Four Jacks and a Jill

Bandleader Nifty Sullivan (Ray Bolger) saves Katarina "Nina" Novak (Anne Shirley) from getting splashed by a car. His band is Four Jacks and a Queen, but their singing queen Opal quits. Nina claims to be a singer. They need to run a convoluted scam to get a nightclub gig and cabbie Steve Sarto (Desi Arnaz) has to pretend to be royalty.

This is a convoluted screwball comedy. It's a lot of wacky characters and situations. There are fun bits and pieces. It doesn't really add up to anything terribly good. Bolger is a great comedic sidekick but I'm not sure about him as the dashing romantic lead. As often is the case, these song and dance guys do get into some black-face work. I tend to ignore that. This should spend more time building the romantic chemistry.

What was RKO thinking? ANNE SHIRLEY, who couldn't sing (and whose dancing talent was negligible), was put into a few dismal musical comedies at RKO during the '40s, shortly before she retired from the screen. Martha Mears dubs her voice for a few not especially memorable songs. In fact, the only catchy number in the whole film is the "Boogie Woogie Conga" and it comes too late in the film to salvage it in any way.

RAY BOLGER is the big star here, but even the great Bolger gets very little in the way of strutting his stuff as a hoofer--and the script, which pairs him with Anne Shirley as her romantic interest, has a hard time making them seem like a convincing couple.

At least DESI ARNAZ is likable enough (with less accent than usual), and the reliable HENRY DANIELL is smoothly cast as a villain. But the script is fluff with barely a moment of reality written into it and nobody manages to look or act their best.

A sad little musical easy to forget.

This is almost a shot-for-shot remake of the 1929 "Street Girl," which was equally cheerless but at least had better musical performances... Betty Compson played the violin and Jack Oakie shimmied in that one. But in the hurry to make movies during the war, they made the nimble Ray Bolger boring and whiny. Anne Shirley has great clothes for a homeless girl, and Desi Arnaz is both handsome and comprehensible in English, so you do wonder what happened to him by his "Lucy" days. This was on very late one night, so it was worth watching under those circumstances -- but otherwise, don't bother. This is a dead man's hand, indeed.

Okay, first of all this is the second remake of RKO's wonderful STREET GIRL. The first remake was THAT GIRL FROM Paris with Lily Pons. Anne Shirley is the faux continental who sings. It sounds like Vera Van doing the actual vocals (Vera sang in DARK VICTORY and DUST BE MY DESTINY). The cutting of this picture is a disaster, which is pretty ironic seeing as the director is a former editor. It is very obvious that scenes were trimmed and transitions shortened. There are holes all over the place. The songs are so-so. One of them, "Boogie Woogie Conga" is almost a carbon copy of "Congo Beso" from HELLZAPOPPIN. For my money, the two best reasons to watch FOUR JACKS are June Havoc and Jack Durant. Durant, late of the team of Mitchell (Frank) and Durant, is quite hilarious as a slightly psychotic gangster. Russian tough mug Constantin Romanoff actually has a few lines in this one. If you're into cinema archeology, watch this one to compare and wonder.

"Four Jacks and a Jill" is a B-musical comedy from RKO which stars Ray Bolger, Anne Shirley and Desi Arnaz.

Nifty (Bolger) is part of a four-piece band. After meeting Nina (Shirley), she is able to help the band secure a date due to her supposed friendship with King Stephan VIII of Aregal. To 'prove' this, she gets a cabbie (Arnaz) to pose as the King. Complications ensue...especially when the real king shows himself.

This is a very slight film...with okay singing, okay dancing and an okay plot. Nothing really memorable here...just simple B-movie shennanigans with nothing to offend nor attract the viewer.