Fashion Model

The gorgeous Marjorie Weaver is the star in this movie. Arguably, the most underappreciated actress Hollywood ever had. Her adorable Kentucky accent and her fun personality. Will win you over every time. This is a light "who done it". The movie moves along briskly with lots of suspense and humor. You'll think you have the bad guy figured out, but you probably don't. A little biased because I'm a massive Marjorie Weaver fan. I try to get every DVD she's ever made. This is a good comedy with plenty of funny bits. You will not be bored but be prepared to fall in love with Marjorie Weaver. Why she never became a big star I will never understand.

"Fashion Model" is a terrible old B-mystery. Even by the relatively low standards of such films, this one is very hard to watch--and it's certainly no surprise that the folks starring in this one never went on to become big stars!

The film is set in a fashionable dress shop--the type that would have models display the clothing for customers. When one of the models is murdered, two total idiots, Jimmy and Peggy, are implicated. Stupidly, pretty much EVERYTHING the pair subsequently do makes them look even more guilty. A lot of these things are supposed to be funny but they are painfully unfunny due to extremely broad acting and writing. The escape from the police and wedding gown scenes are particularly bad, as they rely on everyone around the pair to be stupider than tomatoes in order for their cockeyed plans to work! Again and again, the writer assumed the best way to handle everything was to dumb down the script--to such a low and silly level that the film becomes unwatchably bad. Additionally, the movie is filled with clichés, unlikable characters and all the charm and fun of a dead possum.

Peggy Rooney (Weaver) is a model and Jimmy O'Brien a stock boy at the high fashion dress store, Celeste's. Given that it's a Monogram, we get right down to business and a murder of one of the fashion models (Gray) occurs very shortly into the film. Inspector O'Hara (Ryan) and his dumb cop sidekick Grogan (Robinson) come to investigate and O'Hara at first decides it must be Jimmy O'Brien. Although I'm a fan of dumb, likable cop characters (my favorites are Ed Gargan and Tom Kennedy), Robinson's portrayal leaves me cold – he's just not humorous. Two more murders ensue; Rooney helps O'Brien escape from the police (she disguises herself as O'Brien's grandmother – which, of course, fools Grogan). Now they are fugitives and so it goes until the real murderer is caught. The best part of the movie is towards the end when Rooney and O'Brien are in the dress shop trying to evade the police. Although their initial disguise as an elderly "Southern" couple bombs as they're dressed in 19th century costumes, this is the only really jarring part of the movie. What does work is when they pretend to be mannequins and Jack Norton plays a drunken (what else?) window dresser. Norton has a pretty lengthy part and does a wonderful job. Tim Ryan also does a good job and is always fun to watch. Lowery and Weaver make a very good team and are good with light comedy.

Not a bad way to spend an hour but, don't expect any great acting or a well written plot. As was the norm with Monogram, the film is overloaded with so called "comedy relief". Also, if I was a policeman I would be terribly insulted by the portrayal of cops as unbelievably stupid dolts. Gunner

Marjorie Weaver and Robert Lowery star in "Fashion Model," a 1945 comedy of the sledgehammer variety. When models at Madam Celeste's Fashion House start showing up dead, a stock boy, Jimmy (Lowery) is a chief suspect. His girlfriend, who is also a model, Peggy (Weaver) wants to help clear him. The two work together to find the killer.

Actually, this isn't a bad comedy. It has some really funny bits, but they're done too over the top. In the hands of someone like Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea, for instance, and directed by Leo McCary, this might have been a classic. It comes off as silly and overdone.

Weaver is a great example of this. Her character is supposed to be quirky, so rather than Peggy BEING quirky, she instead puts it on. It's not such a subtle difference when you watch it.

The best part is the two trying to escape the fashion house wearing bridal attire and getting caught in the window with the drunk, nearsighted window dresser.

Could have been better, but then, these films were made over a few days.