Sorrowful Jones
Funnier Than "The Paleface"!
A young girl is left with the notoriously cheap Sorrowful Jones as a marker for a bet. When her father doesn't return, he learns that taking care of a child interferes with his free-wheeling lifestyle. Sorrowful must also evade crooked gangsters and indulge in a bit of horse-thieving.
Production
Production
Cast
Bob Hope
Humphrey "Sorrowful" Jones
Lucille Ball
Gladys O'Neill
William Demarest
Regret
Bruce Cabot
Big Steve Holloway
Thomas Gomez
Reardon
Tom Pedi
Once Over Sam
Houseley Stevenson
Doc Chesley
Ben Welden
Big Steve's Bodyguard
Emmett Vogan
Psychiatrist
Mary Jane Saunders
Martha Jane Smith
Erville Alderson
Happy the Mortician (uncredited)
Claire Carleton
Agnes 'Happy Hips' Noonan (uncredited)
Maurice Cass
Psychiatrist (uncredited)
Noble 'Kid' Chissell
Bookie (uncredited)
Edgar Dearing
Police Lt. Ed Mitchell (uncredited)
Sayre Dearing
Spectator (uncredited)
Jay Eaton
Horse Player (uncredited)
Selmer Jackson
Doctor (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp
Bookmaker (uncredited)
Bob Kortman
Horse Player (uncredited)
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Reviews
John Chard
Rock-a-bye Baby at Pimlico.
Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker had already been filmed in 1934 as a Shirley Temple starrer, this remake changes the title and brings in the star power of Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, with great results.
Story has Hope as sly bookie Sorrowful Jones, who after accepting a five year old girl as a betting marker, gets lumbered with the child when her father is wasted by gangster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot). Initially a fish out of water with the kid, Sorrowful strikes up a loving relationship with her and aided by his ex-girlfriend, Gladys O'Neill (Ball), fights to keep the child out of an orphanage.
It's not - as some of the posters proclaim - funnier than Paleface (either of them since the sequel is better), in fact it's not close to the funny heights achieved by Hope's next Runyon adapted picture, The Lemon Drop Kid. However, Sorrowful Jones is funny, Hope gets to deliver some absolute corking lines that are guaranteed to at the least put a big grin on your face, but there's a semi-seriousness to it all which thankfully works a treat alongside the quips and wonderfully strange situations that Jones finds himself in. With a weighty support cast that also features William Demarest and Thomas Gomez helping things along, and young Mary Jane Saunders adorable beyond compare, this is a little cracker of a picture to brighten your day. 7/10
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