2 Men want to marry Janet Leigh

 HOLIDAY AFFAIR (1949)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

This could've been a routine throw-away kind of romantic Christmas movie - an adult comedy-drama about two men vying for the same single mother -  yet in the hands of director Don Hartman and with a delectable cast like Janet Leigh, Robert Mitchum and Wendell Corey, it is a surefire winner in every department. 

Janet Leigh is the single mother Connie, a comparison shopper who shops at rival department stores to determine price and quality of products. At Crowley's, one of the rival competitors, she hastily purchases a $79 train set from a suspicious, eagle-eyed sales clerk, Steve Mason (Robert Mitchum). The next day Connie attempts to return it (despite her son thinking the toy is his Christmas present) yet Steve is on to her, willing to report her (who would've guessed that identifying a comparison shopper could cost that person their job). After Steve hears Connie's story of being a war widow and solely supporting her son, he refunds her which costs Steve his job! This is some hectic Christmas holiday! Connie eventually befriends the charming and unemployed Steve but there is Connie's beau (Wendell Corey), a lawyer who wants to hurriedly marry her. Guess who stands in the way. 

There is nothing that can't be anticipated in "Holiday Affair" yet it is so persuasively performed and written with such remarkable honesty that it somehow feels new. Credit the towering Mitchum and the equally tall Corey for keeping the tension afloat with humor and pathos, and also one shouldn't forget the underrated Janet Leigh as a bewildered woman who seems to ready to take either man as long as they respect her anxious, sometimes impertinent son. I was quite moved by "Holiday Affair" and it won me over with some laughs and some peak dramatic moments (Corey attempts to give that darn kid with a lip a lesson, stopped short by Connie). The whole cast keeps this from ever sliding into false sentimentality, especially Mitchum in a rare, dignified role as a perfectly good, honest and reasonable guy. His admittance of wanting to marry Connie in front of her family and her beau is one of those jaw-dropping moments for the books. "Holiday Affair" is simply a delight from start to finish that will make anyone's heart melt, especially any jaded, frosty Scrooges out there.

Fast-moving tornado of thrills

 THE BIG STEAL (1949)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

From one crackling, thrilling, pulse-pounding minute after another, I was completely hooked by "The Big Steal" starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer in roles seemingly designed only for them. Between the husky-voiced and titanic presence of Mitchum coupled with "the Woman with the Mona Lisa Smile" herself, the sparkling Greer, I can't imagine a better way to spend any afternoon or evening watching this marvelous and comical entertainment with some vague noirish tones.

The basic plot is not on the same wavelength as Mitchum and Greer's last outing, the noir masterpiece known as "Out of the Past," but it will do for fans of both actors. Mitchum is an Army lieutenant named Halliday whose $300,000 payroll is pilfered by thief Jim Fiske (Patric Knowles). Of course, the money is on other people's potentially greedy minds like Halliday's boss, Captain Blake (William Bendix), who chases Halliday through most of Mexico. Keep in mind, Halliday is chasing Fiske and Fiske's girlfriend, Joan (Jane Greer), who is along for the ride hoping to collect $2,000 she's owed by Fiske! While in Mexico, everyone has to deal with the police and a certain savvy Police Inspector General Ortega (Ramon Novarro). There are fistfights, slaps across Joan's and Fiske's faces, suitcases filled with either money or shredded paper, suspicious Mexicans at remote gas stations, lots of car chases involving hairpin turns, etc. There's also mild banter between Halliday and Joan and a fantastically funny scene where they convince a construction foreman to let them pass through the road, claiming to be a married couple with an angry father on their tail! I got a big laugh out of that one.

For sheer entertainment value and no dull moments, "The Big Steal" is paced like a fast-moving tornado and it is very well-directed by Don Siegel. It has the shadings of noir but not quite the spirit - this is an elongated chase picture and the fun never lets up. I only wish Mitchum and Greer had made more films together - their chemistry ignites the screen so much, you might have to check yourself for sunburns.