Stolen Paradise

Leon Janney misses his father's marriage to Esther Muir -- his mother had died several years earlier -- because the weather did permit him to fly from the Catholic boy's school he had been attending. He does get to meet his stepsister, Eleanor Hunt, who impresses him greatly before he heads off to college. there, he becomes a little more worldly wise, and a bit cruel. He realizes he's in love with Miss Hunt, but she's several years older, so he torments himself and his girlfriend, lounge singer Wilma Francis; she breaks with him after a torrid evening, when she tells him not to call, and if he does, use her name, rather than that of Miss Hunt.

It's a fairly old-fashioned movie that looks like it should have been a Pre-code movie. Technically, it's very primitive for 1940. It also was the last movie for three of the key personnel. Director Louis J. Gasnier had been directing for 35 years, but he had been flailing fr minor studios since his contract with Paramount had ended in 1935. Eleanor Hunt's career in the movies had begin in 1930, when she was pulled from the chorus for WHOOPEE!; her appearance here is almost certainly because she was the wife of the movie's producer, George Hirliman.

Leon Janney's case is a little more complicated. He was born in 1917 and made his first stage appearance at the age of 2. He appeared in movie shorts in 1925, in features from 1927. He did not limit himself to the moves. He appeared on Broadway in 1934, and in the late 1930s became a popular radio actor, particular on GANGBUSTERS. He continued acting on the radio into the 1970s, but he was also a board member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and an officer of Equity. He returned to the movie screen in three small roles from 1959 through 1970. Leon Janney died in 1980 at the age of 63.

A callow youth leaves his cloistered catholic school and discovers unrequited lust for his stepsister, liquor, and airplanes. Will the snares of the world capture our young lad, ow will he find his way back to his STOLEN PARADISE, a place in the bosom of the church?

Even though it is apparent from the start that this is to be a low budget picture, there are moments in the first reel that suggest promise. For one thing, the film itself has different locales than typical, as it is shot in Coral Galbles, Florida. Second, the plot is way different than the usual B-movie offering, as it delves into issues of faith and adolescence. Third, the film itself does not shy away from dicey subject matter, as it becomes clear the young man is fixated on his older (by ten years) stepsister, and the stepsister is somewhat fixated in return.

But, alas, the movie ultimately fails, through uninspired direction and acting. (The director and one of the stars was involved with Reefer Madness, which does explain some of the quality issues.) The male lead tries hard, but does not have the chops to pull off a hard to play role. And the cheapness of the whole operation does get in the way.

The result. Not really worth seeing, unless you have a taste for extreme low budget, and the acting problems that tends to cause.