Sorrowful Jones (1949)

71% of users liked it
(265 ratings)

This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker,"… More This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker," or IOU. When the father is killed by mobster Big Steve Holloway (Bruce Cabot), Sorrowful decides to hide Martha Jane from the authorities, lest the poor girl get tossed in an orphanage. Lucille Ball co-stars as Sorrowful's erstwhile girlfriend Gladys, who along with Mary Jane is instrumental in "reforming" the cynical Jones. The climactic scenes, wherein Sorrowful tries to smuggle a horse into a hospital in order to bring the little girl out of a coma, deftly combines slapstick with pathos. A remake of 1934's Little Miss Marker, which starred Shirley Temple in the title role, Sorrowful Jones was itself remade in 1962 as the Tony Curtis vehicle Who's Got the Action; it was filmed again in 1980, once more as Little Miss Marker, with Curtis as the villain and Walter Matthau in the Bob Hope role. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min.
Directed By: Sidney Lanfield
Genres: Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jul 4, 1949 Wide
Studio: MCA Universal Home Video

Critic Reviews

Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Bob Hope, Lucille Ball comedy suffers from lack of laughs.

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Cast

            Bob Hope as Humphrey "Sorrowful" Jones

            Lucille Ball as Gladys O'Neill

            William Demarest as Regret

            Mary Jane Saunders as Martha Jane Smith

            Bruce Cabot as Big Steve Holloway

            Thomas Gomez as Reardon

            Tom Pedi as Once Over Sam

            Paul Lees as Orville Smith

            Houseley Stevenson Sr. as Doc Chesley

            Ben Welden as Big Steve's Bodyguard

            Emmett Vogan as Psychiatrist

            Claire Carleton as Agnes "Happy Hips" Noonan

            Douglas Carter Beane
            
            Maurice Cass as Psychiatrist

            George Chan as Chinaman

            Charles Cooley as Shorty

            Edgar Dearing as Police Lt. Mitchell

            Selmar Jackson as Doctor

            Bob Kortman as Horseplayer

            Pat Lane
            
            Louise Lorimer as Nurse

            John Miller as Head Phone Man

            Patsy O'Byrne as Scrubwoman

            Ralph Peters as Cab Driver

            John Shay as Doctor

            Billy Snyder
            
            Arthur Space as Plainclothesman

            Sid Tomack as Waiter at Steve's Place

            Harry Tyler as Blinky

            Jim Davies as Horseplayer

            Frank Mills
            
            Marc Krah as Barber

            Jack Roberts
            
            Kid Chissell
            
            James Cornell
            
            Sam Finn
            
            Allan Ray
            
            William Yip
            
            Michael A. Cirillo as Horseplayer

            Sally Rawlinson
            
            Eddie Rio as Bookie
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