mark.waltz The light-hearted comedy intertwined with war drama in Mrs. Miniver gave the idea that the team of Greer Garson could handle screwy situations but after a few dramatic pot-boilers kept their work totally serious. MGM's comedies were a familiar bag of repeats but with teams like Loy and Powell and Hepburn and Tracy, they figured why mess with a successful formula?The situation here is a totally familiar one with larger elements of farce. Garson is estranged from her not so stuffy Pidgeon, working in a music hall show. She gets a letter inviting her to her daughter's wedding and ends up stirring up the pot in delirious confusion. Elizabeth Taylor, on the thresh of stardom, is the bride, and she seems more interested in reconciling her parents than her own fiancé. Along comes dashing Peter Lawford to stir up more confusion, and eventually the forgotten feelings of her parents emerge.Encounters with tamed seals and bears, a truly hideous music hall number and Garson's flight into a torrential downpour add on to interference by Lucile Watson as Pigeon's imperious mother and Cesar Romero and Nigel Bruce as admirers of Garson's do as well. Pretty silly going, there is never any doubt how this will play out. If it wasn't for the professional cast and tight direction by Jack Conway, this certainly would be more of a misfire.

Emaisie39 Greer Garson had a charmed film career. She was discovered on the English stage by Louis B. Mayer when she was 33. Her MGM career stalled until she was cast opposite Robert Donat in the classic "Goodbye Mr. Chips"(1939) which made her an immediate major star and a worthy successor to fading MGM superstars Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Garbo. Her lovely, charismatic performance in this film brought her the first of seven Best Actress Oscar nominations. Truth be told her role was too small for such a nomination and Shearer's and Crawford's superb work in "The Women"(1939) should have gotten the nominations. Garson's next film was the disastrous "Remember"(1939) a glossy flat so-called comedy that had her much too prim and proper. But after Shearer unwisely passed on "Pride and Prejudice"(1940) Garson was cast in the central role and received raves from everyone. In retrospect she seems too old for this and the more youthful-looking classy Shearer would have been much better but this film made Garson an enormous star which she remained until a string of entertaining disasters in the early 50's. Of course Garson would win her Oscar for the excellent blockbuster "Mrs.Miniver (1942) -another dumb Shearer turn-down- and Garson would now be typecast in generally too noble and ladylike roles. Nonetheless Garson gave a sparkling performance opposite Crawford in the forgotten "When Ladies Meet"(1941) and gave marvelous natural performances in the hugely popular yet maligned "Adventure"(1946) and superb in the disastrous "Desire Me"(1947). The comedy "Julia Misbehaves" came right after and proved a tremendous hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Though superficially "the lady" once again this role allows Greer to be the comedienne and she succeeds splendidly. The sparkling script and direction, the MGM gloss, her great chemistry with Pidgeon, and the beautiful young co-stars Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Lawford add to the non-stop fun. She plays a wayward showgirl who wants to be part of her daughter's wedding even though she has not been around for years. It's the kind of light hearted romp that Hollywood tries to do now in days with Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, Reese Witherspoon and surprisingly Diane Keaton. Of course these recent films rarely work as well as the delightful "Julia Misbehaves." After this Garson returned to the lady roles and had her last big hit with the stodgy technicolored "That Forsythe Woman"(1949). Most of the films that followed were failures except for her outstanding work in "Julius Caesar"(MGM,1953) and Oscar-nominated as Eleanor Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello"(Warner Brothers, 1960).

maxwelllimited "Julia Misbehaves" is a charming comedy filled with romance and touching moments. Greer Garson sparkles as Julia, a penniless showgirl who has been invited to attend the very formal wedding of her daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, whom she hasn't seen since she was a baby. Along the way, she encounters acrobat Cesar Romero and his wacky family, rich aristocrat Nigel Bruce with an eye for pretty girls, and estranged husband Walter Pidgeon who begins to wonder how he ever let her go in the first place. All of the interactions lead into one humorous complication after another and show off Ms. Garson's comedic timing that was rarely seen in her usual dramatic roles.

Pat-54 Greer Garson had not appeared in a comedy since the ill-fated "Remember?" in 1939. So M-G-M cast her and her most famous screen partner, Walter Pidgeon, in this, their first (and last) comedy. The only thing worth noting about this film was that Elizabeth Taylor, (then 16 years old) received her first screen-kiss from Peter Lawford in one of the more interesting scenes.