Smart Guy (1943)
A gambler is about to stand trial for a crime he actually didn't commit. In order to brush up his "image", he adopts an orphaned newsboy.
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This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Usually a film that's commercially available on DVD will attract lots of reviews, but this Monogram "B" seems to be the exception. That's a shame because Wanda McKay (rhymes with "high") has one of her most charming roles as the feminine lead. Admittedly, she's not billed as such, but her role is larger than that filled (in her usual "tough dame" style) by Veda Ann Borg. The other players are likewise never less than competent. In fact, Rick Vallin makes quite a pleasing hero (who handles the unpleasant situation he finds himself in with commendable fortitude) and even Bobby Larson is quite tolerable as the kid he rescues. However, the movie does come to a most disappointing conclusion when "Good" triumphs and the hero faces a one-to-five prison sentence for a "crime" that never happened. You'd think the scriptwriters could have come up with some sort of last-minute reprieve, however weak. Even a character witness who could destroy the credibility of the victim would be better than nothing. Or is the "message" of the movie really that all lawyers are viciously incompetent and that if you are accused of committing a crime that never occurred, you may as well plead guilty and be done with it. "Smart Guy" is one of only five or six Hollywood movies of the 1940s in which the vicious character wins the day and the hero loses out.