Does anyone associate film noir with Christmas? The answer is probably no one, unless they think like Raymond Chandler. Mr. Soft Touch is a movie that deviates from the traditional noir formula. It does take place during Christmas Glenn Ford is Joe Miracle. He is a man in need of one. He has stolen money from the mob, and needs a place to hide the money. The cash was really his. The sad truth is while fighting in the war, his life was upended. His nightclub was taken over by the syndicate, his assets stolen and his partner murdered.
Joe, after crashing a police barrier avoids his criminal pursuers. He manages to avoid a police checkpoint, by switching clothes with Santa Claus.Joe takes a room in a settlement house, and hides the money. The house is run by Jenny Jones, (Evelyn Keyes). She falls for Joe. He appears to be another person down on his luck. Ford’s character, impresses her by helping out at the house. Along the way, he teaches the neighborhood kids a life lesson. They shoot craps with him and lose. The money they lost was the Christmas tree fund. They later cut down a tree in the park. The police track them down. Jenny explains to the officers that boys will be boys. Jenny, despite her fondness for Joe, begins to grow suspicious of him, when he can’t explain the large amount of cash.
Joe can’t tell Jenny the truth, without putting her in danger. Unfortunately in these tales, danger makes its way into characters lives. The mob tracks Joe down, and burns down the house. Joe heroically saves a little girls life. His pursuers manage to retrieve the cash. Joe, goes after them. He finds Rainey,(Ted de Corsia), and forcibly takes back the money. Rainey’s henchmen follow Joe back to the settlement house.
Film noir is a difficult genre, for a writer. The script is well written by Orin Jennings and Milton Holmes. They’ve managed to do two things. The first is give film fans a non traditional Christmas story. The other is to give great dialogue to the leads. Film noir thrives on dialogue. One scene stands out. Jenny Jones is hearing impaired. She is so upset with Joe, that she takes out her hearing aid. She says that she doesn’t want to hear his explanation. Glenn Ford is an underrated actor. He is very comfortable in this genre. The actor would become a staple of the genre. It is thanks to the writers that Evelyn Keyes shines in this movie. Her career was full of roles that didn’t give her recognition. She was typecast in her role as Scarlett O’Hara’s younger sister. It doe take acting talent to deliver lines. Evelyn Keyes knocks the dialogue out of the park. She has great screen chemistry with Ford. This makes for film noir that is slightly different from the norm.