Sorrowful Jones [Blu-ray]

Director: Sidney Lanfield Sidney Lanfield

Overview

This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker," or IOU. When the father is killed by mobster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot), Sorrowful decides to hide Martha Jane from the authorities, lest the poor girl get tossed in an orphanage. Lucille Ball co-stars as Sorrowful's erstwhile girlfriend Gladys, who along with Mary Jane is instrumental in "reforming" the cynical Jones. The climactic scenes, wherein Sorrowful tries to smuggle a horse into a hospital in order to bring the little girl out of a coma, deftly combines slapstick with pathos. A remake of 1934's Little Miss Marker, which starred Shirley Temple in the title role, Sorrowful Jones was itself remade in 1962 as the Tony Curtis vehicle Who's Got the Action; it was filmed again in 1980, once more as Little Miss Marker, with Curtis as the villain and Walter Matthau in the Bob Hope role.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/07/2023
UPC:	0738329261641
Original Release:	1949
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	26,864

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bob Hope	Humphrey "Sorrowful" Jones
Lucille Ball	Gladys O'Neill
William Demarest	Regret
Mary Jane Saunders	Martha Jane Smith
Bruce Cabot	Big Steve Holloway
Thomas Gomez	Reardon
Tom Pedi	Once-Over Sam
Paul Lees	Orville Smith
Houseley Stevenson	Doc Chesley
Ben Welden	Big Steve's Bodyguard
Claire Carleton	Agnes `Happy Hips' Noonan
Harry Tyler	Blinky
John 'Skins' Miller	Head Phone Man
Charles Cooley	Shorty
Marc Krah	Barber
Sid Tomack	Waiter at Steve's Place
Patsy O'Byrne	Charwoman
Ralph Peters	Cab Driver
Edgar Dearing	Police Lt. Mitchell
Arthur Space	Plainclothesman
John Mallon	Horseplayer
Frank Mills	Horseplayer
Tony Cirillo	Horseplayer,Horseplayer
Allan Ray	Horseplayer
Sam Finn	Horseplayer
Bob Kortman	Horseplayer
James Davies	Horseplayer
James Cornell	Horseplayer
Jack Roberts	Horseplayer
Jim Davies	Horseplayer
Douglas Carter	Horseplayer
Selmar Jackson	Doctor,Doctor
Pat Lane	Booky
Billy Snyder	Booky
Kid Chissell	Booky
Eddie Rio	Booky
William Yip	Chinaman
George Chan	Chinaman
Sally Rawlinson	Nurse
Louise Lorimer	Nurse
Emmett Vogan	Psychiatrist
Maurice Cass	Psychiatrist
John Shay	Doctor

Technical Credits

Gordon Jennings	Special Effects
Sidney Lanfield	Director
Robert L. Welch	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Sorrowful Jones is not a "don't miss" movie, but it is notable for providing Bob Hope with the chance to play a real character, rather than a thin variation on the Bob hope persona. This is not to say that Sorrowful Jones has nothing in common with Hope; there are quite a few quips that were definitely written for the actor, not the character. Still, Hope is definitely creating a character here and not doing a half-bad job at it either. The problem is that neither the star nor the writers are willing to fully commit to the character (and, by extension, the story, the dialogue, and the milieu), with the result that the best Sorrowful can do is place, rather than win or show. The film does benefit from a fine non-cloying performance from little Mary Jane Saunders, who manages to stay on the right side of cute. Lucille Ball is unusually subdued; those who are looking for her zany television character will be disappointed, but if viewers can divorce themselves from those preconceptions, they'll be surprised at the warmth and vulnerability with which she laces her sometimes severe character. There's also fine support from William Demarest and Ben Welden and purposeful direction from Sidney Lanfield, adding up to a decent, if unremarkable, time for all.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler