In Person

If you'd like a decent time passer with a few good moments, then IN PERSON is a pretty good bet. It's highly reminiscent of a later Astaire-Rogers film, CAREFREE, though not nearly as charming. Like CAREFREE, the main theme is psychiatry, though with IN PERSON, Ginger isn't faking a mental illness to get a man, in the story she really did have a nervous breakdown. The film begins after she's apparently cured and how she meets George Brent is one of the strangest and most contrived meetings in film history, as she looks initially like the Elephant Man walking down the street and underneath the hood, she's wearing a ridiculous disguise--all as a part of her treatment(?) for agoraphobia! Apparently, she is playing a famous actress (a big stretch) who is suddenly afraid of people--hence the goofy disguises.

The rest of the film is essentially a "boy meets girl and hates girl but by the end they are in love" sort of film--very, very predictable but also kind of cute in a rather absurd way. Frankly, George Brent and Ginger Rogers were better than this material, but since they are such pleasant personalities, it manages to work--though I agree with Arthur Hausner's review when he describes the film as "forced".