Screenwriter Walter Bernstein made his directorial debut with
Little Miss Marker
, a re-make of the Damon Runyon story that has been filmed many times before (most notably as
with Shirley Temple,
Sorrowful Jones
starring Bob Hope, and the Tony Curtis vehicle
40 Pounds of Trouble
). Here the cute little moppet is played by Sara Stimson, with Walter Matthau as the kid's nemesis Sorrowful Jones. The story concerns the relationship between the two when Little Miss Marker is left with Sorrowful as a down payment for one of her father's bets. Jones is involved with Blackie (Tony Curtis), who's trying to open an undercover casino in a mansion owned by Amanda (Julie Andrews). Jones and the kid find themselves in a number of dangerous scrapes as they try to keep one step ahead of the law -- and of Blackie.