"Sleepers West" Review

 

by Daniel White

"It all started when I was in the chorus of a second-rate musical show in 'Frisco'..." In 1941's Sleepers West, hard luck sister Helen Carlson (Mary Beth Hughes) begins her tale of woe with that zinger.

A Twentieth Century Fox 'B' movie - though one with high production values- it's the second Michael Shayne yarn the studio produced starring Lloyd Nolan as the fictional detective. Set mostly on a passenger train traveling west from Denver, the tenacious gumshoe has his hands full, determined to get party girl Helen back to San Francisco to appear as a witness in a murder trial.

Nolan is fun, one of the main reason for seeing this decent, unpretentious programmer. He's a "dese, dem, and dose" kind of guy, an essential stock-character in many forties films. Measured with an assured hand on the throttle as Shayne, he hits all the right notes. Sarcastic, suspicious, and street savvy (train-wise?), he's Philip Marlowe without the world weariness. He's Marlowe-lite, if you will, semi-hardboiled. If several actresses from Hollywood's Golden Age are in the running to be crowned Queen of the B's (including Lyn Bari, who co-stars here), then Lloyd Nolan is definitely in contention as their male counterpart. Though he appeared in his share of 'A' flicks (mostly in supporting roles), it was in the B's that he was often allowed a chance to play the lead. Who knows why he wasn't able to become another Bogart or Raft?

The movie isn't great, but it is fascinating as an artifact, a slice of Americana. The two female leads are interesting examples of the kind of roles available to actresses at that time. Lynn Bari plays Kay Bentley, lady reporter, one of the few acceptable jobs that a smart, ambitious female character could assume. Contralto-voiced Bari executes a nice turn, in a role tailor-made for Rosalind Russell.

If Bari is the poor man's Russell, then Mary Beth Hughes is the working stiff's Lana Turner. Pouty and peroxided, with a propensity for booze, Hughes Helen Carlson is a reluctant heroine. Resentful at Shayne for forcing her to testify in court on behalf of an innocent man, the self-absorbed chorine eventually has a change of heart.

In an unexpected twist, the film opts to keep the women single at the end, with Kay still employed as a news-hound, while the former "good time gal" Helen is working honorably, slinging hash. 'Husbands are not necessary for happiness' is a bold statement for a Hollywood movie from 1941. Did someone over at Fox have a premonition that we would soon be at war, necessitating the use of women in the workforce?

Another surprise is the Black actor, Ben Carter, as a Pullman porter. Far from the buffoonish, shuffling stereotypes that Black performers were often forced to play, his Leander Jones is funny, capable, and conscientious. Upon finding a suitcase full of money he exclaims, "Shut my big mouth (and) get behind me Satan and tie my hands...Why wasn't I born with a little larceny in my soul?" It's a funny line, one of many in a witty screenplay. However, smart one-liners do not make for a satisfying story, and the movie is sabotaged by a needlessly complicated plot that more often than not gets derailed.

Ultimately, Sleepers West is more a window into America's mores than a cinematic masterpiece. In its portrayal of women and minorities, circa 1941, it lets us glimpse a world on the cusp. A world at war, spinning wildly out of control, barreling to an unknown destination that would change everything forever. The United States' advent into that war nine months later would accelerate those enormous seismic shifts in our way of life. Shifts that would affect everyone involved.

Directed by Eugene Forde, and with Louis Jean Heydt as an unhappy husband looking to escape his marriage, Sleepers West is available on YouTube in an excellent copy.