Slightly Dangerous (1943)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Someone at MGM must have been working overtime to come up with a wild and wacky screwball comedy which is a breath of fresh air when compared to the many mediocre misfires they made. Other than a few Myrna Loy & William Powell/Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy pairings, MGM's strongest suit was not in comedy, but a few, this included, managed to break that streak.Lana Turner, desperate to get out of her small Hudson River Valley town (which seems to be as crowded as Manhattan) fakes a suicide note and ends up faking amnesia due to a hysterical circumstance beyond her control when she tries to place an advertisement in a New York City newspaper. This leads her to getting involved in an old kidnapping case where she convinces brittle Walter Brennan and his long-time nurse Dame May Witty that she is the long lost daughter that was kidnapped as a child. However, her former boss, Robert Young, recognizes her picture in the newspaper, and having been accused of causing her to apparently commit suicide, follows her to the Big Apple, threatening to reveal all and have her jailed on charges of fraud. This creates more confusion and some wacky situations, resulting in of course, that tried and true MGM plot twist: romance.Turner takes on the type of role that Deanna Durbin was doing over at Universal, playing basically a trouble-maker whose schemes somehow seem to work in her favor and fix everybody's problems. Not known for comedy, Turner proves herself to be quite adept, and it is a shame that for the majority of her next decade at MGM, she was cast mainly in glamorous dramas, obviously considered too much of a lady to slip on banana peels or commit other various pratfalls. Young, adept in both comedy and drama, is also very funny, with portly Eugene Palette in fine support as the newspaper magnate who is determined to find out Turner's identity at any cost. Florence Bates and Almira Sessions have nice bits as well.This is memorable for a sequence where Turner makes a banana split blindfolded, and later when Young goes into a Harold Lloyd bit, almost falling off of a balcony at Symphony Hall. I attribute to the comedy here working because of the presence of a rather forgotten master of the genre, Wesley Ruggles, who sets up the zany plot line, builds up the romance, and ends with a bit of drama that is never cloying.

Make no mistake, this is not a "great" movie, but it's pretty decent escapist fare worth watching at least once. Actually, the plot is pretty decent, but over time there are spots that just aren't very logical, so the picture suffers from that viewpoint. Get beyond that, and you have a comedy that had greater potential.Lana Turner is a bored 21 year old in a dull job in a small town. She leaves an ambiguous note, making people think she has committed suicide, and heads for NYC. In a quirk accident she is injured and is thought to be an amnesia victim...which she then decides to play along with, and a newspaper runs a feature trying to identify her. Is she a rich heiress? She pretends to be so...the daughter of a rather refined Walter Brennan! Meanwhile, Robert Young is trying to desperately find her...and falls in love with her unexpectedly.Turner is good here, and so is Robert Young. In fact, this is one of his better movie roles. It's a very different role than we usually see Walter Brennan in...and it's rather nice to see him shaved. The rest of the cast is pleasant enough.You won't order this for your DVD shelf, but it's pleasant enough for one viewing.

Lana knows her soda jerk job blindfolded and gets a bonus for never being late for work EVER! Big Deal! She's sick and tired of this joint and this crummy small town. She wants to get out and live a little. So, she leaves her job and goes off to New York, giving herself a makeover. But, not before, she got into a big huff with Robert Young, her boss and there's a matter of a "slight" misunderstanding. So, Bob goes off looking for her. But she is minding her business in New York, when trouble of another kind falls in her lap. It's more than you bargained for in this fun, non-stop quirky little film, costarring EugenePallette, Walter Brennan, and Dame May Witty. It's the kind of film you just don't want to end. So, forget everything and discover that life can be "slightly dangerous," when you go looking for it.

I didn't find this film to be a let down in any way - I found it very funny. I didn't take my eyes from it; the gorgeous sets and beautiful Lana Turner were mesmerizing. There is a hilarious scene in which Peggy Evans (Turner) is trying to decide what her new name will be: Walking down a city street, she sees ads and signs of retailers and tries out the names to see if they suit her (Abercrombie & Fitch, Suzanne Hats, etc...). She's debating with herself, trying out new names - and it's just hilarious. There are a few scenes where we hear her talking to herself, and I find these scenes some of the most fun. She's clever and serious, but her logic is unfounded. This is a fun movie, and I don't believe the cast took it too seriously. The cast seemed to make it a light comedy-drama, with a few madcap laughs.