Mr. Ace Reviews

An ordinary political drama with little to recommend it other than Sidney's performance. Raft is a political kingmaker (or, in this instance, a queen-maker) who runs a club not unlike Tammany Hall in New York. His ability to manipulate the populace has taken him to the top of a dirty field. Along comes Sidney, a well-to-do congresswoman who wants to run for governor of this unnamed state, and she needs the help of Raft and his associates to win. He is the ultimate male chauvinist and will have nothing to do with her or her candidacy. Sidney is married to Edwards, but it's just for show, and there's no love lost (or found) between them. Sidney and Raft have a meeting at her country home where she pleads her case and says she is willing to make some "adjustments" in her platform in order to secure his aid. Raft is so anti-Sidney that he sides with her opponents and is willing to say in court that he spent the night with her so Edwards and her enemies can use that to besmirch her good name. Sidney is hip to their machinations and sneaks into Reno for a quickie split before they can mount their campaign against her. Now Raft meets Bohnen, a solid citizen whom Raft respects. Bohnen has been helping Sidney all along and swears by her honesty, thus convincing Raft that he might have to amend his feelings about women in politics. Bohnen and Raft start a new organization to help Sidney (one totally separate from Raft's other affiliation). They do this on the sly and swing many of the independent voters off the fence and into Sidney's camp. The election takes place and Sidney wins. However, Raft and his cronies (from the other club) are accused of election fraud. Sidney, by this time, has fallen for the slow-talking Raft and tells him that she loves him. But it looks bad for Raft, and she promises to help. He refuses that assistance, saying that he'll go it alone, that he expects to go up the river for about the same amount of time she'll serve in the state house, and that, once he's back, they can make lifetime plans. There are two other twists in the plot, but they make about as much sense as most of the postwar B movie scripts. There is one song, "Now and Then," but whoever sings it is so out of focus in the background that we can't tell you who it was. Nice work from the always-reliable Cowan as Sidney's press agent. Some humor is contributed by Silvers as Raft's number one flunkey.