Sleepers West (1941)
Director: Eugene Forde
Starring: Lloyd Nolan, Lynn Bari, Mary Beth Hughes
Synopsis:
Impressions:
This is a remake of the pre-Code Sleepers East and I would've loved to compare the two, but the older film seems to be hard to come by, as is the source novel. So it goes. The angle of Shayne's ex getting herself involved is a bit interesting. They've got a bit of a messy past, there's still chemistry but she's with someone else. It feels a bit like the Bruce-Rachel-Harvey triangle from The Dark Knight to give a more recent example. Anyway, there are a bunch of different plot threads woven together that keep things interesting. Some viewers may not appreciate the tomfoolery involving the porters, particularly Ben Carter, but there are some good quips they get in (and you'll get worse in Dressed to Kill). I mentioned how I wanted to compare with the earlier film and a big part of that is because the ending feels rather contrived to meet Code standards, so I have to wonder if that was true of the original or not. Somewhat weak ending aside, this is an improvement on the previous film in the series and worth a watch.
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