This Norman Krasna play of the war era was a surprising Broadway hit and makes for an above average domestic comedy where surprising performances and a charming light-heartedness make it much better than predicted. Joan Caulfield is Ruth, the 21-year old bank employee who still lives at home (with parent Edward Arnold and Mary Phillips, and pesky teenaged sister Mona Freeman) and finds herself the victim of an unintentional deception which the impish Freeman played by writing letters in Ruth's name to a lonely soldier (William Holden). Freeman, a teenaged champion of causes, is an amusing pest to everyone in the house who can't help but be bemused by her devotion to war causes, particularly her fight for peace and her devotion to the poor soldiers drafted all in the cause of freedom. Caulfield has somehow became engaged to bank executive Billy De Wolfe, a stuffy older man who gives impressions of interests other than in women, especially when being offered a drink and asked if he'd like it "straight". Holden shows up and all is revealed in time, and when Caulfield meets the lonely soldier on leave from Europe, she can't help but be charmed by him.
The best performances in these types of films are those which really don't seem to be acted, and in the case of romantic leads Caulfield and Holden, they do their job so effectively it really seems as if they are real people, not movie stars giving a "performance". Arnold, of course, displays his usual boundless energy, showing that while more grandfatherly in appearance towards the two young girls, he still has what it takes to rule the roost, chew the scenery and steal the moment every chance he gets. But for me, the real star of the show is young Mona Freeman who takes what could be truly an obnoxious character and turns her into someone very likable. What Shirley Temple was doing at the same time shows the difference that less is more, and Freeman's ease in her portrayal makes for a much more tolerable character than Temple and certain other young actors were doing at the same time in films somehow more remembered today.
There's lots of surprises here and a delightful adventure on the New York Subway is a comic gem, especially when De Wolfe gets his nose out of joint for something which got him a summons. This plot has been repeated so many times (with a nebbish young man loosing the pretty heroine to the handsome hunk) that it could have been a predictable generic sitcom like film, but the fresh writing, fast direction and amiable performances make this a delight from start to finish. Two sequels popped up after this became a hit and are curios to search out to complete the saga of this wacky family where the judge isn't always moralizing and the mother isn't always fretting for Andy Hardy to stay out of trouble.
The best performances in these types of films are those which really don't seem to be acted, and in the case of romantic leads Caulfield and Holden, they do their job so effectively it really seems as if they are real people, not movie stars giving a "performance". Arnold, of course, displays his usual boundless energy, showing that while more grandfatherly in appearance towards the two young girls, he still has what it takes to rule the roost, chew the scenery and steal the moment every chance he gets. But for me, the real star of the show is young Mona Freeman who takes what could be truly an obnoxious character and turns her into someone very likable. What Shirley Temple was doing at the same time shows the difference that less is more, and Freeman's ease in her portrayal makes for a much more tolerable character than Temple and certain other young actors were doing at the same time in films somehow more remembered today.
There's lots of surprises here and a delightful adventure on the New York Subway is a comic gem, especially when De Wolfe gets his nose out of joint for something which got him a summons. This plot has been repeated so many times (with a nebbish young man loosing the pretty heroine to the handsome hunk) that it could have been a predictable generic sitcom like film, but the fresh writing, fast direction and amiable performances make this a delight from start to finish. Two sequels popped up after this became a hit and are curios to search out to complete the saga of this wacky family where the judge isn't always moralizing and the mother isn't always fretting for Andy Hardy to stay out of trouble.