oscaralbert Review of Never Say Goodbye

Never Say Goodbye (1946)

If you've ever wondered, "What if Shirley Temple . . . "

[7/10 · 27 June 2015]

" . . . could NOT sing and dance, but only cry on cue?" NEVER SAY GOODBYE's Patti Brady as seven-year-old "Flip" provides a pretty good answer. Young Ms. Brady was a couple of years greener than Mr. Flynn's preferred Real Life female demographic when they shot GOODBYE, but as Mr. Scalia objected yesterday, it's only a matter of slippery slopes until the rest of America is "in like Flynn." GOODBYE is one of the 76 theatrical feature films in which Humprey Bogart had a speaking part (besides VIRGINIA CITY, I believe that THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS is the only other flick encompassing both Flynn and Bogie). They each had about two dozen more films to make and about a dozen years to live before their final GOODBYE. As "Phillip Gayley," Errol makes many allusions to his 1937 ROBIN HOOD role, along with his Bogart-as-gangster impression, in which Bogart himself dubs in the Duke Mantee sound-alike. Ironically, in LUCKY STARS, Bogart also had impersonated his tough guy film personae (this time on-screen), and Flynn's brief LUCKY STARS singing cameo was again entirely dubbed (though NOT by Bogie) from "Ave" to "Amen."