GAMBLING DAUGHTERS

Cecelia Parker and Gale Storm

GAMBLING DAUGHTERS (1941). Director: Max Nosseck. 

Katherine (Janet Shaw), Diana (Cecelia Parker), and Lillian (Gale Storm) are students in an exclusive girls' school. One night they follow their French professor (Sig Arno) to an establishment called the Angel's Roost. This place, which has a casino in the basement, is managed by a creep named -- wouldn't you know it? -- Chance (Roger Pryor), and owned by an unseen, mysterious figure called "the Boss." Lillian begins dropping tons of money at the casino and before long is in serious debt. She is told to pay up or else. So she resorts to stealing the family jewels while her parents are out of the country.

Robert Baldwin

Then there's the comedy relief insurance investigator Jimmy Parker (Robert Baldwin), who pretends to be a gym instructor at the school and makes a mess of it. Jimmy and Diana, whose father turns out to be broke, are drawn to one another, while Lillian's situation gets more and more desperate. Chance blackmails her with some letters that she wrote to him, so her friends concoct a scheme to get them from a confederate. One thing I'll say for Gambling Daughters -- it has a fast pace. Gale Storm is typically exuberant, but she still manages to be effective when she's facing disaster. Aside from Storm, there are no real cast stand-outs but the players are all professional. Sidney Sheldon wrote the story treatment for this flick but did not do the screenplay. Cecelia Parker is best-known for playing Mickey Rooney's older sister in the Andy Hardy films. Baldwin had only a few credits and this was his last featured role in a motion picture. 

Verdict: Fun if distinctly minor pic from PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation), which is one step below Monogram. **1/2.