Soft Shoes

Harry Carey is in San Francisco with his dog, collecting an inheritance. He's woken when cat burglar Lillian Rich breaks into his hotel room and threatens him with a gun. He calmly rolls himself a cigarette and makes her a wager: if he can replace a brooch she's stolen without being caught, she'll come with him to his ranch.

It's a light-hearted, largely urban romp for Carey as he keeps running into the same couple all the time: Harriet Hammond, who made goo-goo eyes at him in the hotel restaurant and portly Stanton Heck as her jealous husband. Other actors who keep the pot boiling include Francis Ford as a gang leader and Sôjin Kamiyama as a mysterious and threatening Chinese fellow who sits around the gang's hangout. However, as usual, it's Carey, whose relaxed and self-assured charm carries the short feature.

The 46-minute copy I looked at on the National Film Preservation site was in fine shape, nicely colored, and accompanied by a blithe piano score by Donald Sosin.

Bob