Our next film is the 1947 comedy Out Of The Blue, starring George Brent, Virginia Mayo, Turhan Bey, Ann Dvorak and Carole Landis.
German shepherd Rabeleis has been burying his bones in the Earthleighs’ terrace. Mae Earthleigh (Carole Landis) wants her husband Arthur (George Brent) to tell off their next-door neighbor (and Rabeleis’ owner) David Galleo (Turhan Bey), and have him get rid of the dog, or they will have him evicted. Mae leaves by train to go visit her sister, and while she is gone, Arthur goes to a restaurant, where he meets Olive Jenson (Ann Dvorak). After flirting and drinking together, Arthur invites her back to his home. However, he decides against it, but can’t get her out of his apartment, and she ends up fainting. Arthur, believing her to be dead and unwilling to risk the scandal, tries to leave her on David’s terrace. The police are called when two nosy neighbors see the “body” (considering how much the news had mentioned a serial killer in the area), but Olive wakes up for David and his girlfriend, Deborah Tyler (Virginia Mayo), and they plan to get their revenge on Arthur for trying to evict Rabeleis. They fool Arthur into helping them bury a dummy made up to look like Olive, while the strain continues to get to him. Meanwhile, Olive ends up causing trouble between David and Deborah when she won’t leave his apartment, either.
I admit, I had a lot of fun with this movie. Now, to be fair, this movie does require a LOT of suspension of disbelief, considering George Brent’s Arthur Earthleigh is told by Olive that she has trouble with fainting, and he conveniently forgets it (although, to be fair, the two spinsters watching everyone do admit he tends to forget things when we are first introduced to him). Still, Ann Dvorak as Olive is absolutely hilarious, as she is almost always tipsy, and easily gets under everyone’s skin as she continuously overstays her welcome, whether with Arthur or with David. Of course, watching David and Deborah play a trick on Arthur and have him help bury a dummy is hilarious, as is Arthur’s visit to the lawyer to tell him about the “murder.” Is this one of the absolute best comedies you can find? No, but it was a fun one, and easily recommended just the same!
This movie is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Classicflix. Honestly, that alone should say how wonderful this movie looks (great!), and it certainly made it an easy decision to give this movie (which I had never even heard of before they announced it) a try! An easy recommendation as the best way to see it!
Film Length: 1 hour, 25 minutes
My Rating: 9/10
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List Of Actor/Actress Filmographies/Collections
Tomorrow Is Forever (1946) – George Brent
Virginia Mayo – White Heat (1949)
Thoughts From The Music(al) Man 