Laird Cregar is always an imposing pleasure on the screen, a marvellous actor with great diction and indomitable authority, he always somehow seems to fill up the entire screen by his mere presence. Here he is the ringleader of a circle of sophisticated swindlers, fooling anything out of anyone. Gene Tierney in one of her early roles as an ordinary shop-girl behind the counter in a fashion establishment, is observed for her beauty by these adventurers and taken up in their circle as an attractive bait and decoy, as they carry on and happen to Henry Fonda, very unusual in comedy but managing it very well, just repeating his performance in "The Lady Eve", and this film owes very much to Preston Sturges' formidable knack of comedy - Barbara Stanwyck is just substituted by Gene Tierney, but she is a poor girl, and she doesn't really fool Henry Fonda on purpose - she just follows the fake team. There are many glorious instances of comedy here, very original for Mamoulian, but not enough to harvest a full score, as the plot doesn't quite hold water. It is great entertainment of the highest class, and Mamoulian probably made it for a change to try something different from his heavy masterpieces. As a comedy it sparkles though, the dialog is terrific throughout, and like all Mamoulian's films, this is another one to never tire of.
Review of Rings on Her Fingers
