Having Wonderful Crime (1945)

I've said on a number of places at IMDb that the real popularizers of the male buddy film were James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. They made a number of great successes for Warner Brothers in the previous decade. O'Brien left Warners in 1941 and unfortunately Having Wonderful Crime is a failed attempt to recapture the magic.

I think this film would have been a whole lot better with James Cagney in the part George Murphy played. It was a good screwball comedy, but Murphy just ain't Cagney. Playing off Pat O'Brien the lines Murphy delivers just don't have the same flair.

But as another viewer remarked, Carole Landis in the best 1940s fashions is a lovely sight to behold. What a tragic end to a beautiful and talented player was soon to befall Carole.

She's reason enough to watch this.