Mr. Lucky is a 1943 film directed by H.C. Potter, starring Cary Grant and Laraine Day. It tells the story of a romance between a shady gambler and a wealthy socialite in the early days of World War II.
A 1959 TV series of the same name was loosely based on this film. It lasted only one season and starred John Vivyan in the title role.
Plot
A night watchman (Emory Parnell) checks out a sailor who has rowed up to the dock. The seaman stops him from bothering an obviously wealthy young woman who walks to the end of the pier, apparently waiting for someone. The sailor begins recounting her story and the film segues into one long, continuous flashback.
Joe "the Greek" Adams (Cary Grant) is a gambler and grifter with a couple of problems. First, he and his treacherous partner Zepp (Paul Stewart) have received draft notices to join the army for World War II. Fortunately, he has a solution. One of his underlings, Joe Bascopolous, has just died, and his status was 4F (unfit to serve). So one of them can dodge the draft by taking his identity. They gamble for it; Zepp cheats, but Joe wins anyway. As it turns out, Zepp fails his physical examination.
The other problem is a lack of money to bankroll his gambling ship. He talks the head of the local War Relief organization, Captain Veronica Steadman (Gladys Cooper), into authorizing him to run a "charity" casino, promising to raise enough money to outfit a relief ship, despite the suspicions of her lieutenant, wealthy socialite Dorothy Bryant (Laraine Day).
Eventually, he even charms her. She tells her snobbish grandfather (Henry Stephenson), to his great dismay, that "Joe's the first man I've ever met I'm afraid of. It's exciting." At one point, Joe teaches Dorothy Australian rhyming slang, for example "tit for tat" (hat), "twist and twirl" (girl), and "trouble and strife" (wife). Later, he renames his gambling ship in her honor.
On the day of the charity ball, Joe receives a letter addressed to Bascopolous, written in Greek. Curious about its contents, he takes it to a Greek Orthodox priest for translation. It turns out to be from Bascopolous' mother in Greece, who wrote to tell her son about German paratroopers invading their village. She describes how every Greek man valiantly fought to the death, defending their country's honor. Moved, Joe spends several hours on a park bench, examining his life.
At the charity ball, Joe's men use false bottoms in the cashboxes to steal most of the money. Joe has a change of heart and tells his right-hand man, the "Crunk" (Alan Carney), that the money is going to war relief. But Zepp overhears what he says and forces him at gunpoint to collect the loot. Dorothy accidentally catches them in the act and thinks Joe is a willing participant. To protect her, he is forced to knock her out. Then, when Zepp briefly looks away, Joe attacks and kills him, but not before getting shot. Joe escapes through a window, leaving behind a trail of blood.
Just when it seems to everyone that Joe is a heel, he sends the money back to Dorothy by way of his trusted friend Swede (Charles Bickford). He then loads up his ship with war relief supplies.
Later, Dorothy is stricken when a policeman informs her that Bascopolous is dead. Then she sees the photograph of the dead man; it isn't her Joe. When the name of the ship Bascopolous worked on is mentioned (the Briny Marlin, slang for darlin'), she knows where to find him. She rushes to the dock, just as the ship is departing for Europe. She begs Joe to take her with him, but he brushes her off and turns away to hide his own anguish. The ship is torpedoed and sunk on the return trip. Dorothy visits the dock each night, stubbornly waiting for Joe to return to her.
The movie returns to the opening scene: Swede rows up in a dinghy one foggy evening and tells Dorothy's story to the new night watchman. Hoping that she would be present, he arranged for Joe to meet him there. But when Joe shows up at the other end of the pier, he wants to go out on the town to celebrate their last night in port rather than going back to their ship. Thinking quickly, the guard tells him he can't leave the dinghy tied up where it is. Joe and Swede argue about who has to move it. The watchman settles it by flipping a crooked, two-headed coin, ensuring Joe loses. When he walks to the end of the dock, Dorothy sees him and rushes into his arms.
Cast
Adaptations to Other Media
Mr. Lucky was adapted as a radio play on the October 18, 1943 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater with Cary Grant and Laraine Day reprising their film roles. It was also presented on the January 20, 1950 broadcast of Screen Director's Playhouse with Cary Grant again reprising his film role.
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