This old-time comedy stands up pretty well and holds your interest throughout. The characters are sympathetic and well-drawn, and the story line is intriguing. Aided by a good script and fine acting from lead Bob Young, and from Frank ("Wizard of Oz") Morgan and James Gleason as Sam. Interesting for the presence of Barbara Hale, later to be Perry Mason's secretary Della Street.
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Two actors who went on to make names for themselves in television, Robert Young and Barbara Hale, star in "Lady Luck," a 1946 film with a cast that includes Frank Morgan, Lloyd Corrigan, and James Gleason.
Hale is Mary Audrey, who comes from a long line of gamblers and hates the pastime. When she meets and falls in love with gambler Larry Scott (Young), he swears off gambling in order to win her. The two marry and go to a hotel in...Las Vegas.
While Mary is off buying a negligee for her wedding night, Larry wanders into the casino, gives a gambler wrong advice, and the man loses his money. Larry becomes determined to win it back for him. Mary sees him in the casino and is devastated. She's so devastated that when she meets an attorney at the hotel, she files for divorce and gets another room in the hotel.
This is a pleasant comedy with two affable stars and a fine roster of character actors. Young of course was a television star par excellence, with both Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby during his 60-year career, and Barbara Hale spent the most memorable part of her career as Perry Mason's secretary Della Street in the Perry Mason series. At 92, she's still with us.
Two charming actors in a a pleasant film. -
planktonrules15 September 2018There was a lot to "Lady Luck" that I liked. However, unlike the other reviews, I felt that the movie went on way too long and after a while I just wanted it all to end. At best, I see it as a time-passer.
When the film begins, there's a prologue where you see relatives of the main characters (actually played by the main characters, Barbara Hale and Frank Morgan) screwing up their lives by compulsive gambling. Now, the film jumps to the present day and Mary (Hale) is at her wits end due to her Grandfather's gambling (Morgan). She is determined NEVER to marry a gambler...and, not surprisingly, meets Scott (Robert Young)...who is a professional gambler. However, he promises never to gamble again and soon the pair marry. On their honeymoon, only a few hours after their wedding, Mary catches Scott gambling. He thinks it's all for a good cause...she will hear none of his excuses. The film is essentially about the long detour the film takes until the pair are eventually reunited.
So why was I disappointed by the movie? It's because what was going to happen was so obvious and so early on...but it seemed to take forever getting there. In addition, through the process it was rather tough to like the characters. Overall, an excellent idea indifferently executed. -
This is the first of two pairings of Robert Young and Barbara Hale as romantic leads in a comedy. This, however, takes a slightly more serious tone than the other ("And Baby Makes Three", made three years later), although both films deal with serious subjects (gambling here, divorce there) in a lighthearted way. (The films are not related in either characters or subject.)
Hale's character, Mary Audrey, comes from a long line of "Mary Audreys" whose elder male relative (grandfather William Audrey, played in his typical lovable way by Frank Morgan) has always had a gambling problem. This is delightfully illustrated in the opening sequence depicting the gambling Audreys down through the ages. Thus, Mary despises the practice and won't have anything to do with gamblers, except, of course, her grandfather, whom she loves dearly.
Enter dashing Larry Scott (Robert Young), who unbeknown to Mary is a master gambler. Naturally, they fall in love; and when Larry learns how Mary detests gamblers, he vows to abandon his ways and proposes marriage. Mary, meanwhile, learns of his profession, but rather than reject him outright, she makes him prove his reformation before accepting his proposal. That roadblock out of the way, they go to Las Vegas to get married, and the title hints at the events that ensue.
Populated with a number of esteemed character actors of the day, most notably James Gleason, Harry Davenport, Lloyd Corrigan, and the aforementioned Frank Morgan, this film provides a delightful diversion. All in all, however, I have to admit a slight preference for Young and Hale's other flick (even though here they actually kiss). -
SnoopyStyle16 July 2022Mary Audrey (Barbara Hale) hates gambling and tries to reform her grandfather (Frank Morgan). Generation after generation, the Audrey women always try and fail to stop the Audrey patriarch from gambling the family fortune away. Professional gambler Larry Scott (Robert Young) falls for her.
These are well-known stars. Young and Hale would gain more fame later on. They are both cute enough and have a 50's romance. It's not the most sexual in chemistry. It's all about the gambling and the switches. This could be more fun but whatever. -
bbrebozo24 July 2022If you like movies where the women cry and the men casually punch each other, this is the film for you. Also a ridiculous plot line, where Robert Young and Barbara Hale repeatedly get together and then come apart, after every easily-explained mix-up either crops up or gets resolved. But the cast rises above the plot, and it's a pretty interesting look at Las Vegas of the 1940's. A bit tedious, but a decent if mindless old movie, if you're in the mood for one.
