The Inside Story
T. alt.: The Big Gamble. Sog.: dal racconto omonimo di Ernest Lehman e Geza Herczeg. Scen.: Mary Loos, Richard Sale. F.: Reggie Lanning. M.: Arthur Roberts. Scgf.: Frank Arrigo. Mus.: Nathan Scott. Int.: Marsha Hunt (Francine Taylor), William Lundigan (Waldo Williams), Charles Winninger (zio Ed), Gail Patrick (Audrey O’Connor), Gene Lockhart (Horace Taylor), Florence Bates (Geraldine Atherton), Hobart Cavanaugh (Mason), Allen Jenkins (Eddy), Roscoe Karns (Eustace Peabody), Robert Shayne (Tom O’Connor), Will Wright (Jay Jay Johnson), William Haade (Rocky). Prod.: Allan Dwan per Republic Pictures. Pri. pro.: 14 marzo 1948. 35mm. D.: 87′. Bn.
Film Notes
Filmed in 1948, when a dip in the economy seemed to threaten a return to the worst of the 1930s, The Inside Story remains a surprisingly relevant fable, told largely in a flashback to the Depression years, about the need to keep cash in circulation in order to keep the economy alive. Dwan’s stimulus package is an envelope containing 00 which a befuddled clerk (Charles Winninger) places for safekeeping in the strongbox of a New England hotel. Thanks to a series of misunderstandings, the cash begins to circulate through the community, allowing the owner of the hotel (Gene Lockhart) to save himself from bankruptcy, a merchant (Will Wright) to stave off a foreclosure, a struggling artist (William Lundigan) to pay his rent, and a floundering lawyer (Robert Shayne) to reconsider his decision to commit suicide. An air of magic realism – coincidence happily piled upon coincidence – pervades this narratively complex but delightfully relaxed, observant and optimistic film, in which another pair of supernaturally gifted outsiders – New York bootleggers, played by Allen Jenkins and William Haade – intervene to set everything right. This time, Dwan’s social network, spun from an excellent screenplay by Richard Sale and Mary Loos, includes a trio of strong women (Marsha Hunt, Gail Patrick and Florence Bates) whose dignity and composure is played in contrast to a collection of agitated, self-pitying males.
Dave Kehr