La signora di Broadway

That's Rochelle Hudson, an odds-setter for every sport under the sun, who won't hand out a tip for the two-dollar bettors who collect their money a nickel at a time -- she'll take the money and buy War Stamps for them. She's patriotic, all right, but no sucker, and when newly orphaned Donald Mayo shows up, she's all for sending him to an orphanage. That idea doesn't last long in this faux-Runyonesque second feature from PRC.

This being a sentimental movie with a preciously cute little kid, I don't like it in the least. Sam Newfield directs by the numbers, and although cinematographer Jack Greenhalgh was no slouch, the usual shoddy print is the only one that's available.

Miss Hudson had first been signed to a contract in 1930, at the age of 14. She soon failed to distinguish herself in B pictures and as the voice of Honey in early Merrie Melodies. THat's not to imply she wasn't a talented performer, just that she rarely got the chance to perform in pictures with some meat on them. SHe went missing from the marquee for five years after this movie, then eight movies over the following twenty years. She died in 1972, aged 55.