''Mr. Soft Touch'' is a 1949 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

directed by Gordon Douglas and Henry Levin and starring

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

and

Evelyn Keyes Evelyn Louise Keyes (November 20, 1916 – July 4, 2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film ''Gone with the Wind''. Early life Evelyn Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar Do ...

. The film is also known as ''House of Settlement''.

Plot

Polish American Joe Miracle (Mirakowski) returns from fighting in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, only to find his

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

nightclub under the control of the mob, and his friend and partner Leo missing and presumed murdered. To get even, he robs $100,000 from his former business, planning to leave the country as soon as possible. He goes to the apartment of Victor Christopher, Leo's brother, where he picks up a ticket Victor and his wife Clara had purchased for him. However, he discovers to his dismay that they could only book him on a ship that sails for

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

on Christmas Eve, the next night. He has to hide until then. When the police come to stop Victor from ringing a bell and disturbing the neighbors, Joe pretends to be him in order to spend the night safely in jail. However, Jenny Jones, a kindhearted

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

er, gets him remanded into her custody instead. She takes him to the Borden Street Settlement House, where the down and out are helped, among them a talkative, opinionated carpenter named Rickle. As they get better acquainted, Jenny and Joe begin falling in love, though she turns down his advances, as she believes he is a wife beater. Joe causes trouble. He turns the tables on some youths who try to cheat him at

craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...

and also accidentally falls on an old piano, breaking it. Feeling responsible, he goes to a nearby piano store (actually a front for a gambling parlor) and, pretending to be newly assigned to the police precinct, cons the owner into donating a piano in return for Joe turning a blind eye to the illicit activities there. However, he is recognized by newspaper columnist Henry "Early" Byrd. Byrd tries to find out from Jenny if Joe is staying at the settlement house, but she refuses to divulge anything. From Byrd's description, Jenny realizes that Joe is not Victor. When she finds out Joe also has a pistol, she insists he leave. During their argument, he describes his lifelong drive to get out of the "gutter" where he was born, and accuses her of not knowing the underside of life; she shames him by telling of how a drunken blow from her father in her childhood rendered her deaf without the hearing aid he then scrimped and saved to buy her. Byrd returns and tries to get Joe to tell him the name of the man providing protection to the crooks, but Joe refuses to talk. When he collects his money, Jenny pleads with him to give it back so they can start a life together. He counters by asking her to leave the country with him. Neither accepts the other's proposal. Meanwhile, the mobsters force Clara to tell them where Joe is hiding and start a fire to smoke him out. They recover the money, but the settlement house is left in smoldering ruins. Joe tries to justify himself to Jenny, but she pulls out her hearing aid to show him she won't listen. Joe enters the nightclub through a secret passageway and takes the money again from the new boss, Barney Teener. He hires some men to dress up as

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

to distribute presents to the children at a fundraiser at the settlement house. Joe slips in as another Santa and leaves the money to pay for the rebuilding. As he slips away, Jenny realizes what is going on and chases him out into the street, calling his name. Hearing this, the waiting mobsters shoot Joe in the back. He falls and is literally lying in the gutter, and he begs Jenny to take him out of it. She lifts him into her arms and says he isn't in the gutter any more. The film ends at this point, leaving it unclear whether he will live or die.

Cast

as Joe Miracle *

as Jenny Jones *

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomin ...

as Henry "Early" Byrd *

Beulah Bondi Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...

as Clara Hangale * Percy Kilbride as Rickle * Clara Blandick as Susan Balmuss * Ted de Corsia as Rainey * Stanley Clements as Yonzi * Roman Bohnen as Barney Teener *

Lora Lee Michel Lora Lee Michel (born Virginia Joy Willeford, September 13, 1940) is an American former child actress. She appeared in several feature films during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1950, she was the focus of a cus ...

as Sonya * Harry Shannon as Police Sergeant Garrett *

Charles Trowbridge Charles Silas Richard Trowbridge (January 10, 1882 – October 30, 1967) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1915 and 1958. Biography Trowbridge was born in Veracruz, Mexico, where his father served in the ...

as Judge Fuller (uncredited) Note: This was Bohnen's final film. He succumbed to a heart attack five months before the film's release. It was also the last of six films in which Ford and Keyes co-starred. Shown on the

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

show 'Noir Alley' with

Eddie Muller Eddie Muller (born October 15, 1958) is an American writer based in San Francisco. He is known for writing books about movies, particularly film noir, and is the host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Early life and education Muller ...

on December 17, 2022.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Henry Levin 1949 films 1949 crime drama films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films Film noir Films directed by Gordon Douglas Films directed by Henry Levin Films set in San Francisco Films scored by Heinz Roemheld Films about organized crime in the United States 1940s Christmas drama films American crime drama films 1940s American films American Christmas drama films 1940s English-language films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links