A Runyon script spiced with Hope's gags plus a racehorse, a moppet, and Lucille Ball--that's "Sorrowful Jones." And it's good, too, because Hope is not just the joke machine of the "Road" pictures, but a completely developed character from one of Runyon's best stories. True, there's plenty of the old Hope slapstick and a dozen of those gun-in-back wisecracks, but there's also a human being, Sorrowful Jones, the bookie, reacting to everything around him. It's good, moreover, because Lucille Ball Jerks tears with her smile of love and because the moppet, Mary Jane Sanders, carries off some of the Runyonesque color better than her elders would know how. In sports, "Sorrowful Jones" is sentimental to a fault; in spots, too, it's ridiculous. But Hope and Runyon are mixed in just the right proportions to make a great comedy.

The plot is really a clash of the Silas Marner theme. Hope, as the doleful bookie, is a miser. Mary Jane, dubbed "Shorts," lands on Jones' doorstep when her father is killed for accidentally discovering a big race fix. Jones is callous towards his new room mate at first, but as the story progresses, he becomes more and more attached to her; the movie's neatest trick is conveying with subtlety Jones' growing affection for his ill-gotten ward. The first night that Shorts stays with Jones, she asks him to sing her a Lullaby. Jones complies, singing the tune of "Rock-s-bye Baby" with a set of hilarious lyrics from the daily race sheet; this is probably the funniest sequence in the movie.

"Sorrowful Jones" is a refreshing departure from the routine of Hope pictures. Laecille Ball, Mary Jane Sanders, and a host of very competent supporting actors take over very well for the Crosby-Lamour due. But the script is the big thing; with a real character to portray and with a wealth of Runnyon's humorous situations to draw upon, Hope is the best he's been in years.

Don't be lured by the second feature. It starts off with some good music and technicolor, but turns about to be a moronic and incongruous tale about Navaho Indians.