The Inside Story (1948) User Reviews

Over-the-Top Old Pros Enliven Economics Lecture

[boblipton · 6/10 · 9 February 2018]

This is a message film, as Dwan's independent post-war work would become increasingly in the 1950s. It struck me as an economics lesson on the velocity of money which I have heard as a one-minute burlesque joke, stretched out to a ninety-minute radio script and then given flawless movie visuals by Allan Dwan and his team. The youngsters play their roles seriously, except for Marsha Hunt, who shows a flair for comedy; I did enjoy the constant abuse of William Lundigan, the most wooden of would-be stars of the 1940s.

The old pros include Charles Winninger, who plays the Cornball Coot; Gene Lockhart, who runs through his apoplectic octuple take several times; Alan Jenkins in full Damon Runyon mode; Roscoe Karns, who reruns his character from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT; and Florence Bates, who must have ruined many a take bursting out laughing. I know how she felt. I kept giggling, as did the rest of the audience.

Flashing back to depressing times.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 6 May 2013]

Silver Creek, Vermont is in the depths of the depression, and everybody has to borrow a nickle in order to rub it together with the only other one they have. The plot concerns the misunderstanding of $1000 used to pay a debt when the money wasn't theirs to begin with. This isn't about theft, but greed, desperation, and retribution. A wonderful cast of character performers (most notably Charles Winninger, Florence Bates and Gene Lockhart) surround some younger romantic leads (William Lundigan and Marsha Hunt among them), but it is the portly older folk, who get the juiciest material. Bates, as the town's matriarch, is kind-hearted with most of her creditors, only ruthless when she discovers the shadiness of one of her tenants who cranked up prices in his grocery store after finding out she had raised salaries in her now closed factory, helping send the town into bankruptcy when the depression hit. She stings with lines like, "I'll never forget a face, and I'll always remember both of yours".

There's a Capra-esque feeling to this, with its lesson on greed, a comic case of misunderstanding underlying the dramatic set-up. This seems appropriate to the post war problem of paranoia which was overtaking the country, foreshadowing many problems that had been backburnered when America entered the war, and for that reason, has an important social significance to it. Lockhart is particularly truthful when the greedy storekeeper reminds him of their life-long friendship, to which he responds, "Well, we have known each other for many years", really striking the heart of what friendship is really all about.

Quality Warm Fun Looking at " The Inside Story"

[glennstenb · 8/10 · 5 January 2022]

The title "The Inside Story" sounds a little distant and erudite for this movie, which is rural in its setting and country in its people, but the program is warm, gentle, and cautionary. The film captivates the viewer in large measure because it expertly showcases several of the more recognizable and appreciated character actors and B-picture players of the 1940's and thereafter (just review the cast list!).

The story develops evenly and deliberately as we become privy to the little Vermont town's just a little less-than-perfect local political and social structure. Republic made an entertaining and coherent movie and it looks sharp, boasting good direction and carefully developed and applied production values. Spending time observing the townsfolk realize and confront their troubles while a few choice visitors make their presence felt was very much enjoyed.

1933 bank holidays, rum-runners, knock-knock jokes, handies and not post-war propaganda

[horn-5 · 24 November 2005]

But the Original Story by Ernest Lehman and Geza Herczeg and Screen Play by Mary Loos and Richard Sale was itself a depression-era tale (written in the time of FDR's declared bank holidays)as a reverse for want-of-a-nail showing how circulated money (honestly acquired or otherwise) can solve lots of problems.

The story is laid in a Vermont community in 1933 in which six residents find themselves in some kind of a predicament because the government had declared a Bank Holiday to avoid run-on-the-bank situations happening across the country.

By a curious turn-of-events ten $100 bills are put in an inn's safe. Inkeeper Horace Taylor (Gene Lockhart) finds them and concludes they are payments from his debtors. He immediately pays off his own debts---only to be told later by his clerk, Uncle Ed (Charles Winninger), that the money belonged to a guest at the inn.

Taylor begins a frantic effort to trace and regain the money, which is merrily circulating around the town from storekeeper J. J. Johnson (Will Wright) to a landlady, Geraldine Atherton (Florence Bates), to a lawyer, Tom O'Connor ( Robert Shayne) and his wife Audrey (Gail Patrick), to an artist, Waldo Williams (William Lundigan) and his fiancée Francie Taylor (Marsha Hunt), the inn-keepers daughter. Plus, two addlepated rum-running bootleggers (Allen Jenkins and William Haade) are conducting their own search for the bills.

As Taylor trails the elusive money, the individual dramas of the various possessors are revealed. And, all hands benefit via the circulation of money, which actually is counter-productive to the leave-your-money-in-the-bank idea of Bank Holidays.

In addition to a few depression-era "knock-knock" jokes, the depression version of Charades, called "Handies" is thrown in as part of the period settings.

Originally produced and released by Republic Pictures Corporation in 1948, Republic, gearing up to eventually selling its films to television, edited it down from the original 87 minutes to a tidy 60 minutes and reissued it as "The Big Gamble" in 1954. Part of the now-missing footage included: Knock-Knock Who's there? Window!.

Window who? Window moon comes over the mountain.

T'ain't funny McGee.