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morrison-dylan-fan3 March 2017Just a few days before IMDb stupidly shut down the message boards,I found out that after being the last surviving main cast member of Perry Mason,that Barbara Hale had died. Expecting a TV tribute to be a repeat of some Mason eps,I was instead surprised to discover that the BBC were showing a rare Hale title which has not come out on DVD in the UK,which led to me finding out how lucky this lady could be.
The plot:
Coming from a family with a troubled history of gambling, Mary Audrey does everything possible to stay from the habit. Crossing paths with Larry Scott,Audrey soon falls in love with him. Learning that Scott himself is a legendary gambler just before they get married,Audrey makes Scott vow to stop rolling the dices. Staying at a hotel/casino for their honeymoon,Scott notices a guy losing all his savings gambling. With Audrey upstairs,Scott dusts down his old skills to save the guy. As Scott hits a winning combo,Audrey comes down,and begins fearing that an unlucky hand is about to ruin their marriage.
View on the film:
Teaming up for the first of two movies, Robert Young and Barbara Hale give delicious performances as Scott and Audrey,with Young showing a real zest for Scott light Screwball Comedy palette. Gliding across the screen in fetching dresses, Barbara Hale gives a sparkling performance as Audrey,via Hale hitting Young with slick one-liners,that are joined by Hale doing very well at expressing the shadow of concern that grips Audrey over Scott falling back into gambling. Joining the duo at the table, Frank Morgan hilariously steals every scene as Audrey's granddad,who is joined by James Gleason giving the flick a Wise Guy edge as Sam.
Rolling the dice from a stage play,director Edwin L. Marin & cinematographer Lucien N. Andriot impressively skip the (mostly) one location set film from feeling stage-bound,by a clever use of stylish elegance which gives the title a swift atmosphere,that swings from overlapping images rolling the viewer in the gambling action,to coiled side shots allowing the character actors to hit the jackpot. Spinning the couple in a whirlwind romance,the screenplay by Lynn Root/Frank Fenton and Herbert Clyde Lewis follows Marin's path with the sparks between Audrey and Scott kept alight by the writers turning the cards on hangers-on hilariously making the misunderstanding worse,as Scott tries to find a winning hand for Audrey's misunderstandings. -
burgess140817 June 2018Not a review yet, just a correction needed for a June 16, 2018 review. Elliot's footage was deleted. Perhaps the reviewer refers to Teddy Hart, the excitable $2 bet man whose consistant luck gives him a life on easy street. Hart is the most memorable character in the film. Or perhaps the review refers to the baby-faced, rotund and nervous, Lloyd Corrigan.
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Turfseer11 July 2022Comedies from the post-war era seem rare. Anyway, that's been my experience watching many of the old films on TCM and Movies channel of late.
I like how this one began. We flashback to the ancestral history of the Aubrey family in the Civil War era and afterward in the wild west. Frank Morgan (of "Wizard of Oz" fame) is cast as Gramps and Barbara Hale (famous for playing Della Street, Perry Mason's secretary) is granddaughter Mary. Gramps is a compulsive gambler and Mary will do anything in the world to dissuade him from indulging in games of chance.
Now we flash forward to the present time (1946), in which the Aubrey descendants (also named Gramps and Mary) are involved in the same conflict over the grandfather's addiction.
At Mary's bookstore, in steps professional gambler Larry Scott (Robert Young) who makes a $200 bet with Gramps that a particular horse will win at Santa Anita racetrack. When the horse comes in, Gramps, welches on the bet and disappears.
Larry meets Mary and they track Gramps down together who promises to pay off Larry's wager. Larry doesn't believe him but gives him a pass as he has immediately fallen in love with Mary.
The plot advances when Larry, much to the chagrin of his gambling pals, decides to give up gambling and marry Mary. They get married in Las Vegas but a few hours later, Larry is spotted at a craps table by Mary who is soon persuaded by a divorce lawyer to get a quickie divorce.
Larry claims that he was only playing craps to help a small-time gambler who couldn't really afford to lose the money he came with. Mary won't accept his explanation and is on her way to return home and give up in the idea of continuing the relationship with Larry.
Larry's pal Sacramento Sam (James Gleason) attempts to get the couple back together by having the house fix a roulette wheel so that Mary wins $500 and lose her aversion to the idea of gambling. Things go completely awry when Mary begins winning way more than the initial $500 and is transformed into a shrewd businesswoman.
Before this transformation, I enjoyed Hale's breezy performance as the girl-next-door anti-gambler but once Mary becomes a "tough cookie," I felt a good deal of the charm was lost. However, either way Barbara Hale looked sensational!
The serious tone in the second half kind of cancels the fun found in the first. Larry's jealousy (he mistakes Gramps as a man Mary may be cheating with in her hotel room) jeopardizes their relationship even more after having made some inroads in restoring the bond between them.
The film ends in a card game between Gramps and Sacramento Sam. Gramps, now in charge of a card room which Mary has purchased with all her winnings, intentionally loses to Sam, so that Mary may be restored to her original humble position. The lovers are reconciled, and Sam restores Gramps's reputation as top notch card shark by revealing that Gramps lost intentionally to save his granddaughter's marriage.
