gkeith_1
A 7 from me. Two points off for no spectacular Busby Berkeley scenes (budget poverty??). One more point off for black and white, with no color.I watched it because I wanted to see Joan Leslie in another film besides Yankee Doodle Dandy, yes also black and white to my dismay. Here, Joan plays an uneducated idiot, who can't even come close to the English fauxs pas of that great SZ Cuddles Sakall. Once or twice, these two were saying their butchered English at the same time as each other, and I had to laugh out loud.Gracie Allen stupidity? I was thinking more along the lines of Edith Bunker. Even so, both of these actresses were brilliant with excellent and perfect comedic timing.Robert Alda was somewhat nicer here, than in another movie called April Showers, where his character is cruel to a little boy dance performer.Elisha Cook was hilarious, and riding into the water on that white horse was priceless comedy.The three attorneys were rip-roaringly borrrrring, but they somehow they even contributed their own brand of humor to this film.7/10
manoftheoldies
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!
dougdoepke
Judy's a little short in the IQ department, but she stands to inherit big money if only she can decide which boyfriend to marry.The pro's don't seem to like the movie much. Maltin calls it silly, which it is. But since when does silliness mean a movie isn't amusing. Okay, maybe my standards aren't high enough, still I found the madcap a lot of fun, with one of the best supporting casts on record. Nonetheless, it's really a Joan Leslie showcase, showing what a lovely and talented light comedienne she is.Then again, show me any other film where phony tough guy Elisha Cook Jr. dons glasses and plays it for laughs, (Bogart must be turning over in his grave). Then there's 'Cuddles' Sakall who in my book is mainly a matter of taste, but is not too, too cuddly here; at the same time Edward Everett Horton gets a surprisingly non-addled role for a change. And competing for the delectable Ms Leslie are Alan Alda's dad Robert and William Prince as the sleek professor. So who will win. Shrewdly, we don't find out til the end.To ease things along, there're also a few easy-to-take songs tossed in. But the star is really the fetching Ms Leslie who, for some reason, never quite got the career her talent deserved. Here she plays the lovable Judy with both humor and lots of verve. But whatever you do, don't let her Judy Jones fix you a sandwich, unless you like bubbles on your mayonnaise.
beegeebright
Maybe it's just me, but is no one else troubled by the apparent ability of just about everyone in this movie to change who they love and whom they want to marry almost at will. No concept of everlasting love troubles the writer and certainly will not trouble any ensuing marriage that would come from this movie. I just found it disappointing. Joan Leslie is good enough, but haven't we come too far (even by 1946) than to think it's funny that women are stupid. And just too idiotically stupid to continue living. Unlike other commentators I did not think the bubbles from the mouth bit funny at all, I just thought it dumb. Which pretty well sums up the movie for me.
AD
