Princess O'Hara (1935)
At the Rialto.
F.S.N.
Published: April 13, 1935
Universal has not done any too well by Damon Runyon in the film of his short story, "Princess O'Hara." Or perhaps it's the other way round The distressing truth is that short stories have a habit of running thin when stretched into the novelette length of the average screen play. That, plus the cinema's notorious difficulty in capturing the elfin quality known as whimsy, makes the Rialto's new film a rather pedestrian exhibit which alternately is bogged down in bathos or struggling furiously to be comic.
The story follows the Runyon formula: have a group of gangsters, gamblers or hoodlums play Santa Claus for a child, an old lady or a helpless girl. "Little Miss Marker" used the child motif; "Lady for a Day" played up the old lady; "Princess O'Hara" employs the girl. For atmosphere, there are the weirdly named people of Mr. Runyon's fictional world—Deadpan, Last Card Louie, Fingers, Pocahontas, the Princess herself. An anachronistic dowager generally is added for seasoning. Her name, in this case, is Miss Van Cortland.
The Princess is the daughter of King O'Hara, a cabby who is killed in a taxi war betwen the fleets of Vic Toledo and a rival company. Toledo tries to help the girl and the three younger O'Haras, but she will have nothing to do with the man she believes responsible for her father's death. Toledo then instructs his dim-wit lieutenants to see that the girl is cared for, without her knowing it. One of their inspirations is to steal a race horse to substitute for Goldberg, the ailing horsepower of the O'Hara hack. Their charitable impulse threatens to send the Princess to jail, bring gang vengeance upon Toledo and work havoc in other ways, but Mr. Runyon sees to it that Santa Claus beats the rap.
There is no gainsaying the comedy of some scenes, particularly of those involving Vince Barnett, Leon Errol and Henry Armetta, but even a fairy tale should contain a germ of plausibility. In this case the charge against the Princess of horse-stealing is so obviously untenable that the climactic furor about saving her from jail seems a trifle absurd. And the audience easily could have spared a few of the Princess' tear-jerking scenes with Mr. O'Hara, her horse and the dear, dear little kiddies. The tears only made the track muddy.
PRINCESS O'HARA, adapted from Damon Runyon's story by Doris Malloy and Harry Clork; a Universal production directed by David Burton.
Princess 0'Hara . . . . . Jean Parker
Vic Toledo . . . . . Chester Morris
Louie . . . . . Leon Errol
Fingers . . . . . Vince Barnett
Spidoni . . . . . Henry Armetta
Alberta Whitley . . . . . Verna Hillie
King O'Hara . . . . . Ralph Remley
Maggie O'Hara . . . . . Dorothy Gray
Hanna O'Hara . . . . . Anne Howard
Pat O'Hara . . . . . Jimmy Fay
Tad . . . . . Clifford Jones
Miss Van Cortland . . . . . Clara Blandick
Mrs. Goldberg . . . . . Pepi Sinoff
Deadpan . . . . . Tom Dugan
