The Lemon Drop Kid (1951/Shout! Factory DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: C+
Bob Hope
films have been getting a wave of reissue and in time for the holidays, Shout!
Factory is issuing The Lemon Drop Kid
(1951) ahead of a new box set of some of his key films that went out of print a
few years ago. Based on the Damon Runyon
tale, this was originally made in 1934 and this remake was also intended as
Christmas vehicle. Though it was no
classic, it is the film that helped introduce the song Silver Bells to the world.
Hope
plays the title character, a small-time con artist looking for the next quick
buck and having no respect for authority.
However, when his con artistry is accidentally used on the girlfriend of
a dangerous head mobster, he is suddenly in debt for $10,000 and no gift boxes
of candy or otherwise so he has to come up with a scheme to get the money. This leads to other plot twists as well as
some gags and jokes.
The film
does have some good moments, but it is not Hope’s best though he is good
here. Marilyn Maxwell is an attractive
female lead (she duets Silver Bells
with Hope) and the fine supporting cast includes Lloyd Nolan, Tor Johnson and
William Frawley (of I Love Lucy) who
was also (as a different character) in the 1934 film. Though Hope’s regular director Sidney
Lanfield was the main director, the great Frank Tashlin directed some scenes
and co-wrote the script. Too many
sped-up comic gags date the film, which is uneven and juggles too much (is it a
comedy, a holiday comedy, a gangster comedy…) for its own good, but it is still
worth a look as it approaches (already?) its 60th anniversary.
Almost
arriving a few years ago in the now-defunct HD-DVD format (and we believe
eventually Blu-ray format), that version of Kid was postponed, then releasing company BCI Eclipse (who had the
DVD out for years) folded. We expect
that this 1.33 X 1 black & white transfer was intended for that scrapped
release and looks very good for its age.
Though detail and depth are not perfect, Video Black is good for the
format and Director of Photography Daniel L. Fapp (Ice Station Zebra, Our Man
Flint, One, Two, Three) delivers
a grade-A picture backed by Paramount,
the studio that originally released the film.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also nice and clean for its age, though we
wonder if the songs (and maybe music score) were recorded in stereo. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
