Mr. Soft Touch

"Mr. Soft Touch" is an odd sort of film. It's like merging a film noir movie with a schmaltzy family film--and the results are far from great. Now I am not saying it's a bad picture--but it could have easily been a lot better--mostly because of its saccharine script.

The film begins with Glenn Ford on the run. It seems he held up a nightclub and stole $100,000. But was it exactly stealing? It seems that the club had belonged to Ford but while he was off fighting in the war, it was stolen out from under him. So, the money is just payback for what was rightfully his--at least in his mind. The problem is that the mobsters who now run the place are not about to let him get away with it...and Ford needs to get out of the country ASAP.

Now here is where it gets bizarre. His boat doesn't leave for a day so Ford tries to get himself locked up for the night--as he figures at least he'll be safe. But a do-gooder social worker feels sorry for him and gets the police to agree to release him to her program--something Ford really doesn't want. And, after a while, Ford's tough-guy persona is slowly eroded as he starts to think of others and care about the people in this Salvation Army-like setting. What's next? Well, it is predictable but a bit ridiculous--so watch it if you are really, really curious. I wouldn't.

Ford's character is a bizarre enigma. He's supposed to be tough and nasty--and he's good at that. But later, he's supposed to be a softy--and this just never range true. Nor, for that matter, did the script.

I see from other reviews that some viewers are troubled by this film's failure to fall squarely into the comedy or noir genres. Maybe that's why I like it, for isn't life a mixture of comedy and tragedy? My interest didn't flag during the movie as I found it fresh and original and the plot twists unpredictable. I'm not a big Glenn Ford fan but he hits this nail squarely on the head. Even though his Joe Miracle is more accurately a victim than a baddie, he has been sucked into the world of crime and violence. Can the beautiful Jenny Jones redeem him, and can he even survive? It's lineball all the way. Evelyn Keyes is just lovely to look at, and there's lots of character actors doing their bit, some of them only children. I'm going off to do a bit of research on who wrote it and who directed it. They deserve kudos. Surprisingly good entertainment.

The ingredients are all there for a superb Christmas holiday classic, but Mr. Soft Touch somehow fails to measure up. It could be because two directors with two different visions if any, Gordon Douglas and Henry Levin got assigned to this film from Columbia.

The film starts out with the same premise as Angels With Dirty Faces. Glenn Ford is a former nightclub owner who while serving in World War II was done out of his share of the club by the mob. Unlike James Cagney who expected to move back into partnership with Humphrey Bogart and George Bancroft, Ford's a bit more realistic than that. He just robs the place and he's got both the law and Ted DeCorsia and assorted hoods looking for him.

Circumstances manage to place Ford in a settlement house in San Francisco where Evelyn Keyes takes an interest in him. He actually starts to help out around the place and spreads just a bit of that hundred grand he robbed from the mob. But Keyes who can't help falling for Glenn and her boss Beulah Bondi know he's trouble.

Mr. Soft Touch is not a bad film, but it could have been a holiday classic, it goes wide of the mark with some bad direction. Or maybe no direction, could happen with two directors. The most interesting character in the film is John Ireland who plays a sleazy tabloid columnist, but a man with an impeccable nose for news and trouble.

Glenn Ford's fans should like Mr. Soft Touch and Evelyn Keyes is absolutely radiant as the social worker. They teamed a few times as well for Columbia, but never got the acclaim that Ford did with Rita Hayworth in Gilda. Of course Mr. Soft Touch isn't Gilda.

Joe Miracle (Glenn Ford) is on the run from the law. He's a returning vet who finds his San Francisco nightclub under the control of the mob. His friend and partner Leo is presumed dead. He steals $100k from formerly his own club and tries to sail for Yokohama on Christmas Eve. He assumes a different identity to hide until his ship arrives. Sweet social worker Jenny Jones believes him to be a down-and-out musician named Victor Christopher.

This is mostly crime drama with a touch of Christmas inspired goodwill. I don't care that much about the crime drama. The feel-good scenes are really touching. I love the blanket scene. I really wish that this is more a Christmas movie rather and less a neo-noir crime drama.

The credentials for a superb Noir are all there: Glenn Ford has been one of the most convincing (and still strangely unsung) anti-heroes American cinema has produced. The wonderful opening sequence (in which Ford escapes both the police and the mob) is as minimalistic ally brilliant as the seemingly tight budget would have allowed. Yet after only a short while the film's tone changes radically: sweeter music, romantic comedy and a (however underplayed) Christmas tear-jerker emerge from what promised to be a crisp, economic little masterpiece.

I'm not saying the uneven pacing ruin the film completely but my suspicion is, looking at the credits (no, I don't mean the cast which features a wonderfully noir-ish array of characters: Evelyn Keyes, John Ireland, Ted de Corsia) there are TWO directors (one made good noirs with Ford, the other made Rat Pack flicks with Sinatra, Davis Jr, Martin et al), TWO directors of photography...

For what it's worth my guess is the producer got cold feet and hired a second director to save (a lame comedy? a routine noir?) a product he wasn't very happy with. He probably made a mistake...