COME, FILL THE CUP

The hard, high pitch of a Chicago newspaper as a backdrop for the laconic confessional of Lew Marsh, city editor, who had learned- the hard way- that the only drink you don't take is the first one. Known for his helping hand to drunks, Lew is hired- by his publisher- to wet (or rather dry) nurse Boyd Copeland, married to Paula whom Lew had once loved and with whom he falls in love all over again. Boyd, a mother-smothered musician with more than one unfinished symphony and a momentary attachment to a gangster's girl, sobers up after another man is killed (by the gangster) in his stead, wins his fight against the bottle and wins back Paula, while Lew, losing his girl, turns in his big beat to the paper as he cleans up the city's case against a murderer-racketeer.... A drama of whiskey-soured experience and regeneration, handled with assurance rather than distinction.