My introduction to Dick Powell was through his musicals with Ruby Keeler and so I always first see him as a blandly pleasing type of guy, like any male romantic lead in a Marx Brothers movie.
Unless it's Zeppo. Zeppo only looks like a normal person until you get close enough to see he's a Marx. But I agree Dick Powell was not. I have nothing against his crooner characters, but I don't have much feeling for them, either: "I'm Young and Healthy" really does tell you everything you need to know.
But the events of seeing him in the likes of Blessed Event and having you tell me about how he rocks 19th century sideburns like nobody's business let me burnish that impression until he shines.
He had supernal levels of smarm in Blessed Event. I'm just as glad he didn't get typed that way, but I was impressed.
I still need to see him as Marlowe. He's excellent in Pitfall (1948), but his character is such a midlife implosion, I wish he would just get a hold of himself so Lizabeth Scott can get on with her life.
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Unless it's Zeppo. Zeppo only looks like a normal person until you get close enough to see he's a Marx. But I agree Dick Powell was not. I have nothing against his crooner characters, but I don't have much feeling for them, either: "I'm Young and Healthy" really does tell you everything you need to know.
But the events of seeing him in the likes of Blessed Event and having you tell me about how he rocks 19th century sideburns like nobody's business let me burnish that impression until he shines.
He had supernal levels of smarm in Blessed Event. I'm just as glad he didn't get typed that way, but I was impressed.
I still need to see him as Marlowe. He's excellent in Pitfall (1948), but his character is such a midlife implosion, I wish he would just get a hold of himself so Lizabeth Scott can get on with her life.