Two Smart People

Two Smart People combines the best of film noir, crime caper and romance in this little gem with Lucille Ball, John Hodiak and Lloyd Nolan.

Two Smart People (1946) starring Lucille Ball, John Hodiak

Product Description 

Director Jules Dassin (Night and the City) combines the best of film noir, crime caper and romance in this little gem starring Lucille Ball, John Hodiak and Lloyd Nolan. Ace Connors (Hodiak) is a con man on the run, chased by determined cop Bob Simms (Nolan) who is trying to convince Ace to turn in the bonds he has stolen in exchange for a reduced sentence. When Simms catches up with Connors, the con man talks him into taking a train ride back east that will take them through the Southwest and into New Orleans. Entering into the fray is Ricki Woodner (Ball), who is looking to con the con man out of his bonds, while falling for him and Fly Feletti (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a snarling trigger man hot on Ace’s trail. The tension builds to an exciting climax during Mardi Gras.

Cast of characters

• Lucille Ball (Easy to Wed) … Ricki Woodner
• John Hodiak (The Harvey Girls) … Ace Connors
• Lloyd Nolan (The Lemon Drop Kid) … Bob Simms
• Hugo Haas (The Princess and the Pirate) … Señor Rodriquez
• Lenore Ulric … Señora Maria Ynez
• Elisha Cook Jr. (Don’t Bother to Knock) … Fly Feletti
• Lloyd Corrigan (A Girl a Guy and a Gob) … Dwight Chadwick
• Vladimir Sokoloff (The Magnificent Seven) … Jacques Dufour
• David Cota … José
• Clarence Muse (White Zombie) … Porter

Songs

• Dangerous (Peligrosa)
  • Written by Ralph Blane and George Bassman
  • Performed by David Cota (uncredited)
  • [José sings the Spanish language song while Maria, Ricki, Ace and Bob are having dinner together]
• How About You?
  • Music by Burton Lane
  • [An instrumental version of the song is playing in the background when Ace arrives at the restaurant for his meeting with Dwight Chandwick]
• Dead Man’s Chest (Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum)
  • Lyrics by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Performed by John Hodiak and Lloyd Nolan
  • [Ace and Bob sing the song in the costume shop in changing clothes for Mardi Gras]
• Camptown Races
  • Written by Stephen Foster
  • [An instrumental version of the song is playing when Ricki emerges from the change room at the costume shop in New Orleans]
• The Washington Post
  • Composed by John Philip Sousa
  • [The march is playing when Ricki and Fly are in the taxi in New Orleans]
• Frère Jacques
  • Traditional nursery rhyme
  • [An unknown group is singing the round when Ace arrives at the costume shop right after Ricki and Fly have left]
• Pop! Goes the Weasel
  • Traditional nursery rhyme
  • [The crowd is singing the song when Fly has Ace at gunpoint at Mardi Gras]