Thanks for the memories!

Good movie but grossly overrated

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Silly antics, with some song and dance numbers tossed in. Nifty (Ray Bolger, just after doing the Wizard of Oz) does a fun, impressive number right at the start, "I'm in Good Shape". He and his co-horts are musicians in a restaurant, and they share an apartment too. Nifty meets up right off with Nina (Ann Shirley), who doesn't have a place to stay, so of course she moves in with them. As we are in the middle of WW II, and there was a major housing shortage, this would be OK, in spite of the film code being in full force by now. They keep bumping into Noodles, the crime boss, played by Jack Durant. The producers didn't spend much on the script here... its all pretty silly, but it kind of works as long as you don't take it too seriously. Nina thinks she can speak with foreign accents, so that comes in handy. Even Desi Arnaz gets caught up in the plot. According to wikipedia, this was only the third role for Desi, and he was on the musical soundtracks for all three of these roles. This about ten years before I Love Lucy. Its OK, but as we can see, it didn't win any awards. This film was just like watching one of Lucy's schemes gone wrong; maybe that's where Arnaz got the idea. Directed by Jack Hively, who also directed a bunch of "The Saint" movies.

Okay, first of all this is the second remake of RKO's wonderful STREET GIRL. The first remake was THAT GIRL FROM Paris with Lily Pons. Anne Shirley is the faux continental who sings. It sounds like Vera Van doing the actual vocals (Vera sang in DARK VICTORY and DUST BE MY DESTINY). The cutting of this picture is a disaster, which is pretty ironic seeing as the director is a former editor. It is very obvious that scenes were trimmed and transitions shortened. There are holes all over the place. The songs are so-so. One of them, "Boogie Woogie Conga" is almost a carbon copy of "Congo Beso" from HELLZAPOPPIN. For my money, the two best reasons to watch FOUR JACKS are June Havoc and Jack Durant. Durant, late of the team of Mitchell (Frank) and Durant, is quite hilarious as a slightly psychotic gangster. Russian tough mug Constantin Romanoff actually has a few lines in this one. If you're into cinema archeology, watch this one to compare and wonder.

Before the 1950s, the studios owned the movie theaters, and had to make "product" for them continuously. Films were created to utilize contract players, with perhaps a better known "name star" borrowed for the cast. Movies were only intended for a short run, and then meant to be forgotten. That being said, this film is a harmless bit of fluff that was never meant to have a long life. It was just "product" to fill a movie theater. I'm sure nobody at the time expected this to be competition for MGM spectaculars or 20th Century Fox Technicolor beauties.Keep in mind that Ray Bolger made this film three years after "Wizard of Oz", so the comment about MGM "finally" getting it right in casting him, makes no sense. So what if Anne Shirley had fine clothes. Did you ever count how many costume changes Ginger Rogers had in "Kitty Foyle", playing a shop girl? Come on fellas, this is Hollywood, not real life.Sure, Bolger could have used better material, but he never had a much of a movie career. He did better on Broadway, both before and after this film was made. So what is this is a re-make of "Street Girl". Did you ever notice how many movies get re-made? And not only once, but two and three times. "Maltese Falcon" has had at least three, and "Three Blind Mice" got re-made as "Moon Over Miami" and later as "Three Little Girls in Blue".Considering how much junk you see on TV—how many insipid situation comedies that are broadcast—this film compares favorably to what we have available to watch.The songs are tuneful and catchy, keeping with the style of the 1940s. The composers, Mort Greene and Harry Revel, were responsible for a plethora of tunes in that era, together and with other collaborators. You'll find their work in many movie musicals, both A and B grade.Using Martha Mears to dub Anne Shirley's singing was a good choice, since the tone of her voice matches Shirley's speaking voice very favorably. Mears also did Marjorie Reynolds singing in "Holiday Inn". Dubbing is nothing new to Hollywood. Rita Hayworth and Lucille Ball were always dubbed in the many musicals those actresses made.So, while TV has resurrected old films, just consider viewing this one as a nostalgic trip to a time when life was simpler. It's only a little over an hour of your time.

This is almost a shot-for-shot remake of the 1929 "Street Girl," which was equally cheerless but at least had better musical performances... Betty Compson played the violin and Jack Oakie shimmied in that one. But in the hurry to make movies during the war, they made the nimble Ray Bolger boring and whiny. Anne Shirley has great clothes for a homeless girl, and Desi Arnaz is both handsome and comprehensible in English, so you do wonder what happened to him by his "Lucy" days. This was on very late one night, so it was worth watching under those circumstances -- but otherwise, don't bother. This is a dead man's hand, indeed.