Main Cast: Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest, Mary Jane Saunders, Bruce Cabot, Thomas Gomez
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
Plot
This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker," or IOU. When the father is killed by mobster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot), Sorrowful decides to hide Martha Jane from the authorities, lest the poor girl get tossed in an orphanage. Lucille Ball co-stars as Sorrowful's erstwhile girlfriend Gladys, who along with Mary Jane is instrumental in "reforming" the cynical Jones. The climactic scenes, wherein Sorrowful tries to smuggle a horse into a hospital in order to bring the little girl out of a coma, deftly combines slapstick with pathos. A remake of 1934's Little Miss Marker, which starred Shirley Temple in the title role, Sorrowful Jones was itself remade in 1962 as the Tony Curtis vehicle Who's Got the Action; it was filmed again in 1980, once more as Little Miss Marker, with Curtis as the villain and Walter Matthau in the Bob Hope role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Sorrowful Jones is not a "don't miss" movie, but it is notable for providing Bob Hope with the chance to play a real character, rather than a thin variation on the Bob hope persona. This is not to say that Sorrowful Jones has nothing in common with Hope; there are quite a few quips that were definitely written for the actor, not the character. Still, Hope is definitely creating a character here and not doing a half-bad job at it either. The problem is that neither the star nor the writers are willing to fully commit to the character (and, by extension, the story, the dialogue, and the milieu), with the result that the best Sorrowful can do is place, rather than win or show. The film does benefit from a fine non-cloying performance from little Mary Jane Saunders, who manages to stay on the right side of cute. Lucille Ball is unusually subdued; those who are looking for her zany television character will be disappointed, but if viewers can divorce themselves from those preconceptions, they'll be surprised at the warmth and vulnerability with which she laces her sometimes severe character. There's also fine support from William Demarest and Ben Welden and purposeful direction from Sidney Lanfield, adding up to a decent, if unremarkable, time for all. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Tom Pedi - Once Over Sam; Paul Lees - Orville Smith; Houseley Stevenson, Sr. - Doc Chesley; Ben Welden - Big Steve's Bodyguard; Emmett Vogan - Psychiatrist; Claire Carleton - Agnes "Happy Hips" Noonan; Douglas Carter; Maurice Cass - Psychiatrist; George Chan - Chinaman; Charles Cooley - Shorty; Edgar Dearing - Police Lt. Mitchell; Selmar Jackson - Doctor; Bob Kortman - Horseplayer; Pat Lane; Louise Lorimer - Nurse; John Miller - Head Phone Man; Patsy O'Byrne - Scrubwoman; Ralph Peters - Cab Driver; John Shay - Doctor; Billy Snyder; Arthur Space - Plainclothesman; Sid Tomack - Waiter at Steve's Place; Harry Tyler - Blinky; Jim Davies - Horseplayer; Frank Mills; Marc Krah - Barber; Jack Roberts; Kid Chissell; James Cornell; Sam Finn; Allan Ray; William Yip; Michael A. Cirillo - Horseplayer; Sally Rawlinson; Eddie Rio - Bookie
Sorrowful Jones was a remake of a 1934Shirley Temple film, Little Miss Marker. In the film, a young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones (Hope) as a marker for a bet. When her father doesn't return, he learns that taking care of a child interferes with his free-wheeling lifestyle. Lucille Ball plays a nightclub singer who is dating Sorrowful's boss.
