This film would have been a serious satire of gangster films were it not that it is a deadly serious piece of patriotic propaganda. Even a tough crook like Ladd believes in his country and decides to get rich digging a ditch. The film is so full of improbabilities -- top secret documents being handled like seventh grade valentine's cards, a Nazi espionage cell masquerading as a flower-growing business, a young woman assuring a deserter that he won't be prosecuted, a deserter wandering around New York in broad daylight -- that the plot itself loses all tension early on. The saving grace is a wonderful performance by Mable Paige, whom Ladd leaves to recover by herself after having been severely beaten by some hoods (who are, unnoticed by Ladd, lurking in the hallway to kidnap him). Paige's performance brings this one up from negative numbers. It is awful. To say that Ladd's performance is wooden is an insult to oak trees.
Review of Lucky Jordan
