Sadly Over-hyped

Admirable film.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

FASHION MODEL – 1944Another low rent crime comedy from bottom feeder studio, MONOGRAM. This one is about a stock boy, Robert Lowery, who gets himself mixed up in a trio of murders at his job. Helping him prove his innocence, is his main squeeze, Marjorie Weaver who is a model at the Fashion Salon.The story, or what there is of it, is about a diamond brooch worth 25 grand. What the viewer gets is just a string of sight gags and one liners. In the mix are Tim Ryan and Dewey Robinson as a pair of less than brilliant Police detectives. Also joining in are Lorna Gray, Sally Yarnell and Edward Keene as the murder victims.While not a barn burner by any means, there is the odd chuckle supplied by Lowery and Weaver has they try to stay one step ahead of the police. Particularly good is a bit were they pretend to be clothes dummies in the salon display window. Miss Weaver seems to have a flair for comedy and is quite good at rapid fire dialogue.With more attention to detail, a better script and a better director, this could have been decent low budget comedy. Director William "one shot" Beaudine shows how he earned that name here. There is a scene when a running Miss Weaver slips on a floor and crashes into a wall, she just picks herself up and continues. Beaudine was known for seldom ever doing retakes.

Marjorie Weaver and Robert Lowery star in "Fashion Model," a 1945 comedy of the sledgehammer variety. When models at Madam Celeste's Fashion House start showing up dead, a stock boy, Jimmy (Lowery) is a chief suspect. His girlfriend, who is also a model, Peggy (Weaver) wants to help clear him. The two work together to find the killer.Actually, this isn't a bad comedy. It has some really funny bits, but they're done too over the top. In the hands of someone like Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea, for instance, and directed by Leo McCary, this might have been a classic. It comes off as silly and overdone. Weaver is a great example of this. Her character is supposed to be quirky, so rather than Peggy BEING quirky, she instead puts it on. It's not such a subtle difference when you watch it.The best part is the two trying to escape the fashion house wearing bridal attire and getting caught in the window with the drunk, nearsighted window dresser.Could have been better, but then, these films were made over a few days.

Fashion Model (1945)** (out of 4)Cheap but fairly entertaining murder-mystery from Monogram has stock boy Danny O'Brien (Robert Lowery) being accused of killing a model so he runs off with his girlfriend (Marjorie Weaver) to try and clear his name while a detective (Tim Ryan) tries to find them. When you see the Monogram logo go up on the screen that there should tell you not to expect any type of art film or masterpiece. Those who enjoy these "B" movies will probably find this one here slightly entertaining or at the very least it's a good way to kill an hour. As with the majority of films like it, this one here suffers from some really bad comic relief. I've seen dozens of these films and I've always wondered why they added so much comedy relief and especially considering how over-the-top and rather silly they make it. We of course have the one standard cop role who is such a moron that he could only be a cop in a "B" film like this. The comic banter between Lowery and Weaver is also pretty high as it appears they're wanting to be some sort of Abbott and Costello team. I thought the two were fairly good together but it's very possible that 'One Shot' Beaudine really wasn't giving them the opportunity to build anything in terms of chemistry but instead just wanted the quickest take they could give. Ryan is pretty good in his role as well and we got some nice stuff from Lorna Gray and Dewey Robinson. The actual mystery behind the film isn't too bad but then again you shouldn't be expecting something like Hitchcock. There is one major goof in the film when a character offers a $5,000 reward for a piece of jewelry that is missing. The next scene one of the characters this reward was told to says that the reward money is three times as much as what was previously said.

Not a bad way to spend an hour but, don't expect any great acting or a well written plot. As was the norm with Monogram, the film is overloaded with so called "comedy relief". Also, if I was a policeman I would be terribly insulted by the portrayal of cops as unbelievably stupid dolts. Gunner