Steve Kostain, nephew of the owner, begins working at a steel mill to learn the business from the bottom up. He rooms with a steel working family, the McNamaras, and falls for the daughter, "Red", who is already involved with another steelworker. Although he is at first has a hard time with his co-workers, he eventually wins them over, and also wins the girl.
USANR
USA
This is the sort of dime-a-dozen programmer for which I have irrational affection, particularly if there someone in it that I like to watch; bonus points if there's some sort of dick-waving romantic rivalry thrown into the mix. For example, Dan Duryea made a ton of movies that fall into this category (usually including the dick-waving), as did Stephen McNally, though his didn't always have the romance angle.
In this case, we've got Howard Duff (Jim) and John Lund (Steve, nephew of a steel magnate), chasing after Ann Sheridan (as Red, which is confusing because in the AMC rip I watched, she definitely looks blonde). Red runs a diner in a steel town, so suffice it to say she can…
Ann Sheridan is the real steel in this. Not a particularly exciting movie, but it had it's charming moments where John Lund & Howard Duff compete for her attention. But so much of this was steelworks. Almost like they needed to add a whole steel factory documentary to fill in for a lacking plot. Thank God, for Ann Sheridan having do much personality to still make this bearable.
Leaden drudgery about steel mill workers, with a nonsensical romantic triangle and the pacing of a glacier. The only admirable aspect, and that in minute quantity, are the dragged-out documentary sections depicting the manufacture of steel, but even these are not terribly informative. Ann Sheridan toplines as a woman torn between two guys, and it's one of the least of her performances, though there's an effort to recapture the sass of some of her sterling work in They Drive By Night. Howard Duff is acceptable as the hunky steelworker threatened in the romance department by newcomer John Lund, who never met a dialog cue he couldn't wait too long to pick up. Lund acting is like watching molasses drip from…
Too much steel and not enough Ann Sheridan but otherwise this is an okay comedy/drama.
Romantic love triangle set in a factory. Howard Duff and steel. How steel is made. See it being made. Steel. In this movie.
