Thieves Fall Out
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''Thieves Fall Out'' is a 1941 American
comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
directed by
Ray Enright Ray Enright (March 25, 1896 – April 3, 1965) was an American film director. He directed 73 films between 1927–53, many of them for Warner Bros. He oversaw comedy films like Joe E. Brown vehicles, five of the six informal pairings of Joa ...
and starring
Eddie Albert Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005) was an American actor. He is known for his roles on stage and screen and received nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Albert made his actin ...
and
Joan Leslie Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in films such as '' High Sierra'' (1941), ''Sergeant York'' (1941) ...
, with
Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...
, Alan Hale, Sr., William T. Orr, and
John Litel John Beach Litel (December 30, 1892 – February 3, 1972) was an American film and television actor. Early life Litel was born in Albany, Wisconsin. During World War I, he enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery. B ...
in support. Written by Charles Grayson and
Ben Markson Benjamin Allen Markson (August 6, 1897 – October 20, 1971) was an American screenwriter active from the very beginning of the sound film era through the end of the 1950s. During his 30-year career he was responsible for the story and/or screen ...
, the B-film was released by
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
on May 3, 1941.


Plot

Eddie Barnes is employed by his father, Rodney, owner of the prosperous Barnes Slumber Accessories Company, at a menial, low-paying position. Eddie, who still lives at home with his parents, is deeply in love with Mary Matthews, the daughter of Charles Matthews, Rodney's chief but unfriendly (and even wealthier) competitor. Lacking the financial means to marry, and fearing that Mary will leave him for a rich, annoying, and disrespectful rival, Eddie implores his father for a pay raise, but is denied. In a bid to secure his future with Mary, Eddie decides to sell a full future interest in a $100,000 legacy he is to inherit from his late maternal Grandfather Allen upon his mother's death in order to purchase a business. To minimize the risk involved (in laying out cash against a future payout) the broker he approaches insists Eddie be married and a father before committing to the deal. Eddie is given two months to manage both steep requirements. Following the advice of his spunky, congenitally buttinsky maternal Grandmother to act like his impetuous and successful Grandfather, Eddie sweeps Mary off her feet, elopes with her, and in spite of objections from her parents to all aspects of it, the couple moves in with Mr. and Mrs. Barnes. The outraged and imperious Mr. Barnes compounds the upheaval by vowing angrily he will come retrieve Mary in two months if both he and she are not completely satisfied with her new life. Meanwhile, the broker sells a half-interest in his business to a notorious local gangster, Chic Collins. The days fly by, but Mary does not become pregnant - and it's all too rushed, anyway. Still, the deadline and its requirements loom. So does the closing date on the business deal. On the very last day before both expire Grandma Allen sees Mary knitting a baby top, and is able to convince both Eddie and the broker a child is on the way. Overwhelmed in the high-spirits of the announcement, the dour broker consents to honoring his half the deal (without a child actually being born). Eddie gets his money - a mere $0.33 cents on the dollar, but enough to meet the $31,000 business price and get going. The company makes springs - and has both the Barnes and Matthews mattress firms as customers. The previous owner had made a bad deal on a large government contract (patriotically offering to manufacture a custom spring at his cost, without making a profit). It was just too much, requiring expensive retooling the company could not afford, so it folded. To not lose that still-pending business yet be able to move forward, Eddie jacks prices sharply for both fathers' companies, neither of whom has an alternative supplier. Indignantly submitting to the gouging the men get twice as outraged when they learn it is ''Eddie'' behind it. Though over a barrel, each however recognizes the initiative in what Eddie's doing that they both craved but did not believe was in him. Everything is going swimmingly with Eddie, Mary, and their business. The legacy broker, however, a swindler beneath a respectable façade, sells out the rest of his company to Collins, who is intent on using it for blackmail and extortion. Recognizing the wealth on both sides of Eddie and Mary's families, he decides to lean hard on Eddie and squeeze more money out of him. It comes in the form of a threat to his mother's life, as if she dies Collins gets all $100,000 coming to him immediately. But, if Eddie wants to "protect" her from any possible misfortune, he can take out an "insurance policy" by buying back his future inheritance for "just" $75,000. Obviously he does not have that kind of money himself, and trying to explain it all - and get help from both sets of parents while confessing that not only is he faced with paying $108,000 in all for his $100,000 legacy but has put his mother's life in the hands of dangerous gangsters - will not go over well. Collins and his top henchman make a surprise appearance at the Barnes home to force the issue, where it readily comes out that Eddie had ulterior motives - no matter the purity of his heart - in proposing to Mary and plunging towards parenthood. Mary reveals she'd been knitting the top for another friend's baby shower, and is appalled at Eddie's deception, and what she believes it reveals about him. Her father escorts her sobbing back to their home. She takes up with the rival suitor. Grandma comes to the "rescue" again. Due to confusion, Chick thinks ''she'' is Eddie's mother, not his real one. Grandma proposes to Eddie that she fake an accident in front of Collins' car, let him believe he killed the right woman, and use the ploy reveal his duplicitous hand to the law. Instead, she's knocked unconscious in the attempt, Collins and his gunman think she's dead, throw her in the car, and speed away frightened. She comes to and spills the beans on her plan. Stumped, they take her to the brokerage's skyscraper office, where she first threatens to jump (to bring in the authorities), then they counter-threaten to push her off (to silence her). Stalling for time, she holds the gangsters at bay hoping that help will arrive in time. Realizing it's been too long for their plan to have worked, Eddie notifies the police, who swarm the brokerage office and take the gangsters prisoner just in time. All is forgotten, and everyone is nice to one-another, relieved no-one's been harmed.


