fears becoming an old maid. Her solution to this is to go seek adventure in the local park. Doesn't sound promising, but her good looks attract the unwanted attention of a thug. Panicking, Miss Gladden (Angel) drives off in the thug's sedan - which, of course, had been previously stolen and has a body rolled up in a rug in the backseat. Miss Gladden is oblivious about all of this. Pursued doggedly by a motorcycle cop and some fairly inept gangsters, Miss Gladden eventually picks up a man (King) in the street who claims car trouble. Car trouble indeed. Noticing the body, Larry Cameron remarks that he is also in the game. What game? Well, that becomes the mystery which makes the movie worth watching so you won't get it out of me. Many viewers will figure it out about halfway through, and most will continue watching anyway just to see how the truth is eventually revealed.

Halfway a Sinner is a fun little romp. Suspension of disbelief is most definitely required - but it is facilitated by Heather Angel's superb performance, strong Trumbo storyline, and the good humor (not laugh-out- loud comedy) of the film.

Comedy noir would seem to be a contradiction in terms, but there are in fact movies in this vein that deserve serious attention, particularly The Ladykillers (1951). A much lesser entry, however, is Universal's 1940 release, Half a Sinner, in which a none-too-flatteringly photographed and costumed Heather Angel is pursued not only by comic cops and comic crooks but by smiling bland man, John King. The second last of over 400 films (many of them shorts) directed by comedy giant, Al Christie, this Trouble with Harry/Midnight Manhunt effort is somewhat repetitious but pleasant enough to talk during and even come late for. The players do what they can with their something-borrowed (cf. the overcoat device in Manhattan Melodrama), something-thin material, but only Clem Bevans, Tom Dugan, William B. Davidson and ever-reliable Constance Collier really shine.

As school winds down Anne Gladden (Heather Angel), a single teacher, decides to throw caution to the wind, gets herself all dolled up and heads out to the park. There she is accosted by a rude gentleman and in order to get away takes his car and drives off. She is unaware that the car is stolen and that there is a dead body in the back seat under an overcoat. The coat belongs to the boss of the gangsters and he's not happy that the evidence that could put him away for a long time is now out and about on a joy ride. Soon Anne is not only being chased by the cops and the gangsters but she's managed to pick up a nice man as well.

Suspenseful and silly this is a very enjoyable romp as the ever lovely Heather Angel tries very hard to get out of trouble and hang on to her man. Clearly a program picture this fun film manages to be considerably more especially when Constance Collier as Mrs Brenckenridge shows up and runs rough shod over everyone and everything. The woman is a pip.

I really liked this a great deal. This is one to keep an eye out for since its an hour of your time well spent.

A bored school teacher gets mixed up with the mob. She's decided to get out and see life, so she buys fancy clothes and drives off in a car the killers were using to dispose of a body. She meets a handsome stranger along the way, and they decide to return the car. After lunch, of course. All pretty unlikely, but if we just go along, it'll be an adventure. It's pretty silly. A 59 minute shortie B film from universal. From a story by dalton trumbo, whose life was turned upside down by the huac in the 1940s. Directed by al christie. This appears to be the last full length film he directed! The very last short christie directed was an odd little eleven minute bit with bob hope and friends called "bob's busy day". Apparently that was part of a larger film but has been sliced and diced into a tiny little short.