Word: miscasting
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...comes through with a thoroughly convincing performance in the title role. Besides looking like a true cowboy, Mr. Cagney shows a depth of character portrayal unusual for pictures of this type. Humphrey Bogart does a fine job as a leering and scheming villain. But Rosemary Lane has been badly miscast. Although she may present a luscious bit of femininity crooning dulcet lyrics in a Dick Powell musical, Miss Lane has not the force necessary to carry this heavy dramatic part. However, the film itself suffers from too much of this serious emotionalism. Its lack of an occasional touch of levity...
...this medium, as does Virginia Bruce, always more reminiscent of the rotogravure debutante than of the prairie mother. Yet if her striking coiffe and general showgirl demeanor make Miss Bruce an anachronism in any western, Mr. Beery, who has a way of making homicide seem unimportant, is also miscast...
Roland Young is horribly miscast as the Sultan of Bagdad, and Louise Hovick as the villainess is unconvincing if not actually pathetic in her portrayal, but then the script did not give either of the two much in the way of material. June Lang does a perfect job providing a more or less platonic love interest with Tony Martin...
...Gable in the title rose plays the historical part with sincerity but is hopelessly miscast. Miss Loy as the attractive Mrs. O'Shea who disrupts the unity of the Irish Home Rule Party looks fetching in tears and bustles, but her presence on the screen doesn't seem to make much difference one way or another...
Madeleine Carroll, whose chiseled sophistication makes her ideal for such stories as Lloyd's of London, is badly miscast, still manages to lend her ridiculous role dignity. Dick Powell gives another of his exalted-shoe-clerk performances. Alice Faye, in a part which requires only that she act natural, comes off best. What makes On the Avenue fun is not the antics of this troubled triangle, but the half-dozen high-spots sprinkled through the picture, usually with excellent accompanying melodies by Irving Berlin. Samples: Dick Powell hunting for The Girl on the Police Gazette, Madeleine Carroll and Dick...