Seven Sinners
Directed by Tay Garnett
Written by John Meehan and Harry Tugend from a story by Ladislas Fodor and Lásló Vadnay
1940/USA
Universal Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Lt. Dan Brent: Imagine finding you here.
Bijou: I’m the type of girl you’re liable to find anywhere.[/box]
I really enjoyed this one. Marlene Dietrich is in good form and there are many fine supporting performances to relish.
Bijou (Dietrich) seems to cause a riot in every bar she works at and has been deported from one Pacific Island after another. When she discovers that one she is familiar with has a new Governor, she sets up shop at one of her old haunts with her two sidekicks – a two-fisted dumb lug (Broderick Crawford) and a larcenous magician (Mischa Auer), She has a yen for a man in uniform and she and a Lieutenant (John Wayne) promptly fall in love. But a sinister character (Oscar Homolka – Sabotage) from her past will do anything to make her his. With Billy Gilbert as the bar owner and Albert Dekker as a ship’s doctor
This is simple good fun. There are plenty of well-choreographed bar brawls and Dietrich performs several good musical numbers, most notably “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “The Man’s in the Navy” and displays her trademark sex appeal and wit. Homolka is especially effective as the villain but the whole cast of character actors is wonderful.
Clip – Dietrich plays billiards
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