Madame Racketeer

Alison Skipworth is a cut up in her own way. She was such a riot in the movie "Night After Night" that I had to see her in another movie.

In "Madame Racketeer" she plays Martha aka Countess von Claudwig, an alias that gave her access to many would-be suckers for her racket. She had the accent, posture, and knowledge to be believable when the fact is she was a criminal. She was such a hopeless criminal she conned the warden the day of her release (LMAO!).

Countess wanted to leave the area, but she needed money to do so. She did a couple of small grifts while on her way to Paradise Springs where she hoped to get the last bit of money she needed. She chose Paradise Springs because that was the location of her husband Elmer Hicks (Richard Bennett).

Elmer was the proprietor of a struggling hotel and spa. He was struggling to cover his own bills, yet Countess demanded $1000 from him so that she could leave town. He didn't have it and Countess was going to stay put until he got it.

Her being at the hotel allowed her to get acquainted with her daughters Patsy (Gertrude Messinger) and Alice (Evalyn Knapp). She never let on that she was their mother and they never suspected it. In her own way she did what little she could to help them and she was clever in doing so.

"Madame Racketeer" is funny and a little touching. All the characters were enjoyable with the exception of Alice, the Countess's younger daughter. She was an example of the small town girl who is easily taken advantage of. It was quite pathetic to watch as the felon Jack Houston (George Raft) told Alice all kinds of lies to get her to sneak off with him. It reinforced that small town girls are gullible in the arms of a charming man when I'd say that city girls are just as gullible. The only difference between the two is that small town girls are usually in small towns to avoid big city perils, so when she's duped it hits harder.

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