Banking on its modest success with "True Confession" of 1937, Paramount decided to try the same story again on film, only this time partly as a musical. This film is based more on the 1937 film than on the play, "My Crime" ("Mon Crime") by French actor and writer Georges Berr. Besides the musical numbers for Betty Hutton, there are some significant script changes. In this film, the leads are engaged, but in the original they were a married couple. The second female part was a best friend in the original, but a mother in this film. There are some considerable dialog changes, but the story is close enough to be seen as a remake - with music added. .
None of the screenplay changes were for the better. And, the cast of this film is a far cry from the caliber of "True Confession." Betty Hutton was okay as a singer and comedienne, but not on the level of several others. Her role in this film sets it up as a silly story, rather than an outright solid comedy. The satire is almost buried in the silliness. Hutton's Peggy Harper comes across as boisterous and silly, where Lombard's Helen Bartlett is more genuinely funny. Sunny Tufts never rose to be a star and he shows no knack at all for comedy. His Oliver Clarke is little more than a wooden set fixture most of the time. By contrast, MacMurray's Kenneth Bartlett is alive and involved with his wife's plight. And, then there's the clincher, in the rest of the cast.
Two people of any caliber head this supporting cast - Ruth Donnelly as Peggy's mother, Eve Harper; and Rhys Williams as the Prosecutor. "True Confession," on the other hand had a leading actor of the day head the supporting cast, in John Barrymore. And look at the sizable group of others who contribute to the comedy there -- Irving Bacon, Fritz Feld, Porter Hall, Edgar Kennedy, Una Merkel and Hattie McDaniel.
The very best, and only really funny scene in this film in the courtroom when the Prosecutor (Williams) seems to go bananas and jumps up and down like a baboon demanding a guilty decision from the jury. But, that couldn't overcome the silliness factor after Hutton's Peggy does her number, bouncing around and singing to the jury, judge and prosecutor. And the overkill of silliness versus comedy in this film is evident in the closing scenes after Peggy is found not guilty of murder. The top court officials all show up at the opening of her nightclub act - the judge, the prosecutor and the top cop, Detective Flynn. The latter's date is none other than a star prosecuting witness, Miss Baggart, who had been the murder victim's floozy.
Well, 1946 had some very good comedies and musicals - "Blue Skies," "Till the Clouds Roll By," "The Harvey Girls," "Margie," "Easy to Wed," "The Kid from Brooklyn," "Holiday in Mexico," and a couple dozen more. "Cross My Heart" wasn't one of them. It finished 121st in box office for the year.
I doubt if many people would find the film very entertaining. The overboard silliness of it, especially in Betty Hutton's lead character, is even tipped off in a comment by her mother, played by Ruth Donnelly. Eve Harper says, "Sometimes I wish I'd never met your father."
