"Sometimes a change of wardrobe works miracles."

"Yes, it delouses a guy."

This exchange lies at the heart of St. Benny the Dip, a 1951 crime-and-disguise forerunner to such films as We're No Angels (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959). On the run from the law, three con men - young and sweet-natured Benny (Dick Haymes) and his older, wiser cohorts, Matthew (Roland Young) and Williams (Lionel Stander) - disguise themselves as men of the cloth to evade capture. However, the local policeman on the beat enlists their aid in reopening a mission for the needy, resulting in an unwilling change of career. The criminals' gruff personalities begin to change as their impersonations result in more charitable behavior, and Benny even makes amorous advances to beautiful parishioner Linda (Nina Foch) - only to find himself running scared when she raises the possibility of marriage.

A cinematic jack-of-all-trades, director Edgar G. Ulmer remains a significant cult figure primarily on the basis of two films, 1934's The Black Cat (arguably the strangest entry in Universal's classic horror cycle) and 1945's Detour, the most highly regarded poverty row film noir. However, he also dabbled successfully in many other genres including science fiction (1951's The Man from Planet X), swashbucklers (1949's The Pirates of Capri), Westerns (1934's Thunder over Texas), nudist camp films (1958's The Naked Venus), and even an eccentric modern update of Hamlet, 1945's Strange Illusion. A critical pariah for much of his life, Ulmer's name has only ascended during the last two decades or so as critics have embraced significant directors who toiled in the more 'disreputable' genres; if nothing else, the versatility of his resume deserves more than passing attention.

The struggle of the human will in its environment is a common concern in Ulmer's films; as Jean-Pierre Coursodon notes in American Directors Volume I, "Ulmer's films reveal that the director does believe in intangible forces, whether it be externally imposed fate - or internally generated, uncontrollable passions - which circumscribe the free will of his characters. They exercise little or no control over their destinies." Detour is of course the ultimate example, with a dead man's identity usurped by another with disastrous results.

Fortunately the characters in St. Benny the Dip fare better as craven criminal tendencies are dissipated by the influence of the church. A student of architecture in Vienna and an experienced set designer, Ulmer often uses artifice to contrast and reflect the emotions of his characters; the skid row setting overwhelms but does not defeat the residents living in it. Clothing is also important in Ulmer; witness The Black Cat, for example, in which Boris Karloff's elegant black attire becomes more gaudy and flamboyant as the extent of his evil is revealed. However, this comedy caper works in reverse as the presence of the church - and more directly, the vestments it requires - literally alter the men from the outside in.

Funded by a short-lived independent outfit, the Danziger Brothers, the film was picked up by United Artists and given a modest release in 1951. The Danziger-Ulmer collaboration continued with one more film the following year, Babes in Bagdad with Paulette Goddard and Gypsy Rose Lee, retaining St. Benny the Dip's screenwriter, John Roeburt. Though devoid of strong marquee value names, the cast roster includes a number of fine character actors including Roland Young (best remembered as the titular character in the popular Topper series) and gravel-voiced Lionel Stander, who was forced into a decade-plus hiatus after this film due to the McCarthy-era blacklist but made a comeback with 1965's The Loved One and eventually became a pop culture icon as loyal Max on the television series Hart to Hart. This also marked the final film for Irish-born former child actor Freddie Bartholomew (who portrays Reverend Wilbur), known for a slew of high-profile literary adaptations including David Copperfield (1935) and Captains Courageous (1937).

Benny himself, Dick Haymes, was already a well-known singer and actor whose career was soon to go down in flames due to his publicized affair and controversial marriage to Rita Hayworth two years later. A regular performer with such big band favorites as Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, he found work as a lead crooner in such screen musicals like State Fair (1945) and the popular One Touch of Venus (1948) with Ava Gardner. Oddly, St. Benny the Dip resembles a vehicle in the footsteps of Bing Crosby - except the leading man's crooning abilities remain in check. His leading lady, Nina Foch, remains active in the film industry today and had already parlayed her striking, European-style looks into memorable leading roles in such chillers as Cry of the Werewolf, The Return of the Vampire (both 1944), and her most memorable performance, the title character in the exceptional 1945 mystery, My Name Is Julia Ross. 1951 also saw her on-screen in another, more widely-seen performance opposite Gene Kelly in the Academy Award-winning An American in Paris - another story of motley characters forever changed by the city around them.

Producer: Edward J. Danziger, Harry Lee Danziger
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Screenplay: George Auerbach, John Roeburt
Cinematography: Don Malkames
Music: Robert W. Stringer
Cast: Dick Haymes (Benny), Nina Foch (Linda Kovacs), Roland Young (Matthew), Lionel Stander (Monk Williams), Freddie Bartholomew (Reverend Wilbur), Oscar Karlweis (Mr. Kovacs).
BW-80m.

by Nathaniel Thompson