Fashion Model

A stock boy (Robert Lowery) is suspected of three murders connected to the dressmaking establishment known as Madame Celeste's fashion house where he works. With the help of his girlfriend model (Marjorie Weaver)he is determined to find the real murderer ...

The suspects: Mr. Davis, Yvonne's older wealthy boyfriend; and snobbish and condescending customer Jessica Van Allen and her henpecked husband Harvey Van Allen, the last two customers in the store before closing when Yvonne was murdered. All the models detest Mrs. Van Allen, who they criticized to her face on that last visit.

Fashion model has the usual thick detectives, amateur detectives and the wisecracks found in a comedy mystery of this era - it's sort of generic, but fairly entertaining with good performances and I liked Jessica Van Allen and her henpecked husband; the identity of the killer came as a surprise.

When two models are killed at Dorothy Christy's dress salon, stock boy Robert Lowery winds up in police custody as the murderer. His girl friend, model Marjorie Weave, believes him innocent and helps him escape. They proceed to track down the real murderer.

The first half of this Monogram mystery-comedy moves at a good clip with some nice humor. The second half gets into a long set-up, where they go back to the salon to look for clues, and window dresser Jack Norton mistakes them for mannequins It's co-written by Tim Ryan, who also plays the police lieutenant investigating the murders. Director William Beaudine gets a good comedy performance out of Dewey Robinson as Ryan's dumb-as-a-bagful-of-hammers assistant.

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.

Madcap mystery with emphasis on the humorous set-ups. I like the amusing back-biting among the models and haughty Mrs. Van Allen at the beginning. I guess the girls are supposed to smile through thick and thin, but fortunately they don't. There's also a whodunit, well, sort of. At least the dead bodies pile up, as somebody's after an expensive brooch in a high-class fashion shop.

But the real emphasis is on Lowery and Weaver's impersonation of department store mannikins. These skits are creative and amusing. Lowery and Weaver make an attractive and lively two-some, while professional drunk Jack Norton gets to ponder the mysteries of plastic people that walk and talk.

On the whole, it's a better than average Monogram production. The mystery-comedy combo was very popular at the time. Surprisingly, this low-budget version manages some clever highlights of its own. My only gripe is similar to others-- dumb cop Robinson is not that funny. Besides another source of humor is about as necessary as gravy on soup. Director Beaudine may be no artist, but he manages this little jape with skill and efficiency.

Fashion Model (1945)

** (out of 4)

Cheap but fairly entertaining murder-mystery from Monogram has stock boy Danny O'Brien (Robert Lowery) being accused of killing a model so he runs off with his girlfriend (Marjorie Weaver) to try and clear his name while a detective (Tim Ryan) tries to find them. When you see the Monogram logo go up on the screen that there should tell you not to expect any type of art film or masterpiece. Those who enjoy these "B" movies will probably find this one here slightly entertaining or at the very least it's a good way to kill an hour. As with the majority of films like it, this one here suffers from some really bad comic relief. I've seen dozens of these films and I've always wondered why they added so much comedy relief and especially considering how over-the-top and rather silly they make it. We of course have the one standard cop role who is such a moron that he could only be a cop in a "B" film like this. The comic banter between Lowery and Weaver is also pretty high as it appears they're wanting to be some sort of Abbott and Costello team. I thought the two were fairly good together but it's very possible that 'One Shot' Beaudine really wasn't giving them the opportunity to build anything in terms of chemistry but instead just wanted the quickest take they could give. Ryan is pretty good in his role as well and we got some nice stuff from Lorna Gray and Dewey Robinson. The actual mystery behind the film isn't too bad but then again you shouldn't be expecting something like Hitchcock. There is one major goof in the film when a character offers a $5,000 reward for a piece of jewelry that is missing. The next scene one of the characters this reward was told to says that the reward money is three times as much as what was previously said.