| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Humphrey Bogart | ... | ||
| Conrad Veidt | ... | ||
| Kaaren Verne | ... | ||
| Jane Darwell | ... | ||
| Frank McHugh | ... | ||
| Peter Lorre | ... | ||
| Judith Anderson | ... | ||
| William Demarest | ... |
Sunshine
|
|
| Jackie Gleason | ... |
Starchy
(as Jackie C. Gleason)
|
|
| Phil Silvers | ... |
Waiter
|
|
| Wallace Ford | ... |
Spats Hunter
(as Wally Ford)
|
|
| Barton MacLane | ... |
Marty Callahan
|
|
| Edward Brophy | ... |
Joe Denning
|
|
| Martin Kosleck | ... |
Steindorff
|
|
|
|
Jean Ames | ... |
Annabelle
|
Broadway gambler Gloves Donahue wants to find who killed the baker of his favorite cheesecake. He sees nightclub singer Leda Hamilton leaving the bakery. When her boss Marty's partner Joe is murdered, Leda and her accompanist Pepi disappear. It turns out that beneath all the mystery is a gang of Nazi operatives planning to blow up a battleship in New York harbor. Written by Ed Stephan <[email protected]>
A wonderful, funny B movie with an A cast. Bogart made this one between THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA. Lorre and Veidt and Dame Judith Anderson are wonderfully villainous, and a couple of future superstars -- Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason -- make their debuts as members of Bogart's gang. This has everything Warner Brothers films loved: a murky waterfront, an old abandoned warehouse, a sinister auction gallery run by foreigners, a swanky nightclub that seems to be inhabited exclusively by gangsters (the Good Guys) and Nazis (the Bad Guys). Puns galore. Probably audiences didn't want to see a comedy about the Third Reich back in 1942, but it gets better (and given the cast, historically more important) with age.