Lucky Jordan * (1942, Alan Ladd, Helen Walker, Sheldon Leonard) – Classic Movie Review 10,105

Director Frank Tuttle’s 1942 crime drama Lucky Jordan is a shaky, unexciting vehicle for Alan Ladd as New York gangster Lucky Jordan, an artful dodger, crook and gambler.

He is drafted into the army, deserts, and then accidentally beats a bunch of Nazis, who are being aided by his old gang of crooks, led by his former henchman Slip Moran (Sheldon Leonard), in stealing American military secrets for the enemy.

Darrell Ware and Karl Tunberg’s strained script, based on a story by Charles Leonard, gets stodgy handling, and an unhappy seeming Ladd looks as though he is sleepwalking through his performance.

It is Helen Walker’s first feature, as WAC Jill Evans, the girl who wants to make Ladd a better lad, but before that he has taken her hostage after she threatens to report him to the authorities.

It is made in Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood.

It is shot in black and white by John F Seitz.

Also in the cast are Marie McDonald, Mabel Paige, Lloyd Corrigan, Dave Willock, Russell Hoyt, John Wengraf, Miles Mander, Clem Bevans, Anthony Caruso, Charles Cane, George Meader, Virginia Brissac, Kitty Kelly, George Humbert, Al Hill, Fred Kohler Jr, Harry Cheshire, Ralph Peters, Otto Reichow, Georgia Backus, Yvonne De Carlo, Crane Whitley, Virginia Farmer, Ralph Dunn, Edward Earle, Dorothy Dandridge, William Forrest, William Halligan, John Hamilton, John Harmon, Olaf Hytten, Lyle Latell, Arthur Loft, Jack Roberts, Ronald R Rondell, Paul Stanton and Elliott Sullivan.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,105

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