Mr. Lucky (film)
| Mr. Lucky | |
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Film poster
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| Directed by | H.C. Potter |
| Produced by | David Hempstead |
| Screenplay by | Milton Holmes Adrian Scott |
| Based on |
Bundles for Freedom 1942 story in Cosmopolitan by Milton Holmes |
| Starring |
Cary Grant Laraine Day |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | George Barnes |
| Edited by | Theron Warth |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $3.4 million (US rentals) |
Mr. Lucky is a 1943 romance film directed by H.C. Potter, starring Cary Grant and Laraine Day. It tells the story of the attraction between a shady gambler and a wealthy socialite in the days prior to the United States entering World War II.
Swede (Charles Bickford) rows up to a public dock in a dinghy. He hides when he spots a young woman who walks to the end of the pier. When a new night watchman (Emory Parnell) notices her, Swede stops him from bothering her. The sailor begins recounting her story, and the film segues into a long flashback.
Joe "the Greek" Adams (Cary Grant) is a gambler and grifter with a couple of problems. First, he and his treacherous partner Zepp (Paul Stewart) have received draft notices to join the army in preparation for World War II. Fortunately, he has a solution. One of his underlings, Joe Bascopolous, has just died, and his status was 4F (unfit to serve). So one of them can dodge the draft by assuming his identity. They gamble for it; Zepp cheats, but Joe wins anyway. Zepp fails his physical examination anyway.
The other problem is a lack of money to bankroll his gambling ship. He talks the head of the local War Relief organization, Captain Veronica Steadman (Gladys Cooper), into authorizing him to run a "charity" casino, promising to raise enough money to outfit a relief ship, despite the suspicions of her lieutenant, wealthy socialite Dorothy Bryant (Laraine Day).
Eventually, he even charms Dorothy. She tells her snobbish grandfather (Henry Stephenson), to his great dismay, that "Joe's the first man I've ever met I'm afraid of. It's exciting." At one point, Joe teaches Dorothy Australian rhyming slang, for example, "tit for tat" (hat), "twist and twirl" (girl), "trouble and strife" (wife). Later, he renames his gambling ship the Briny Marlin (darling) in her honor.
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Wikipedia