Pleasant, if somewhat disappointing, romantic comedy written by Preston Sturges and directed by William Wyler. Both men did much better work than this. That isn't to say this is bad, because no movie with this level of talent involved could ever be bad. It's just not as good as one would hope. For starters, it's not very funny. I watched it with a friend and fellow classic film fan and she called it "screwball comedy, light on the comedy." That seems about right. It's certainly a wacky enough movie with a plot you would expect from Sturges -- naive young woman fresh out of an orphanage tries to help a struggling lawyer and winds up falling for him while another old guy tries to get in her pants.
Margaret Sullavan stars as the young woman and she's easy to like and root for, although her character's childlike naiveté begins to oog you out near the end when you see her break down in tears over the whole mess she started, and you suddenly realize this movie's plot is basically a love story between a minor and a guy in his 40s. But it's best not to look at these things through a modern lens if one can help it. Anyway, Sullavan does fine, as does Herbert Marshall as the lawyer. The two scene stealers, though, are Frank Morgan and Reginald Denny. Morgan has a funny line about a wizard that might give you a chuckle, foreshadowing his most famous role four years later. The best part of the film to me, and the part that most directly screams Sturges, is the movie-within-a-movie that stars Gavin Gordon ("Go."). You have to see it to get why it's so funny but it's really more in line with what I hoped the rest of the movie would be. Instead the movie is a decent romcom with a great cast and a so-so script. It starts out strong but bogs down in the middle and seems to take forever to finish, despite not being particularly long. Worth a look for fans of any of the names involved but keep expectations reasonable.
Margaret Sullavan stars as the young woman and she's easy to like and root for, although her character's childlike naiveté begins to oog you out near the end when you see her break down in tears over the whole mess she started, and you suddenly realize this movie's plot is basically a love story between a minor and a guy in his 40s. But it's best not to look at these things through a modern lens if one can help it. Anyway, Sullavan does fine, as does Herbert Marshall as the lawyer. The two scene stealers, though, are Frank Morgan and Reginald Denny. Morgan has a funny line about a wizard that might give you a chuckle, foreshadowing his most famous role four years later. The best part of the film to me, and the part that most directly screams Sturges, is the movie-within-a-movie that stars Gavin Gordon ("Go."). You have to see it to get why it's so funny but it's really more in line with what I hoped the rest of the movie would be. Instead the movie is a decent romcom with a great cast and a so-so script. It starts out strong but bogs down in the middle and seems to take forever to finish, despite not being particularly long. Worth a look for fans of any of the names involved but keep expectations reasonable.