Paramount. Director Michael Curtiz; Producer Pat Duggan; Screenplay Ranald MacDougall; Camera Loyal Griggs; Editor Arthur Schmidt; Music Frederick Hollander; Art Director Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson
Humphrey Bogart
Aldo Ray
Peter Ustinov
Joan Bennett
Basil Rathbone
Leo G. Carroll
Paramount has fashioned a breezy 105-minute VistaVision feature. Light antics swing around three convicts of Devil's Island who find themselves playing Santa Claus to a family they came to rob.
At times proceedings are too consciously cute and stage origin of material [a play by Albert Husson] still clings since virtually all scenes are interiors with characters constantly entering and exiting. However, Michael Curtiz' directorial pacing and topflight performances from Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray and Peter Ustinov help minimize the few flaws.
Screenplay uses great deal of conversation, mostly amusingly flavored, to tell how convicts descend on store-home operated by Leo G. Carroll and his wife (Joan Bennett), planning robbery that would finance journey to France. Trio, all lifers, Bogart for forgery, others for murder, find family in difficulties unbecoming Christmas Eve spirit.
(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1955. Running time: 103 MIN.
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