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| Richard Denning and Marie Windsor |
Buzz Doyle (Richard Denning), a new arrival in town, almost immediately winds up embroiled with two warring women. Terry (Marie Windsor) wants Buzz to work with her and her friend Reno (Carleton Young) on an oil well that she hopes will turn into a gusher. Meanwhile, Reno's sister, Lily (Fay Baker), who hates her brother because she feels he was responsible for her lover's death, tries to lure Buzz over to her side and work against the others. Then there's a murder or two, and the surprise unveiling of the killer. Double Deal is distinctly minor, but it features some likable players, and there's especially zesty work from Baker [The Star], Taylor Holmes [Caged] as the drunken if helpful, "Corpus" and James Griffith [The Amazing Transparent Man] as the slimy Walter Karnes, Lily's plaything. Thomas Browne Henry plays the cop on the case.
Verdict: Ho hum meller that doesn't even have a decent "cat fight" between the ladies. **.
2 comments:
Richard Denning was very attractive in a wholesome, straight arrow way. Love that he played the title role opposite Lucille Ball in the long running radio series My Favorite Husband, which was adapted for television into I Love Lucy. But poor Denning was replaced by Lucy’s real life favorite husband Desi Arnaz, which changed the whole foundation of the show and made it a classic. I think Denning made a few guest appearances on Lucy, too, if I am not mistaken.
- Chris
Y'know I honestly don't recall seeing Denning on "I Love Lucy" and I've seen every episode a hundred times, but I could definitely be mistaken.
I had heard that Denning left Hollywood, never talked about those days, and was bitter, and this may be the reason. But while he was handsome and capable enough -- he made a good TV version of Michael Shayne (even if he was nothing like the shamus in the books) -- I can't see him in place of Arnaz; the married couple's byplay was one of the factors that made "Lucy" work.
So Denning wound up in cheap productions like this and none of his TV series lasted very long. But he had his fans then and still does.
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