City of Chance

Last updated
City of Chance
City of Chance poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ricardo Cortez
Screenplay by John Larkin
Barry Trivers
Produced by Sol M. Wurtzel
Starring Lynn Bari
C. Aubrey Smith
Donald Woods
Amanda Duff
June Gale
Richard Lane
Cinematography Lucien N. Andriot
Edited byNorman Colbert
Music by Samuel Kaylin
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • January 13, 1940 (1940-01-13)
Running time
56 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

City of Chance is a 1940 American crime drama film directed by Ricardo Cortez and written by John Larkin and Barry Trivers. The film stars Lynn Bari, C. Aubrey Smith, Donald Woods and Amanda Duff. The film was released on January 13, 1940, by 20th Century Fox. [1] [2] [3] [4] The executive producer for the film was Sol M. Wurtzel.

Contents

Plot

Steve Walker is a gambler in New York City high society who owns an illegal gambling house. A young Texan woman, Julie, arrives in New York and enters the casino and immediately takes a liking to him. Steve soon finds out that they were childhood sweethearts when she was a small girl known as "Pugnose" in Boonville, Texas. Despite her charm, Steve and The Judge immediately notice that she is intelligent and become suspicious of her intentions. Overhearing that a couple are due to be married but want to keep it a secret, Julie, who is a newspaper reporter, tries to contact her newspaper editor and inform them of the marriage, but Steve directs her call to his office and pretends to be the editor.

Julie overhears the woman due to be married being threatened by Baron Joseph. Julie intrudes and encounters Lois in Steve's office where Steve and The Judge confront Lynn and tell her that they know she is a reporter who has been sent to help shut his place down. The Judge informs Walker that he thinks Lynn is in love with him and the two amuse themselves by keeping her away from the telephone, which Julie becomes wise to.

Later on, Julie overhears a woman saying that she will interfere with a game with loaded dice and set up Steve. She tries to warn Steve, who playfully pushes her away, though Julie interferes at the start of the game and reveals the dice to Steve. In Steve's office, Julie is overpowered by intruder Charlie Nevins and sets off an alarm which leads to Steve and The Judge resorting to trickery to enter the office and confront him. The Judge rings Lois and tells her that everything will be fine with the Baron. Lynn tells The Judge that she wants Steve to quit the casino due to the constant danger he is in, and to return to Texas to live with her. Finally, Julie gets through to her editor to tip him off shortly before a raid by the police. Fortunately Steve had just sold the casino to rival gangster Marty Connors before the police raid, who is arrested. The Judge, making his fortune from the sale, enjoys a trip on the SS Queen.

Cast

Related Research Articles

Black Angel is a 1946 American film noir starring Dan Duryea, June Vincent and Peter Lorre. Directed by Roy William Neill, it was his final feature film. Produced by Universal Pictures, it is set in Los Angeles and broadly adapted from Cornell Woolrich's 1943 novel The Black Angel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynn Bari</span> American actress (1919–1989)

Lynn Bari was an American film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s.

<i>Surrender</i> (1987 American film) 1987 film comedy by Jerry Belson

Surrender is a 1987 American comedy film that was written and directed by Jerry Belson. It stars Sally Field, Michael Caine, Steve Guttenberg, Peter Boyle, Iman, and Jackie Cooper in his final film role.

<i>Moon Over Miami</i> (film) 1941 film by Walter Lang

Moon Over Miami is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by Walter Lang with Betty Grable and Don Ameche in leading roles and co-starring Robert Cummings, Carole Landis, Jack Haley and Charlotte Greenwood. It was adapted from the play by Stephen Powys. This was previously adapted into a 1938 film titled Three Blind Mice directed by William A. Seiter and starring Loretta Young, Joel McCrea and David Niven.

<i>In Name Only</i> 1939 film by John Cromwell

In Name Only is a 1939 romantic film starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard, and Kay Francis, directed by John Cromwell. It was based on the 1935 novel Memory of Love by Bessie Breuer. The fictional town where it is set, Bridgefield, Connecticut, is based on the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

<i>L.A. Without a Map</i> 1998 film

L.A. Without a Map is a 1998 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mika Kaurismäki, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Richard Rayner, based on Rayner's 1988 semi-autobiographical novel Los Angeles Without a Map. The film stars David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, Julie Delpy and Vincent Gallo, with Cameron Bancroft and Joe Dallesandro. It is an international co-production between France, the United Kingdom, Finland and Luxembourg.

