Reviews

This was one of the more fun "B" movies I have seen recently. I am a movie collector who enjoys clean light comedies, and enjoyed this. It stars S.Z. Sakall, so naturally it doesn't try to cover the meaning of life, or contain any heavy-handed social commentary. My kind of movie!!

It has a highly unlikely story line with enough laughs along the way to make it enjoyable. Whether it is a sight gag, plot absurdities, the characters breaking out in song, or "inside" jokes about the actors themselves, it is obvious that everyone involved was having fun.

Joan Leslie plays a naive good girl who works odd jobs, and Robert Alda is a band leader.

Hungarian character actor S.Z Sakall plays a Hungarian professor from Budapest (go figure).

Joan Leslie can inherit ten million dollars if she gets married. But it has to happen very soon, or else the inheritance is off. The movie is spent with Sakall, three young single guys (Alda as band leader, a young professor, and a stalker), and some very eager inheritance lawyers who try to marry off Leslie.

After we are introduced to the characters, Sakall is shown walking around outside and chattering about his old science laboratory and how he wants a new one. Then he remembers that he accidentally left dynamite on the stove in his lab, and seconds later we hear it blow up in the distance. "No new laboratory, now no old laboratory."

He ends up in jail twice in the movie, but not for accidentally blowing up his lab.

A memorable line: (Sakall is on the stand in court):

"For how long have you known the ladies in question?"

"Question, what's question??"

"You DO understand the English language..."

"Yes I understand. I talk English perfect. A couple of years ago I had an accent, but I lose it."

Will Leslie be able to make up her mind on which guy to marry before the clock runs out? Will some lucky guy end up with Leslie? Will Sakall get his funding for a new science lab? Will the inheritance lawyers strike it rich? Watch it to find out!

There, somebody had to say it. This movie is about what women want.

Most of my fellow reviewers on here, especially a few who make copious amounts of IMDb posts, are sounding more "wooden" than usual with regards to this movie.

This film has been described as a lot of things, but I have yet to see someone say it is all about What Women Want (no relation to the Mel Gibson movie). Digging far deeper than its comedy vehicle suggests, it no doubt explores the inner fantasies of many women in 1933, which still hold true for many today. Some just won't admit it as doing so would contradict their social/political views.

Those who have certain cultural expectations either relating to yesteryear's order of films, or to present day, will most likely be sorely disappointed in this movie. It will hit them on the head like a ton of bricks. This movie is truly one of a kind. Not to be missed!!

I gave it a 7/10, which seems like a high score, but actually falls in the middle of my bell curve for about 2000 different older movies which I have collected thus far. I rarely ever score 10/10, and many classic-era B movies get a 5/10 to 7/10 from me.

I recorded and watched this movie when it aired on TCM recently. I am primarily a fan of non-musicals, mainly comedies and drama. Usually the only musicals I get into are WWII-era musicals. So since this was adapted from a fictitious musical stage show, it was a bit of a stretch for me. Nonetheless, I fast-forwarded through some of the music just to see the drama elements here and there. I did enjoy "Old Man River" though.

The parts that impressed me the most, and I don't see much if any mention of it in these reviews, are the wonderful chemistry between Joe E. Brown and Kathryn Grayson. In it he plays the type of caring father who welcomes his daughter back with wide open arms, under any conditions. You can see it in Brown's eyes, and then Grayson always reciprocates the sentiment in her eyes. You can say what you want about his comic "Happy New Year" parts, but for me the real "meat" of this movie is seeing the warm father/daughter relationship throughout the movie. I first noticed it early on when he is understanding and even dreamy-eyed while his daughter kisses the gambler on stage, despite the mom (Moorehead's) rejection of the gambler. Brown's unconditional acceptance is consistent throughout the rest of the film, all the way to the end.

Brown was a minor actor by the time this movie was made. Although I am not familiar with everything he did later on in life, this is probably the most true-to-life part he played.

Most people know Brown for his slapstick roles. Among those: Earthworm Tractors, Alibi Ike, The Circus Clown, and Fireman Save My Child. Or even for the bit he did later on in Some Like It Hot. What is probably less known is the amount of time he dedicated to entertaining the troops during WWII.

I have read a couple of Brown's books, and in particular one called Your Kids And Mine. It is a documentary of his extensive experiences while he served at the Hollywood Canteen during WWII. Furthermore, he often traveled abroad at his own expense to entertain soldiers. From the Wikipedia entry for Joe E. Brown: "Brown was one of only two civilians to be awarded the Bronze Star in World War II." So here in glorious Technicolor, you get to see Brown be fatherly on film, just like he was in real life. And that is what makes this movie for me.

William Powell and Irene Dunne with Elizabeth Taylor and some other people. On the up side, lots of practical family issues are dealt with through character development, and this is where the fun lies.

Powell is the patriarch of an all-red-headed WASP family. He is a pain-in-the-butt overbearing dictator but otherwise lovable husband/father. Every time he turns around he whines about something, never content. This is used for humor, but it goes way overboard.

There are scenes of all his kids (and perhaps also his wife) sitting down on one long bench, all lined up nicely, and facing him. "Father" stands across the room and glares at them. This image reminded me of a bunch of rubber ducks lined up in a carnival shooting gallery.

Ughh. Quite a chore to get through. I dare you to watch this movie for more than 10 consecutive minutes at a time. Really! It is two hours in length, and seems to get good maybe about 3/4 of the way through.

Powell's "Father" character says he will get baptized to save a situation, but later isn't interested. Will he get baptized by the end of the movie? Will he ever stop nitpicking everyone in his home? Will he ever tell his wife he loves her?? What is the latest maid's name, and what happened to the one that was working for them just yesterday? Did her uniform not fit, just like the maid that quit the day before that?? What formalities and drama. And it is in Technicolor too, probably so you can see that they all have red hair. Woo-hoo. I am a fan of B&W, so B&W with lots of shadows and eerie overtones might have been better though I think.

I am giving it a 6/10 for all the attention to commotion and nonsense. Sort of like Grand Hotel in a way but not really. :) Film it in B&W and I would have given it a 7/10. Yes, the color does detract from it for me. I thought it was going to be a B&W feature like the picture you see here on IMDb. :)