Lady Luck may have gone on for a bit too long, but all the performers manage to entertain in their fun parts. Morgan and Gleason are particularly amusing as compulsive gamblers who enjoy their lot in life. -
ksf-216 June 2018Some really great names in here... if you have the patience to stick with it, you'll have fun and be entertained! Robert Young (Marcus Welby), Frank Morgan (the Wizard!), James Gleason always played the police detective, sometimes wise, sometimes bumbling. Dick Elliot (the mayor, from Andy Griffith) is the short guy on a winning streak. Barbara Hale is Mary, the new wife, determined to keep her new husband (Young) away from his gambling habit. The film has its ups and downs, and they need to learn to trust each other, as newlyweds always do! Keep an eye out for harry davenport, the clever, old judge. He had been in SO many big films in a supporting role, always the wise, knowing father or grandfather. Frank Morgan really spices up the film... it would have been boring and annoying without him as the sympathetic character here. There's so much arguing and mis-understanding going on, it needed some lightening up, and Morgan always brings that. Shown on Turner Classics.
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It's always a gamble to pair on screen lovers, but here, the gamble doesn't quite take off. When the future Della Street meets the future Marcus Welby M.D., you expect magic to strike, but unfortunately, it's not as strong as you would think it would be. Indeed, Robert Young and Barbara Hale are a beautiful pair, but she shares more chemistry with Frank Morgan who plays her grandfather then she does with Robert Young who plays her gambling husband. Ironically, Young shares an interesting chemistry with Morgan and the other character actors in this romantic comedy than he does with Hale, otherwise, I would have been rooting for them to fix their marriage long before the end of the film.
This starts with flashbacks to various ages of Morgan and Hale's family, with them as grandfather and granddaughter in each segment and him taking a gamble which fails. One gamble that doesn't fail is Morgan setting the two up in modern times, even though Tales modern character has an aversion to gambling. she finds out on her honeymoon after making him promise to quit gambling that you can't quit, even though it's a complete misunderstanding. She files for divorce and he tries to win her back, and for some reason, she ends up behind the roulette wheel.
Among the supporting cast are veteran character actors James Gleason and Harry Davenport, as well as stage comic Ted Hart in a very funny role as a Lou Costello like character who has an interesting technique while gambling, and Lloyd Corrigan and Dick Elliot in minor parts.. Douglas Morrow is appropriately sleazy as the shady attorney who convinces Hale to hire her to represent her in her divorce. The film has some amusing moments thanks to the funny man in the supporting cast and some outlandish situations, but goes on far too long, and like a gambler who keeps going back for more, it outwheres its welcome. -
JohnHowardReid8 November 2017Copyright 30 August 1946 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 30 October 1946. U.S. release: 18 October 1946. U.K. release: 17 March 1947. Australian release: 26 September 1946. 8,924 feet. 99 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Gambler cannot resist the lure of Las Vegas.
COMMENT: Pleasant comedy, pacily directed and deftly played. Oddly enough James Gleason has the funniest lines and he makes the most of them, delivering them with a dead-pan cynicism that adds to their delight.
Also making the most of his opportunities is Teddy Hart who plays the little guy (who figures in a most amusing running gag) with delightful obnoxiousness. Also ingratiating is Don Rice who plays Larry's partner with such amusing double takes. (As far as I know this is his only film. He is an expert comedian, with a pleasant delivery and deft timing. A pity he made no further screen appearances).
Other amusing characters are expertly played by the likes of Lloyd Corrigan, Harry Davenport and Joseph Vitale. Douglas Morrow plays an over-suave lawyer with such persuasion, he seems set to rival Zachary Scott. He also figures in a cleverly entertaining running gag. (This seems to be his only film appearance too).
The principals play with their usual expertise, Marin's direction is brisk, even occasionally stylish. Andriot's low-key lighting with its glossy blacks and velvety shadows is most unusual for a romantic comedy but seems appropriate here and is certainly most attractive, giving the film a sheen that makes it always look top-budget. Sets and music scoring are also top-class.
OTHER VIEWS: Good comedy. Scriptwriters Lynn Root and Frank Fenton (based on a story by Herbert Clyde Lewis) ring some not unexpected changes in this gambling yarn, and Edwin L. Marin's direction is pretty ordinary. But the cast is likable and the film is well produced. -
writers_reign5 February 2017This film addresses a potentially serious problem, gambling addiction, says absolutely nothing new about the affliction nor does it offer a solution but, against the run of play, it presents a delightful entertainment with a virtually perfect cast from romantic leads Robert Young and Barbara Hale to top drawer support from Frank Morgan, James Gleason and Harry Davenport. To the best of my knowledge Young has not been cast as a professional gambler before or since but since this is the kind of film that doesn't seek to portray real people in real situations both facing and dealing with real problems this is not as important as it might be. There are much worse ways to beguile a spare hour or so.