<i>Pigskin Parade</i> 1936 film by David Butler

Pigskin Parade is a 1936 American musical comedy film which tells the story of husband-and-wife college football coaches who convince a backwoods player to play for their team so they can go to the big game. It was written by William M. Conselman, Mary Kelly, Nat Perrin, Arthur Sheekman, Harry Tugend and Jack Yellen, and was directed by David Butler.

<i>Murder in the Music Hall</i> 1946 film by John English

Murder in the Music Hall is a 1946 American musical mystery film directed by John English and starring Vera Ralston, William Marshall and Helen Walker. The film involves a murder in Radio City Music Hall with The Rockettes as suspects.

<i>Texas Lady</i> 1955 film

Texas Lady is a 1955 color American Western film directed by Tim Whelan in his final film before his death in 1957, and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. It stars Claudette Colbert, Barry Sullivan and Ray Collins. The film tells the story of a female publisher who encounters injustice and violence in a Southern town.

<i>Cluny Brown</i> 1946 film by Ernst Lubitsch

Cluny Brown is a 1946 American romantic comedy film made by Twentieth Century-Fox starring Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones. It was directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch following a screenplay written by Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt based on the 1944 novel by Margery Sharp. The music score is by Cyril J. Mockridge. The film is a satire on the smugness of British high society and the last film Lubitsch completed before his death in 1947.

<i>According to Greta</i> 2009 film by Nancy Bardawil

According to Greta is a 2009 American drama film directed by Nancy Bardawil and starring Hilary Duff, Evan Ross, Melissa Leo, Michael Murphy, and Ellen Burstyn.

<i>The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo</i> (film) 1935 film by Stephen Roberts

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo is a 1935 American romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Stephen Roberts, and starred Ronald Colman, Joan Bennett, and Colin Clive. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and Howard Smith, based on a play by Ilya Surgutchoff and Frederick Albert Swan. The film was inspired by the song of the same name popularised by Charles Coborn.

<i>Margie</i> (1946 film) 1946 film directed by Henry King

Margie is a 1946 American romantic comedy film directed by Henry King and starring Jeanne Crain, about a high school girl in the 1920s who develops a crush on her French teacher. Margie was a box-office hit, ranking in the top 15 highest-grossing films of the year, and established Crain as an important Fox star. Although not a true movie musical, it is sometimes classified with musicals due to the large number of 1920s-era popular songs incorporated as nostalgic background in the film.

<i>Girls Dormitory</i> 1936 film by Irving Cummings

Girls' Dormitory is a 1936 American romance film directed by Irving Cummings based upon the 1934 play Mature by Ladislas Fodor, and adapted for the screen by Gene Markey.

<i>My Dog Shep</i> 1946 film

My Dog Shep is a 1946 American drama film directed by Ford Beebe.

<i>The Singing Hill</i> 1941 film by Lew Landers

The Singing Hill is a 1941 American western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Virginia Dale. Based on a story by Jesse Lasky Jr. and Richard Murphy, the film is about a singing cowboy and foreman of a ranch that may be sold to an unscrupulous banker by the young madcap heiress who is unaware that the sale will result in the local ranchers losing their free grazing land and their ranches. In the film, Autry performed the 1940 song "Blueberry Hill", first recorded by Sammy Kaye, which would become a standard recorded by such artists as Louis Armstrong (1949), Fats Domino (1956), and Elvis Presley (1957). The song became one of Autry's best-selling recordings. In 1987, "Blueberry Hill" received an ASCAP Award for Most Performed Feature Film Standards on TV.

<i>Ill Give a Million</i> (1938 film) 1938 film

I'll Give a Million is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by Walter Lang and starring Warner Baxter, Marjorie Weaver and Peter Lorre. It is a remake of the Italian film I'll Give a Million (1935).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gleckler</span> American actor (1887–1939)

Robert Gleckler was an American film and stage actor who appeared in nearly 60 movies between 1927 until his death in 1939. He was cast for the role of Jonas Wilkerson, overseer of the slaves at Tara in Gone with the Wind, but died during the filming and was replaced with Victor Jory.

Free, Blonde and 21 is a 1940 American drama film directed by Ricardo Cortez and written by Frances Hyland. The film stars Lynn Bari, Mary Beth Hughes, Joan Davis, Henry Wilcoxon, Robert Lowery, Alan Baxter and Kay Aldridge. The film was released on March 29, 1940, by 20th Century Fox.

References

  1. "City of Chance (1940) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  2. Nugent, Frank S. (2015). "city-of-chance - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  3. "City of Chance". Afi.com. 1940-01-12. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
  4. City of Chance (film). 20th Century Fox. OCLC   422762515.