Now, cut that out!

A pleasant little comedy with a preachy message.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 14 September 2023]

The film begins in 1948 but the bulk of it is shown in a flashback to 1933...though as usual, the folks in the film (particularly the women) are coiffed and dressed just like women from 1948. The flashback is all to illustrate to the audience that saving your money in a safe deposit box or keeping it at home is a bad idea. I can only assume the US government was pressuring people to keep spending in order to avoid a recession following the boom years for US industries during WWII.

While the Depression started at the end of 1929, the worst years for unemployment were 1932-33. So, it's not surprising in this film that everyone is having severe money problems. So, when $1000 is placed in the safe at the local hotel, bad things will happen because it's not being put to good use. When Horace sees this money, he assume it's money that was owed to him...and like practically everyone in the film, he owes others and uses the money to pay them...and so on and so on. The problem is that it turns out the money ISN'T Horace's and he'll likely go to jail unless it's returned...and fast.

This is an amiable comedy and I liked all the supporting actors. My only complaint is that the message is carried WAY too far and the film lacks subtlety. Still, it's a decent film and a nice little time-passer.

A very relevant movie for all of us in 2020 because of the fear of the Coronavirus

[RogerMooreTheBestBond · 10/10 · 19 April 2020]

I bought this movie because I have become a fan of Marsha Hunt. I also love Allen Jenkins. It is a wonderful story told by an old man thinking back to the depression. He is telling this story to a man who is worried and wants to keep all his money locked away in a safety deposit box. It made me think of what we are going thru right now. People are afraid to go out of the house. They are afraid to spend their money. Millions are out of work. This film really showed me how important it is to keep the flow going. We need keep the economy going and battle thru this virus situation. The film does a wonderful job of showing the money going from person to person and how it affects their lives. I had no idea what this film was about when I decided to view it. I was just going thru my stack of movies and it was next in line. I would love more people to see this film. It really had a impact on me. The truth is we have to keep moving forward and can not let something that even kills stop us from moving forward and keeping this country afloat. We will face something a lot worse if we continue to hide away in fear. Great film, really inspiring!

Delightful post World War II comedy

[buddyluv · 16 January 2000]

Delightful post World War II comedy about how $1000 sitting in a hotel safe has a profound effect on several town residents when it is mistakenly removed from the safe. Witty script, fast paced and great character acting from Charles Winninger and Gene Lockhart. Probably was a deliberate post-war propaganda message about the value of circulating your money, not keeping it in banks.

The value of a dollar

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 5 April 2024]

This classic film from the postwar period may be a bit hard to understand in the modern sense. The basic concept, about how money circulates through a small community, is easy enough to comprehend. But the commentary that people should be encouraged to take hoarded money out of bank vaults and spend it to help the economy, as relates to the Great Depression, would probably be lost on some of today's viewers.

The story begins in 1948 with Charles Winninger's character going into a bank vault to store some government bonds. He tells another person in the vault that he invests in the government instead of letting his money sit in a metal box out of circulation. It's a bit preachy to be sure, but people watching the film at the time of its release would have remembered very well when there were fears about spending money and the need to keep valuables locked up during an uncertain economic time.

One thing that struck me was how when the story flashes back to 1933, there is mention of a new president. And that FDR would have remained in office until the war ended. So that's a long period for the U. S. to have been under one administration. But despite the passing of the years, attitudes about wealth and saving up for an emergency wouldn't have changed much.

To illustrate the writers' points, there is a young couple back in 1933, played by Marsha Hunt and William Lundigan who are struggling financially. Lundigan is a painter who owes about a thousand dollars to Hunt's father (Gene Lockhart) who owns the local inn. Lockhart is not impressed with Lundigan's apparent inability to earn a decent living. He would like Hunt to throw the guy out. Of course, she's deeply in love with Lundigan and her father's opposition to her romantic choice is not easy for her deal with...besides, she believes Lundigan will eventually make good as an artist and just needs time.

Meanwhile, there is another guest at the inn who asks Lockhart's clerk (Winninger) to put a thousand dollars into the safe. Later Lockhart finds the money in the safe, and he mistakenly thinks it was put there by Lundigan to square his debts. After Lockhart erroneously claims the cash, he pays off his debts...chiefly to a store owner (Will Wright). The store owner uses it to pay what he owes to his landlady (Florence Bates).

She in turn gives the money to an attorney (Robert Shayne) to cover the cost of legal fees. The lawyer's wife (Gail Patrick, in her last film) then takes the money to pay Lundigan for a portrait she's having done for her husband. Amusingly, the money does end up going to Lundigan, who would then have given it to Winninger to give to Lockhart...thus causing the whole cycle to begin again.

I wouldn't say the plot is entirely clever, but it's a good way to show how the members of one community are all connected to each other, personally and financially. Into the mix we have a subplot involving two visiting crooks (Roscoe Karns & Allen Jenkins) who are struggling to go straight and tempted to steal the dough.

In some ways this felt like a radio play that was developed into a feature length movie, with the required padding to run nearly an hour and a half. Some of the performers are better at this kind of material than others. But all in all, it's a harmless way to spend 87 minutes and the monetary history lesson may help the viewer reflect on what's important in life.