Two Smart People (1946)

(On Cable TV, November 2021) My disappointment at Two Smart People is not without precedent if I look at the less-than-impressed reactions about the film collected upon release and ever since. It’s even worse considering the promise of a Jules Dassin-directed film featuring Lucille Ball — Dassin’s later filmography showed a skill for noir, while Ball’s mid-1940s career was on a comic upswing. But there’s little of those skills in evidence here, as a mixture of overlapping confidence games and a cross-country train trip do little to entertain or amuse. Ball’s comic persona is muted, and the blend of crime and comedy doesn’t quite gel. The title suggests wit and sophistication, but the result is a clear notch under that — at best, Two Smart People is an amiable crime romance but one that’s generally featureless and forgettable. There’s a slight uptick of interest in the end, but it’s really not enough to lift the result out of the doldrums.