Law of the Tropics (1941)

Really Surprised!

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Bennett has top billing, which must have been some consolation for starring in this story of a torch singer in the tropics attempting to elude the law. The film is OK - and it has several pleasing songs sung by a trio of tropical lads - but the presence of Bennett does not raise it from "B" to "A" status. Maybe Jack Warner wanted to help his old poker partner by giving her a job. And she took it because, according to her biographer, she hadn't put away so much as a dime for the inevitable rainy days and she needed the money to support her palatial lifestyle.Although the former #1 glamour queen of Hollywood is only 36, she is not looking especially fabulous in this film. But Mona Maris, a dead ringer for Bennett's poker playing comrade, Kay Francis, does look fabulous. Unlike Bennett, Francis did save her money for a rainy day, but when the rainy day came she found it impossible to go quietly into obscurity and she too made a few "B" films. Both ladies, like so many other former femme stars out of fashion, took up live theatre in the late 40s. Bennett fans are advised to skip this film and watch Topper instead.

Warner Bros. seemed to be doing a retread of TORRID ZONE, the film that starred James Cagney and Ann Sheridan. And CONSTANCE BENNETT is no substitute here for Sheridan, for whom the role of a nightclub singer running from the law would have been perfect...except that by this time, Sheridan was doing Grade A films.JEFFREY LYNN, with a mustache, has the kind of role you might expect James Cagney to be in. He's the inventor of a process that produces rubber faster than the usual time it takes. He's assigned to a rubber plantation where he can carry out a way to increase production of rubber. When he's jilted by his would be bride, he makes a deal with a nightclub singer (CONSTANCE BENNETT) who agrees to play the role for a fee and as a means (unknown to him) to escape the law because of an incident in her past. Naturally, they fall in love before the last reel after the usual plot contrivances.It's formula stuff and gets the Warner Bros. B-film treatment with clumsy attempts at humor along the way, but at least there are two nice supporting performances from MONA MARIS (looking beautiful) and the reliable REGIS TOOMEY, both sympathetic to Bennett's cause.Summing up: Passes the time quickly, but is one you'll soon forget. Bennett's penciled in eyebrows are a distraction and she looks ill suited for a role that would have fit Sheridan like a glove.

Constance Bennett in the 1940s. Her role is an Ann Sheridan-type role. And she looks like part-Benett, part-Jane Wyman, and a good part Lucille Ball. (The penciled-in brows, the full red lips ...) This could not be called a good movie. It holds its own, though. Jeffrey Lynn is good, as he always was. The other female lead, Mona Maris, is very alluring and a good actress.The plot is silly as can be.In "What Price Hollywood?" Bennett sang in French. She wove in and out of seats at a cabaret much in the style of Marlene Deitrich in "morocco." In "City Across The Bay," her sister Joan sings a racy song that puts one in mind of Carmen Miranda. Here Bennett sings a song that is partly in Spanish. (The story takes place in South or Central America.) Everyone gives it his or her best. Often that isn't much but it's a hard movie to dislike.

Deep, deep, miserably deep "B". However, Bennett is delightful, as always, and makes the picture worth watching. Also, if you've ever had the urge to beat the crap out of Peter Gunn, there's an OK fight scene that Craig Stevens gets the worst of, and the chick who plays Regis Toomey's wife is a 40's hottie.