The two previous excellent reviews present a fair, balanced, and accurate view of this movie. It is of interest now primarily as a period piece---actually an English period piece: believe me when I tell you that in 1948 there wasn't one American in 500,000 who had ever heard of Carroll Levis, "England's favorite Canadian." There is, however, a second and far more important reason for this movie's value. It captures the luminous Carole Landis at the height of her beauty (and very shortly before her tragic suicide at 29). If ever there was a movie actress who was not only breathtakingly beautiful and amazingly talented, but also underused, unappreciated, and relegated (for the most part, as here) to roles far beneath her, it was Carole Landis. She lost what could have been her best Hollywood years by her unselfish, indefatigable, tireless entertainment of American troops throughout the world in World War II, surpassing even Bob Hope and Martha Raye in miles traveled and military outposts visited. As above noted, she was in a class by herself for beauty, absolutely nonpareil in face and figure---Betty Grable and Alice Faye were just pretty made-up dolls in comparison. What a shame that, in the end, she ended up in fare such as this.
Review of Brass Monkey