Cast

*
Eddie Albert Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005) was an American actor. He is known for his roles on stage and screen and received nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Albert made his actin ...
as Eddie Barnes *
Joan Leslie Joan Leslie (born Joan Agnes Theresa Sadie Brodel; January 26, 1925 – October 12, 2015) was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in films such as '' High Sierra'' (1941), ''Sergeant York'' (1941) ...
as Mary Matthews *
Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...
as Grandma Allen * Alan Hale, Sr. as Rodney Barnes * William T. Orr as George Formsby *
John Litel John Beach Litel (December 30, 1892 – February 3, 1972) was an American film and television actor. Early life Litel was born in Albany, Wisconsin. During World War I, he enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery. B ...
as Tim Gordon *
Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...
as Chic Collins *
Edward Brophy Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portr ...
as Rork *
Minna Gombell Minna Marie Gombell (''née'' Gombel; May 28, 1892 – April 14, 1973) was an American stage and film actress. Early years She was born Minna Marie Gombel in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of William and Emma M. Debring Gombel. Her father was ...
as Ella Barnes *
Vaughan Glaser Vaughan Glaser (November 17, 1872 – November 23, 1958) was an American stage and film actor. His stage career started a long time before the First World War; he often appeared opposite Fay Courteney in the 1910s. He appeared in numerous Broad ...
as Charles Matthews *
Nana Bryant Nana Irene Bryant (November 23, 1888 – December 24, 1955) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1935 and 1955. Biography Bryant was born 1888 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She appeared in ...
as Martha Matthews *
Edward Gargan Edward Gargan (July 17, 1902 – February 19, 1964) was an American film and television actor. Career Gargan was born of Irish parents in Brooklyn, New York. He was the elder brother of actor William Gargan. As soon as Gargan had left colle ...
as Kane *
Hobart Cavanaugh Hobart Cavanaugh (September 22, 1886 – April 26, 1950 ) was an American character actor in films and on stage. Biography Cavanaugh was born in Virginia City, Nevada, on September 22, 1886. He attended the University of California, then worked ...
as David Tipton *
Frank Faylen Frank Faylen (born Charles Francis Ruf; December 8, 1905 – August 2, 1985) was an American film and television actor. Largely a bit player and character actor, he occasionally played more fleshed-out supporting roles during his forty-two ...
as Pick * William B. Davidson as Harry Eckles *
Etta McDaniel Etta McDaniel (December 1, 1890January 13, 1946) was an American actress who appeared in over 60 films between 1933 and 1946. Early life McDaniel was born in Wichita, Kansas. She was the sister of actor Sam McDaniel and Academy Award winni ...
as Blossom


References


Bibliography

* Fetrow, Alan G. ''Feature Films, 1940-1949: a United States Filmography''. McFarland, 1994.


External links

* * * {{AFI film, 26959
Plot of ''Thieves Fall Out'' at tcm.com
1941 films 1940s English-language films Warner Bros. films American comedy films 1941 comedy films Films directed by Ray Enright American black-and-white films 1940s American films English-language comedy films