Susan Slept Here

I was watching Susan Slept Here this afternoon while working, mostly out of curiosity — I've seen so much of Dick Powell at Warner Bros. in the 1930s, mostly in musicals, and this was his last film as an actor (by choice). He's quite likeable here, but bland, which is more or less as I remember him from his early films (when he wasn't singing). He might have had a long career as a "nice guy" — he reminds me of Fred MacMurray, but without quite so much character.

Like Fred MacMurray, I think Powell's most memorable late-career roles were the occasions where he was cast against type, such as Murder, My Sweet. (He reportedly wanted to play the lead in Double Indemnity.) Watching him defy expectations in a film like that, you can't help but wonder how he might have fared in more (for lack of a better word) nuanced dramatic roles. But I'm not sure he had it in him.

The most pleasant surprise was that Susan Slept Here was directed by Frank Tashlin. There's a wonderful sort of heightened reality in Tashlin's films, with character actors that walk off with most every scene (though much less so here than at the height of his career a few years later). Perhaps that's what made Dick Powell seem so bland in comparison.