mark.waltz
This innocuous B comedy was out before the American involvement in World War II and takes an unrelenting look at what was happening right under our notices even without war declared. Marjorie Weaver is a jumpy as a cat journalistic photographer, trying to scoop reporter rival George Reeves, who is actually a government Superman. Interfering in each other's work from the beginning they meet, it isn't long before the sparks fly in spite of the fact that Weaver is an annoying buttinsky, careless and silly. The attempts to unmask the spying ring involve a piece of music (obviously ripped off from "The Lady Vanishes") and character performers like Steven Geray, Elisha Cook Jr., Minerva Urecal and Ethel Griffies. I've seen a dozen similarly themed war films, and they've ranked from great to reek, and this up there with the weakest, even stealing from Hitchcock again with the mind reading act from "The 39 Steps" ripped off. This doesn't hold a candle to the Bogart spy comedy "All through the Night", the very first one I've seen and watched a dozen times over since first seeing it. "Man at Large" may just indeed remain a one shot deal.
