Mickey Shaughnessy
In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit’s team, while his captain’s wife and second in command are falling in love.
Damon Runyon’s fairytale, sweet and funny, is told by director Frank Capra. Boozy, brassy Apple Annie, a beggar with a basket of apples, is as much as part of downtown New York as old Broadway itself. Bootlegger Dave the Dude is a sucker for her apples — he thinks they bring him luck. But Dave and girlfriend Queenie Martin need a lot more than luck when it turns out that Annie is in a jam and only they can help: Annie’s daughter Louise, who has lived all her life in a Spanish convent, is coming to America with a Count and his son. The count’s son wants to marry Louise, who thinks her mother is part of New York society. It’s up to Dave and Queenie and their Runyonesque cronies to turn Annie into a lady and convince the Count and his son that they are hobnobbing with New York’s elite.
Burglar Nat Harbin (Dan Duryea) and his two associates set their sights on wealthy spiritualist Sister Sarah, who has inherited a fortune — including a renowned emerald necklace — from a Philadelphia financier. Using Nat’s female ward, Gladden (Jayne Mansfield), to pose as an admirer and case the mansion where the woman lives, they set up a perfect break-in. Things get complicated afterwards.
