Tonight's Movie: Silver Queen (1942) - A ClassicFlix DVD Review

Lovely Priscilla Lane stars in SILVER QUEEN (1942), available on DVD from ClassicFlix.

Lane plays Coralie Adams, who's attracted to gambler James Kincaid (George Brent) at a New York charity dance.

Coralie is already engaged to Gerald Forsythe (Bruce Cabot), an apparently upstanding society gentleman, and soon Coralie will be dealing with more pressing issues than her love life: The death of her father (Eugene Pallette) and paying off his creditors. It seems that her father lost everything in a stock market crash but hid the bills as long as he could.

Coralie leaves New York for San Francisco, where she runs the Silver Queen gambling palace. She sends money to Gerald to pay off her father's debts, but he embezzles the funds. Fortunately James re-enters her life...

SILVER QUEEN is simultaneously pleasant and a bit strange. As I found when I first saw the film in 2014 thanks to a fairly rare airing on Turner Classic Movies, the film's main problem is a rather weak script, by Bernard Schubert and Cecile Kramer, based on a story by William Allen Johnston and Forrest Halsey. Major problems hinge on poor communication, and the way the film handles the passage of time is also rather unbelievable.

An additional issue is that while I'm second to no one in my love for the sweet and warm Priscilla Lane, those adjectives are also what make her a questionable choice for the lead role. A society woman tough enough to leave all she knows to run a gambling house for years needs to be played by someone with more of an edge, like an Ann Sheridan.

That said, the casting wasn't up to me, and since I do love both Priscilla and George Brent, I enjoy this film despite its deficiencies. One or the other of them is onscreen most of the movie, and that's just fine with me.

Lloyd Bacon directed this 80-minute United Artists release. The black and white cinematography was by Russell Harlan. Victor Young received an Oscar nomination for Best Score.

The film also received an Oscar nomination for Best Black and White Art Direction. A note regarding the film's look: in one interior scene set in a large room, it's pretty clear that the entire back half of the scene is a painted backdrop.

The large supporting cast includes Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Lynne Overman, Marietta Canty, Janet Beecher, and Sam McDaniel.

SILVER QUEEN is available from ClassicFlix as No. 16 in its Silver Series line. The Silver Series releases focus on making hard-to-find films available for home viewing, without major restoration or subtitles. Examples of other Silver Series releases I've reviewed within the past year include THE CRYSTAL BALL (1943), THE DUKE OF WEST POINT (1938), and YOUNG AND WILLING (1943). These are all films which should not simply fade away and be lost to time, and I'm grateful ClassicFlix has made them available.

The print is somewhat soft, particularly in the early going, but as the film goes on the picture settles down and is quite acceptable, with no major flaws. The sound, while adequate enough to get by, is on the "mushy" side, with a bit of background noise; I got most of the dialogue but it was iffy enough at times that I wished subtitles were available.

Despite not being a completely ideal film and print, I appreciate that ClassicFlix has made this film with two of my favorite stars easily accessible for home viewing.

Thanks to ClassicFlix for providing a review copy of this DVD.

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