There's a lot to like in this musical variation on "The Best Years of Our Lives" where a returned G.I.
(Gene Kelly, once again in a military uniform) comes back to Los Angeles to find the bride he married before going overseas and ends up believing only married him for his allotment checks. It turns out that she (Marie McDonald, aka "The Body") is actually a wealthy socialite, a beauty contest winner who has no interest in being married to him, at first. Through the advice of her spunky grandma (Jean Adair of "Arsenic and Old Lace"), Kelly decides to move on, taking over her old mansion which he intends to turn into a residence for homeless veterans. The more he looses interest in McDonald, the more she gets interested in him again. The real issue for Kelly is the question, is she really worth the effort? As it turns out, the answer to that is an empathetic "No!" with her selfishness so obvious that it becomes obvious that Kelly is way above her. Everybody in her family likes him and seems to find McDonald only tolerable because she's one of the family. But this is an MGM musical, and in these films, the bad girls usually reform or are more comic relief. McDonald seems more appropriate for film noir where the femme fatal is usually a big-busted, rather masculine female with little or no redeeming values.
Then, there's Clinton Sundberg as the prissy butler, a nasty character whose wisecracking makes Monty Woolley in "The Man Who Came to Dinner" and Clifton Webb in "Laura" seem masculine by comparison. His nasty commentary on everything going on becomes tiresome after a while. Usually cast in quietly sardonic roles, this "vicious queen" part is so stereotypically awful that you just wish the boss (Charles Winninger as McDonald's world-weary father) would give him the boot. Spring Byington adds another overly concerned wife role to her repertoire, nagging Winninger about his drinking even though you can understand why he reaches for the bottle in the first place.
The musical numbers are all superb and are quite different than anything Kelly had done up to that point. He sings and dances to "I'll See You in My Dreams" with McDonald (set in happier times when they first met), has a cute dance number with McDonald's neglected pooch, and later participates in a bunch of children's games where his acrobatic skills (later perfected in "The Pirate") are shown off to great effect.
The scenes where Kelly befriends widow Phyllis Thaxter have you hoping that he'll give McDonald the boot and find happiness with this Donna Reed like young lady, but this is MGM where divorce can't be granted easily. This gives the film a multi-personality, the mix of comedy, music and drama sometimes conflicting, and certainly wrapped up too smoothly.
(Gene Kelly, once again in a military uniform) comes back to Los Angeles to find the bride he married before going overseas and ends up believing only married him for his allotment checks. It turns out that she (Marie McDonald, aka "The Body") is actually a wealthy socialite, a beauty contest winner who has no interest in being married to him, at first. Through the advice of her spunky grandma (Jean Adair of "Arsenic and Old Lace"), Kelly decides to move on, taking over her old mansion which he intends to turn into a residence for homeless veterans. The more he looses interest in McDonald, the more she gets interested in him again. The real issue for Kelly is the question, is she really worth the effort? As it turns out, the answer to that is an empathetic "No!" with her selfishness so obvious that it becomes obvious that Kelly is way above her. Everybody in her family likes him and seems to find McDonald only tolerable because she's one of the family. But this is an MGM musical, and in these films, the bad girls usually reform or are more comic relief. McDonald seems more appropriate for film noir where the femme fatal is usually a big-busted, rather masculine female with little or no redeeming values.
Then, there's Clinton Sundberg as the prissy butler, a nasty character whose wisecracking makes Monty Woolley in "The Man Who Came to Dinner" and Clifton Webb in "Laura" seem masculine by comparison. His nasty commentary on everything going on becomes tiresome after a while. Usually cast in quietly sardonic roles, this "vicious queen" part is so stereotypically awful that you just wish the boss (Charles Winninger as McDonald's world-weary father) would give him the boot. Spring Byington adds another overly concerned wife role to her repertoire, nagging Winninger about his drinking even though you can understand why he reaches for the bottle in the first place.
The musical numbers are all superb and are quite different than anything Kelly had done up to that point. He sings and dances to "I'll See You in My Dreams" with McDonald (set in happier times when they first met), has a cute dance number with McDonald's neglected pooch, and later participates in a bunch of children's games where his acrobatic skills (later perfected in "The Pirate") are shown off to great effect.
The scenes where Kelly befriends widow Phyllis Thaxter have you hoping that he'll give McDonald the boot and find happiness with this Donna Reed like young lady, but this is MGM where divorce can't be granted easily. This gives the film a multi-personality, the mix of comedy, music and drama sometimes conflicting, and certainly wrapped up too smoothly.