Not quite as good as "The Man I Love", with a real Hayes office cop out of an ending, but Ida offers her usual superior performance.
Joan Leslie isn't bad but if a stronger actress with more musical talent than she had played the other sister this would have been a better film. The character, the object of Ida's burning ambition, is supposed to be a marvel of the age-talented beyond measure. Joan's odd cartwheel dancing and average singing voice tend to make the viewer feel Ida is somewhat deluded. Judy Garland would have been ideal and a fascinating screen partner for Ida. She was the right age at the time and this would have certainly offered more of a challenge than the films she turned out at MGM that year. It would have made the movie something special but Metro never would have loaned her out so put that down to wishful thinking.
Ida is one hard grasping number in this, amazingly this is the one performance that she ever won any prestigious award for, the New York Film Critics Circle Award incredibly not followed by an Oscar nod, she was never recognized by that body to their discredit. Her fine work is matched by Jack Carson and in a career best performance Dennis Morgan. Gladys George shines bright in a small role stealing her too few scenes.
The script could be better but this is worth watching for all the terrific acting it contains.
Joan Leslie isn't bad but if a stronger actress with more musical talent than she had played the other sister this would have been a better film. The character, the object of Ida's burning ambition, is supposed to be a marvel of the age-talented beyond measure. Joan's odd cartwheel dancing and average singing voice tend to make the viewer feel Ida is somewhat deluded. Judy Garland would have been ideal and a fascinating screen partner for Ida. She was the right age at the time and this would have certainly offered more of a challenge than the films she turned out at MGM that year. It would have made the movie something special but Metro never would have loaned her out so put that down to wishful thinking.
Ida is one hard grasping number in this, amazingly this is the one performance that she ever won any prestigious award for, the New York Film Critics Circle Award incredibly not followed by an Oscar nod, she was never recognized by that body to their discredit. Her fine work is matched by Jack Carson and in a career best performance Dennis Morgan. Gladys George shines bright in a small role stealing her too few scenes.
The script could be better but this is worth watching for all the terrific acting it contains.