The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Steve McQueen plays the title role of the Cincinnati Kid; a young, up-and-coming poker player. The backdrop of the movie is 1930's New Orleans where we are introduced to Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson), a famous master of the game and the best player in the country. Lancey is back in town and by word of mouth a game is quickly arranged for the two pro's. Kid's colleague Shooter (Karl Malden) is appointed the trusted dealer, but after an exclusive meeting with a head honcho named Slade (Rip Torn), Shooter is put into a corner and is forced to rig the game.

Meanwhile, when Kid's girl Christian (Tuesday Weld) is out of town visiting her parents, he begins an unsteady relationship with Melba Nile, played by the beautiful Ann-Margret. Joan Blondell rounds out this great assemble as Lady Fingers, a respected card dealer and old friend of Lancey Howard.

"The Cincinnati Kid" is a pretty entertaining movie. Although I don't know anything about the rules of poker, and not absolutely certain if it's imperative for the audience to have a thorough knowledge on, director Norman Jewison is a great substitute for Sam Peckinpah, who was originally slated to direct. Jewison's direction during the showdown between the Kid and the Man is very well done, creating suspense by the clean and natural turn of a card. The soundtrack is also really good here with Lalo Schifrin as the composer. Many viewers have already began to compare this movie with "The Hustler", the classic film about poolsharks made famous by Paul Newman just a few years before. "The Cincinnati Kid" could very well have been made to piggyback that highly acclaimed film. *** out of ****

The Carole Lombard Glamour Collection

Disk 1
-Man of the World
-We're Not Dressing

In "Man of the World", Carole Lombard plays Mary Kendall, an Amercian living temporarily in Paris with her fiancé and rich uncle. While her beau is away Mary becomes infatuated with the William Powell character, Michael Trevor, a charming and sophisticated American also living in Paris who claims to be a novelist; in actuality, he is a blackmailer working for a scandal magazine. As the story progresses we learn that someone has dirt on Mary's rich uncle (Guy Kibbee), and will print the shameful information unless his demands are met.

Meanwhile, after several dinner dates and ordinary outings, Michael, too, has become infatuated with Mary and decides to tell all about his line of work; hoping she will still feel for him after he comes clean. His plan soon falls apart however, when, after meeting the rich uncle with startling news, Mary walks into the room and discovers that Michael was using her all along to get to her uncle.

"Man of the World" isn't a tedious film, it's just not a particularly interesting one. It lacks a certain amount of appeal that I doubt could have been saved by the actors. This is a really a weak story about characters we probably don't care too much for with an ending many viewers might consider a let down. **1/2 out of ****

In "We're Not Dressing", Carole Lombard plays Doris Worthington, a heiress with her own yacht entertaining guests and sailing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Accompanying Doris is her pal Edith (Ethel Merman), her Uncle Hubert (Leon Errol) and two Prince brothers Michael and Alexander Stofani, played by Ray Milland and Jay Henry. On board there is also a singing sailor named Stephen Jones (Bing Crosby).

As the story progresses Doris' yacht hits a reef and starts to sink. Most of the other passengers (mainly sailors and members of the crew) head for the lifeboats and abandon ship, but all of our key characters -- amusingly -- opt to jump ship instead. Stephen and his bear pal Droopy meet up with Doris in the water, brothers Michael and Alexander are aimlessly drifting together on a raft, and Edith and Uncle Hubert manage to get themselves on a water bike. The characters are not in the sea too long before they notice land some distance away and head for it.

On this uncharted, uninhabited island we're introduced to two characters, George and Gracie Martin, played by George Burns and Gracie Allen. They're husband and wife conducting a scientific research who are completely unaware to the arrival of their new guests marooned on the other side of the island. Meanwhile, Stephen assigns everyone with a job to do if they expect to get fed. The group show no delay in giving into his demands, but Doris refuses.

There are plenty of amusing moments in "We're Not Dressing" and even plenty of singing on Crosby's part. George Burns and Gracie Allen provide some decent comic relief and this is the earliest film I've seen of Ethel Merman; but in a mere bit part, I thought she was greatly underused. Prince brothers Michael and Alexander seem to be a complete waste during the second and third acts of the movie and having them there was unnecessary; although I did find their attempts at trying to win the affection of Doris to be quite humorous. *** out of ****