Swell Guy
Cast & Crew
Frank Tuttle
Sonny Tufts
Ann Blyth
Ruth Warrick
William Gargan
Mary Nash
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After the war, famed war correspondent Jim Duncan receives a hero's welcome from his home town of Carmelita, California. Unknown to all but his mother Sarah, Jim is actually a dishonest heel, having gone so far as to trick the naïve Lorraine, into paying for his train trip. Upon his arrival in Carmelita, Jim immediately leaves his adoring family to go to a bar, where he begins gambling and makes a play for Marian Tyler, a young, spoiled socialite, despite the fact that she is already involved with Mike O'Connor, an honest real estate agent. Marian is also the daughter of insurance agent Arthur Tyler, his older brother Martin's boss. Three months later, Jim is still living with his family in Carmelita, having been unable to finish his novel or get another reporting job. The only money he has been able to accumulate comes from a crap game he runs for the local yokels. After winning big one night, Jim offers to help Martin buy a used car dealership, but soon loses the money when he is goaded into a bad bet by Marian. Sarah then asks Jim to leave Carmelita, as she feels he is the same bad influence as his deceased father was. Later, Jim goes to Los Angeles to see fellow foreign correspondent Dave Vinson, only to find himself trapped in a hotel room by Marian, who tells him that she is pregnant with his child. Unknown to Marian, Jim is already married to someone in Paris, though Vinson tells the lovesick and drunken Jim that, along with his career, his marriage is over. Returning to Carmelita, Marian tells Jim that she wants to end their relationship, as she has finally realized that while she is in love with him, he is not in love with her. Mike, in turn, offers to marry Marian, even though he knows she is pregnant by Jim. Jim makes plans to leave Carmelita, and Ann, his love-sick sister-in-law, agrees to go with him until he reveals his plot to steal the raffle money that Martin has raised for war veterans. His plans are thwarted when he learns that Tony, his adoring nephew, has mimicked his earlier actions and entered a narrow railroad tunnel. Jim is killed by the onrushing train while rescuing Tony from certain death. Martin, who was aboard the train that killed his brother, later praises Jim as a "swell guy," still unaware of his brother's misdeeds.
Director
Frank Tuttle
Cast
Sonny Tufts
Ann Blyth
Ruth Warrick
William Gargan
Mary Nash
Thomas Gomez
John Craven
Millard Mitchell
John Litel
Donald Devlin
Vince Barnett
Pat Mcvey
Howard Freeman
Charles Lane
Garry Owen
Frank Ferguson
David Clarke
Eugene Persson
George Beban Jr.
George Mcdonald
Charles D. Brown
Minerva Urecal
Bill Walker
Jack Overman
Paul Bryar
John James
Sarah Selby
Lester Dorr
Georgia Lee Settle
Harriett Olsen
Edward Kelly
Rodney Bell
Jimmy Dodd
Dick Dickerson
Vincent Graeff
Fred Chapman
Michael Stokey
George Shaw
Gary Armstrong
Robert Valentine
Leslie Bennett
Rex Dale
Frank Austin
Barbara Powers
Keith Richards
Syd Saylor
Crew
Eddie Blatt
Jack A. Bolger Jr.
Richard Brooks
Fritz Collings
Edward Curtiss
Carmen Dirigo
Morgan Farley
Charles Felstead
Tony Gaudio
Russell A. Gausman
John B. Goodman
Mark Hellinger
Mark Hellinger
Mark Hellinger
David S. Horsley
Jack P. Pierce
E. R. Robinson
Frank Skinner
David Tamkin
Yvonne Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film begins with an extensive written prologue, but it could not be read on the viewed print. The viewed print also lacked end credits. According to Hollywood Citizen-News, when the Gilbert Emery play was first produced on Broadway by Sam Harris, the theater impresario was forced by veteran's groups to change the lead character from a World War I veteran to a Foreign Legionnaire. By the time that the play closed soon after, producer Mark Hellinger had seen the production and considered it for a possible film adaptation even while he was working as a war correspondent during World War II. Actor Sonny Tufts was borrowed by Hellinger from Paramount for this film, according to Los Angeles Times. Swell Guy marked the screen debut Donald Devlin, Tufts's nine-year-old nephew. According to Universal press materials, portions of the film were shot on location in Glendale and Anaheim, CA. This was the second production by Mark Hellinger Productions to be released through Universal, the first being the 1945 film The Killers (see entry above).
