I had been wanting to see this film for awhile, because there is a similarly named character in a 1981 episode of Little House on the Prairie. In the Little House episode, Jack Kruschen plays Randolpho Gambini, a flamboyant magician who comes to the sleepy town of Walnut Grove and puts on a show. A tragedy occurs during his spectacular performance. Kruschen’s role seems to have been inspired by the title character in this Paramount B programmer. Only here it’s Akim Tamiroff in the main role.
Tamiroff was a memorable actor who seldom played leads in Hollywood. He was often brought on as comic relief in films like HONEYMOON IN BALI (1939) in which he’s cast as an unnamed window washer; or in THE GREAT MCGINTY (1940) alongside Brian Donlevy as a crooked politician’s right hand man. It’s fun to see Tamiroff have the spotlight, literally, in this production.
Several of the other cast members reminded me of more famous types. Marian Marsh is a high society deb who’s engaged to the wrong man (Roland Drew) but should be marrying another guy (John Trent).
Marsh’s hair, make-up and attitude make her resemble Bonita Granville; and Trent comes across like John Shelton who was making romcoms over at MGM during this period. In the role of Marsh’s mother, we have Genevieve Tobin after her Warner Brothers contract days, essaying the part of a dizzy matriarch, taking a page out of Billie Burke’s handbook.
Marsh was probably cast because earlier in the decade, she had played Trilby in a precode version of SVENGALI. I imagine when the producers were casting for this picture, they remembered the hypnotic spell John Barrymore’s character had put on her, and since Gambini (Tamiroff) is ultimately revealed as a villain, there is some correlation to that earlier drama. Of course, this is a lighter studio concoction, and we know that after Gambini is revealed to be the culprit, there will be a pleasant ending with Marsh reuniting with Trent…though initially, he’s so persistent in his pursuit of her, he almost seems like a stalker.
One aspect of this modestly budgeted effort is the use of mystery to directly engage the audience. Drew’s character is murdered, and an investigation ensues, carried out by two bumbling police detectives (William Demarest and Edward Brophy).
During his mentalist act at a local nightclub the night before, Gambini had communicated through an assistant that Drew would not marry Marsh, implying he wouldn’t be able to (due to his impending death). But how would Gambini know such a thing, unless he was planning to do the killing. Of course, Trent has a motive as do other characters, which complicates the investigation.
At one point near the end, there’s a dramatic revelation involving the Gambini character. The film stops after Tobin’s character faints, and audience members (in the movie theater) are asked to take a moment to consider all the clues. The movie pauses for a full minute with flashbacks from key scenes, before the action resumes.
Overall, this isn’t a terrible way to spend 70 minutes (69 minutes if you subtract the minute that the movie stops before the ending plays out). It’s always nice to see Tamiroff have a bit more to do on screen. I do wonder if Michael Landon, who directed the Little House episode ‘Gambini the Great’ had previously seen this film. It seems likely.
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