mark.waltz From the Battery up to the top of the city back in the good old days (14th Street!), lots was happening, and a huge metropolis was in the planning stages. Thus minor historical account of New York City's bad old gambling days has childhood friends growing up from the strains of "East Side, West Side" to the strains of music coming from Tin Pan Alley. There's the usual amount of political corruption, a society dame with no real class putting her mark on the leading man, her getting taken down by the feisty heroine, and of course, a murder. Filled with humor, this is a period film lover's dream, tied up tightly in a short but detailed package.There's that cast, a who's who of who used to be, as well as some of the best character performers around. The three leads are Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly and Lyle Talbot as the three old pals, first seen as young thugs committing a scam, and reunited years later. I've seen this set up in various newer films, although not one involved a girl. Lee Patrick is get typical clinging, angry harridan and is delightfully coyish when alone with Morris and out of her element even bring imperious and uppity when confronted by Kelly. Of the other supporting cast, Lloyd Corrigan stands out with equally gregarious Dick Elliott very funny as a barber in the opening. This might be slight on important historical details of the time but overall is an above average time filler.

dougdoepke The movie never rises above programmer status, but it's a good lively cast that gets the most out of clichéd material. Three childhood friends meet up as adults. Ross (Morris) has become a big time gambling house owner while Mike (Hayden) is now a police lieutenant and Mary, a stage entertainer. The boys become friendly rivals over Mary; at the same time, Mike's friendship gets compromised by Ross's sometimes shady operations. Sound familiar. That's because this sort of theme was common during the 30's, from Cagney to Gable, that is, childhood friends graduating into different sides of the law and becoming friendly enemies. What did surprise me here was Russell Hayden as Mike. I'd only seen him as the happy-go-lucky Lucky in the Hopalong Cassidy series. Here, sporting a mustache, he plays a more dramatic role in fine fashion. Otherwise, the movie's a decent little time-passer.

bkoganbing Apparently there is a division of opinion among the critics. Some have said this was B picture ripoff of Manhattan Melodrama, others opt for Angels With Dirty Faces. If I had to choose I would choose the latter because I could see any number of other Warner Brothers features here that would have starred James Cagney and Pat O'Brien.Gamblers Choice was made by the Pine-Thomas producing team who did a lot of B films over at Paramount and early in their careers, their stars were a pair of guys who were big in the early sound era, but had slipped in status by the Forties, Richard Arlen and/or Chester Morris.Morris stars here as the ruthless gambler type who grew up in those years entitled the Gay Nineties. Without as much flash as James Cagney gave his parts, Morris gives a pretty good account of himself as the bad boy who is loyal in the end to his friends.Those friends being singer Nancy Kelly and policeman Russell Hayden who is the upright and honest cop that Pat O'Brien was always playing. Hayden's own sense of loyalties to his friends almost trips him up and Kelly has to choose between Morris and Hayden.The production values were not MGM gloss, but you did get a nice sense of New York in the Roosevelt-Taft era before World War I. Sheldon Leonard as Morris's rival gambling palace owner and Lee Patrick the bookmaker's widow who Morris romances and then throws over for Kelly standout themselves in their roles.Nothing terribly special, but no one need be ashamed of their work here. Gamblers Choice holds up very nicely for today.

csteidler Gambler's Choice is the kind of movie where halfway through, you're trying to guess how it's going to end. Why? Because the plot is so familiar and you've already wracked your brains trying to remember how it ended when Cagney and O'Brien and Gable and Powell and them were in it. –No, Gambler's Choice is not especially original; perhaps oddly, it's still quite watchable.Three childhood friends are reunited after many years apart: Chester Morris has grown up to become a charismatic but crooked casino owner; Russell Hayden is an honest cop in a city of corruption; and Nancy Kelly is the nightclub singer who loves them both. Which one will she eventually choose? and what will happen when Lucky and Blackie—er, Hayden and Morris—inevitably clash? Of the supporting cast, Sheldon Leonard as the rival casino owner looks most like he's enjoying himself, but his is only one of several familiar faces (Tom Dugan, Lloyd Corrigan, even Lyle Talbot). Morris does well in the second half but seems somehow unnatural in the early going. Hayden is okay but isn't given a lot to do that's really interesting. Kelly could also have been more interesting; again, there's not a lot that she does or says that remotely surprises. The performances are all fine, but the actors just aren't given much to work with.So it's corny and unoriginal, but hand it to the filmmakers for trying. Halfway through the picture, there's a scene where the three main characters gaze out a window over the growing city. "There it is, Mike," says Morris. "Little old New York….And it's all ours. Just like we dreamed about when we were kids." --A film that's strictly a quickie with no ambition doesn't pause for philosophical musings, corny or not. It's brief, but just for an instant there you get the feel of that epic moment that "big" movies shoot for.The last fifteen minutes—when things really start popping—are exciting, even tense, and satisfying. I was glad I stuck around to find out what happens.Funny scene: the horseless carriage chase. Even in 1911, apparently, you sometimes needed to lose someone following your auto in his own.