This twenty-minute piece is an episode of the Hal Roach "Screen Director's Playhouse" that ran for one season in the mid-1950s. Roach drew on his forty years in the industry (he lived to be over a hundred and was still active at the end of his life). In this one he collared William Saroyan to pen a quirky little piece about a couple of people, looking to get married, who meet in a marriage bureau.
It's directed a bit stagily; Kim Hunter seems to be pitching her voice for the back row, but it comes off as nervousness and is quite charming. Keenan Wynn makes the most of his role as a fast-talking wastrel. It's the sort of performance he had perfected during his time as a supporting comic at MGM and which he used through the rest of his career.
It's directed a bit stagily; Kim Hunter seems to be pitching her voice for the back row, but it comes off as nervousness and is quite charming. Keenan Wynn makes the most of his role as a fast-talking wastrel. It's the sort of performance he had perfected during his time as a supporting comic at MGM and which he used through the rest of his career.