ZaSu Pitts Boxing Film with Gangsters and Mobsters (1942)

The spectacular ZaSu Pitts helms the gripping and amusing So’s Your Aunt Emma. A hodgepodge of disparate elements that blend into an almost magical whole, the film stars Pitts as a middle-aged spinster who comes to the big city to see a young boxer, the son of an old flame. It becomes apparent to her that the young man is in over his head with racketeering mobsters. Then the film takes an unexpected turn: the mobsters come to believe that Pitts is a nefarious secret killer that they all fear! The circumstances leading to this are cleverly hilarious, as is most of the film. So’s Your Aunt Emma is a riotous brew of action, comedy, drama, and superb acting.