Mr. Soft Touch

Another of those movies that I'd seen show up on TCM and one or another of the FAST channels (probably Cinevault Classics since this is a Columbia movie), but never actually got around to watching, is Mr. Soft Touch. TCM ran it last year at Christmas, and it says something about the backlog of movies I've got that I'm only now getting around to doing a post on it.

The movie opens up with a man named Joe Miracle (Glenn Ford) in a car chase. It's Christmastime, and Joe, after escaping over a drawbridge, gives a policeman raising money a $50 bill. This being the late 1940s, it's obvious that Joe has come into a bunch of money, and since he was being chased, it's obvious that he didn't come into that money quite honestly. After escaping from everybody, he makes his way to a Mr. and Mrs. Christopher, who happen to be the brother and sister-in-law of Joe's business partner.

The Christophers are supposed to have bought a ticket on a steamer out of the country, but since it's Christmas, Mr. Christopher is making merry with a bell that's extremely loud -- loud enough for the neighbors to make a noise complaint. Worse for Joe is that the ticket the Christophers got is for a boat that doesn't leave for another 36 hours, although in their defense that was the earliest ticket they could get. A radio announcer tells us how Joe got his money, which is from the club he used to run before World War II. While he was off fighting, the mob took over the club, and Joe wanted his money back.

Meanwhile, the police come to respond to the noise complaint, and think that Joe is actually Mr. Christopher, since the real Mr. Christopher is hiding. Meanwhile, somebody calls looking for Joe, which gives him an idea. He's going to get himself arrested as Mr. Christopher, so that when he gets the sentence of a night in jail for disturbing the peace, that will keep him safe from the mobsters who have been chasing him and presumably figured out where he's hiding.

But there's a catch. When the cops came for the bell-ringer the first time, barging in on the situation is Jennie Jones (Evelyn Keyes). She runs the local settlement house, being a do-gooder trying to solve the social problems of the lower classes. While Joe is on trial hoping to be sentenced, Jennie shows up and gets the judge to remand him to her custody! Will Joe be able to get away from Jennie and the settlement house? Will anybody recognize him? Already on the case in the latter issue is reporter "Early" Byrd (John Ireland).

Mr. Soft Touch is an odd little combination of noirish crime movie mixed with a Christmas movie. It's a tough mix of tones to pull off, but everybody does the best they can with it. They're not always successful, although I think that's more down to the script. At times it's stuck in its weird mash-up of genres, while at other times it gives in too much to clichés. It doesn't take much to guess that Joe and Jennie are going to develop an attraction for each other, as well as that Joe is going to be found just in time for the climax.

Still, the odd genres put together, combined with the presence of Glenn Ford, who is always worth watching, makes Mr. Soft Touch worth at least one watch.