She Loved a Fireman

Bookie and ward heeler Dick Foran needs to lay low, so he joins the fire department and clashes with his captain, Robert Armstrong. Armstrong's sister, Ann Sheridan -- the 'she in the title, I guess -- begin a love affair despite Armstrong's approval.... at least until Eddie Acuff is laid up i hospital due to Foran's negligence. Can Foran even stay in the fire department? Can he redeem himself?

Foran sings one song at the beginning and resists efforts to cajole him into warbling elsewhere in this tale of a guy who joins some branch of public service for the wrong reasons and learns the right ones along the way. There's an extensive fire sequence which looks like a lot of library footage and miniature work that's well edited by Thomas Pratt.

The only thing worth watching in She Loved a Fireman is Ann Sheridan, and it's really too bad for this movie's sake that she's hardly in it. Instead we get a too-large dose of Dick Foran. Blah.

While watching this movie I couldn't help but think why on Earth would someone like Ann fall for a guy like this? It reminded me of a couple of Priscilla Lane movies where she gets stuck with another Warner Brothers buffoon Wayne Morris.

I'm just glad that both Ann and Priscilla got to work with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and James Cagney. It definitely made doing movies like this more tolerable knowing that better things were on the horizon.

Red Tyler (Dick Foran) leaves the political racket for firefighting. The arrogant newcomer is following Captain Shannon as his mentor, but the Captain is not happy when Red starts pursuing Margie Shannon (Ann Sheridan), the Captain's sister. Red passes the training and joins Shannon's firehouse.

Red is not a likeable character. His arrogance is done for comedy, but none of it is funny. It does allow for his later character growth, but by then, I stop caring about him. More compelling firefighting action could have saves this. The training is remarkably thin. There is a big climatic fire with stock fire footages and some camera tricks. In the end, this is a less than compelling B-movie.

I have to second that first assessment I read. Ann Sheridan IS the only reason to watch this. However, it is also the reason TO watch it. Ann Sheridan might be the most underrated actress in motion picture history. She is always worth watching. Anything and everything she does is worth watching. This was made before she was being given significant roles which all changed with the James Cagney/Pat O'Brien classic, "Angels with Dirty Faces". That performance brought to the attention of Hollywood that she was much more than a pretty face. The three of them teamed up again in "Torrid Zone" and by then she was coming into her own. She had a tremendous off screen brother/sister repoire with Humphrey Bogart from their film "San Quentin". Although the media has consistently reminded everyone of Betty Grable as a pin-up during WWII, Ann Sheridan was right there with her.

It's very hard to believe that John Farrow directed this. He was an excellent director. The movie is at best ordinary and, more precisely, pretty terrible.

It's totally formulaic. One can plot the whole thing, right through to the end, after the first five minutes or so.

Dick Foran is new to me. This was enough of him. Robert Armstrong did some good work in other movies and he isn't bad here. Ann Sheridan is her usual self but given little to work with.

One thing that annoyed me about the movie is its premise: Foran plays a stock 1930s character. He's the wise guy who's been involved in shady doings. Here, that guy decides to make a point by becoming a fireman. He wants to show what an easy job it is.

Was there ever a time, since the days of the cavemen, that fire was considered benign? Is it possible that anyone could belittle the hard, dangerous work done by brave firemen? I really don't think so. And there goes the movie.