A Slight Case of Murder (1938)'s comments

Do you want to let us know what you think? Just login, after which you will be redirected back here and you can leave your comments.

nbats

https://noodlemagazine.com/watch/208419657_456242554

1 year 7 months ago

Edward G. Robinson originated the character of the 20s and 30s mobster, so he's well within his rights to send the archetype up in mob comedies like A Slight Case of Murder, an amusing if not laugh-out-loud farce about a bootlegger who decides to go legit with his brewery after Prohibition, and soon faces bankruptcy. The humor derives from all the characters doing their best to act legitimate despite sounding like two-bit hoods, all their reflexes the wrong ones for this kind of life. I find it's a bit scattershot, jumping in time, and adding complications (and an orphan boy?) with little set-up, but then things rather pleasantly come together in the third act when Robinson's Marko has to resolve everything during a big party at the house he's about to lose. Dead bodies in the closet, his daughter's beau's become a policeman, the creditors are at the door, and there's a killer lurking outside... can he pull off one last scheme? A bit of nonsense, frankly, but kind of clever towards the end.

3 years 11 months ago