Many contemporary reviews of this referred to it as a "melodrama" which is interesting, because to me at any way it was clearly meant to be a comedy in the Damon Runyon style - a gangster tries to do everything he can to avoid the draft, but turns patriot when Nazi agents get involved. And the thing is, a lot of it is comic, even though Alan Ladd wasn't known at the time - and would never be known - for this comedy.
It really should have been a comedy, for all the tropes are there - a shonky lawyer who tries to help him, the treacherous 2IC, a decent USO girl, a boozy old lady who agrees to be his mother in exchange for money. But the filmmakers don't commit, and pull their punches - so a lot of this is straight mystery. I feel it needed more broad characters eg turn Jordan's moll into someone really trashy, have him play off some urchin to be his "kid" - go for the laughs.
But I get the feeling they didn't trust Ladd and made sure there was plenty of suspense and action. As a result the movie kind of falls between stools - too silly to be a thriller, not funny enough to be a comedy. Ladd's not bad - he plays it straight as he should, but he needed a stronger support cast.
Also some things that happen are quite black eg he hires a person to be his body double and the poor kid is shot dead!
Mabel Paige is alright - this sort of role is a gift, and she does okay rather than shines, though I did like the affection between her and Ladd after she's beaten up by Nazi agents. Helen Walker is pretty and efficient as the female lead - but once I heard Paulette Goddard was meant to play it, I couldn't stop wishing that she was in the role.
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