It's entertaining enough to sit through, and it offers a light on a problem that would forever plague it's leading man, but let us face facts: MR. LUCKY was a World War II moral boosting propaganda film, and as such it is dated. It is set in a mindset for 1942/43 when the actual destiny of the war effort was unresolved, and an Axis victory was still possible. Keeping that in mind we can forgive the character change that the script forces - but posterity lost a second chance of seeing Cary Grant play a rat.
After his quasi-rat wastrel Johnny Aysgard in SUSPICION, Grant made the film TALK OF THE TOWN with Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur. His character of Leopold Dilg is suspected of arson/possibly felony murder, but we realize that he is being railroaded by Charles Dingle on those charges. A few years passed and in 1943 Grant agreed to play Joe Adams, gambler and con man, who decides to get involved in the charity racket to make a real killing. And I am sure that Grant chose the part because Joe was a rat - as bad and violent in his way as Johnny was in his.
We see this in Joe early on - he has to raise some capital for his scheme, and goes to collect the money that is owed to him. As always Grant is dapper and soft spoken, but here he demonstrates what is underneath all this: his Joe gets the money by beating up the man who owes it. To make the scene more effective, we never see Grant beat the man, but the scene is shot from the legs down, where the man is whimpering on the ground and willing to give up the money. It was a unique moment in the film, only duplicated towards the end when Grant kicks his partner in the face in a final confrontation about the swindle. That is shown performed by Grant - far more visibly than the first scene.
Yet the effect of this violence is shattered by changes in the screenplay. Grant's Joe meets the capable and suspicious Dorothy Briant (Laraine Day) at the organization that is creating the charity. She is antagonistic to him at the start, but subsequently they fall in love. At the same time one of her assistant/friends is "Swede" (Charles Bickford), and he starts working on Joe's conscience regarding the war effort and the need of the money for the purposes it is supposed to push. So when Grant beats up his partner he is actually doing it to prevent their plans for the theft of the charity money to come to fruition.
Again the studio (RKO again) and the actor's agent refused to countenance a negative image for Grant. So we have to be satisfied with two scenes where Grant uses his muscles to beat people up. One should be thankful for small favors - Grant would try again in 1944 when he appeared in NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART to play a criminal type, but there too the screenplay would prevent him from playing a total rat again.
After his quasi-rat wastrel Johnny Aysgard in SUSPICION, Grant made the film TALK OF THE TOWN with Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur. His character of Leopold Dilg is suspected of arson/possibly felony murder, but we realize that he is being railroaded by Charles Dingle on those charges. A few years passed and in 1943 Grant agreed to play Joe Adams, gambler and con man, who decides to get involved in the charity racket to make a real killing. And I am sure that Grant chose the part because Joe was a rat - as bad and violent in his way as Johnny was in his.
We see this in Joe early on - he has to raise some capital for his scheme, and goes to collect the money that is owed to him. As always Grant is dapper and soft spoken, but here he demonstrates what is underneath all this: his Joe gets the money by beating up the man who owes it. To make the scene more effective, we never see Grant beat the man, but the scene is shot from the legs down, where the man is whimpering on the ground and willing to give up the money. It was a unique moment in the film, only duplicated towards the end when Grant kicks his partner in the face in a final confrontation about the swindle. That is shown performed by Grant - far more visibly than the first scene.
Yet the effect of this violence is shattered by changes in the screenplay. Grant's Joe meets the capable and suspicious Dorothy Briant (Laraine Day) at the organization that is creating the charity. She is antagonistic to him at the start, but subsequently they fall in love. At the same time one of her assistant/friends is "Swede" (Charles Bickford), and he starts working on Joe's conscience regarding the war effort and the need of the money for the purposes it is supposed to push. So when Grant beats up his partner he is actually doing it to prevent their plans for the theft of the charity money to come to fruition.
Again the studio (RKO again) and the actor's agent refused to countenance a negative image for Grant. So we have to be satisfied with two scenes where Grant uses his muscles to beat people up. One should be thankful for small favors - Grant would try again in 1944 when he appeared in NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART to play a criminal type, but there too the screenplay would prevent him from playing a total rat again.