The Captain Is a Lady (1940) Poster

(1940)

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7/10
A whole lotta silly and trivial fun
planktonrules15 November 2006
I made sure to watch this film on TCM recently because I love seeing Charles Coburn in films. He was such a wonderful character actor that I couldn't resist. Surprisingly enough, he did not play the usual Coburn role of the cranky rich gentleman (like he did to perfection in THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES). Instead, he played a cranky old sea captain dreading his retirement. The cranky part was very true to type, but at first it was hard to imagine him as a captain as well as a dreadfully poor one. However, this change was really appreciated--he was wonderful as the likable curmudgeon.

In addition, he was very ably supported by a ton of wonderful characters--most of which were residents of the ladies rest home who invited the Captain to live there!! Beulah Bondi played a sweet wife for Coburn and Marjorie Main and the other residents were wonderful and colorful.

The plot itself is pretty silly, but that's not the reason to see the film. Instead, the acting is so great and the characters are written so well that you can't help but love them. It's a sweet and wonderful film--the type they just don't make any more (what a pity).
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7/10
A good low-keyed comedy with fine acting and old-fashioned values and mores.
Art-228 February 1999
Anyone who appreciates old-fashioned family values and mores will enjoy this fine comedy as much as I did. Based on a 1909 novel, Charles Coburn wonderfully plays the title character, a retired sea captain who gets into trouble by making poor investments with money that should have been used for mortgage payments. It may not sound like much of a setup for a comedy, but there are small pleasures throughout.

It's Coburn's film all the way, but the acting of all is uniformly excellent and it is paced well by director Robert B. Sinclair. And you get to see Dan Dailey in his second film.
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7/10
Fun B-movie with a ton of recognizable mature stars!
wetcircuit28 April 2009
This is a light-weight film with a stellar cast of mature actors that rise above it's so-so script simply because the actors are so sturdy. No doubt their experience adds depth to characters who would otherwise have none and plays a huge part of making this a winner, even though no one goes far out of their way to steal a scene or play over the top. It's really great to see so many "old ladies" working together in the same film, without the backstabbing or bitchiness in THE WOMEN. Sure they fall into "types": the busy-body, the old maid, the grand dame..., but everyone hits their mark and says their lines with little fuss and the film just flies. Charles Coburn is a wonderful foil as the curmudgeon sea captain who suddenly finds himself at the center of attention in an old ladies home and the butt of jokes by the old men in town. Most of the comedy plays around him being cantankerous because he can't smoke or cuss or drink like a man should -- and the ladies being both fascinated and repulsed by his manly failures. It drips with sentimentality and there are no bad guys here, just a lot of "aww shucks" kind of men who bumble their way through a world controlled by women hoping to be loved and accepted for all their faults.
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Charming Little B Film
drednm22 June 2005
Charles Coburn stars as a rascally old sea captain who gets into into financial troubles and loses his house. He and his wife (Beulah Bondi) then have to move into and old ladies' home. Not much for plot, but the acting is terrific. Coburn causes all sorts of problems in the home as is known as Old Lady #31 (the name of the play this was adapted from). Helen Westley runs the home, and the star boarders are Billie Burke, Helen Broderick, Cecil Cunningham, and Marjorie Main. Dan Dailey and Virginia Grey are the young lovers. Clem Bevans is Coburn's friend, Francis Pierlot the town conniver, and Nora Cecil is the shopper. The women are especially good, each in a juicy character part. They were among the best character actresses in Hollywood in 1940 and are each easily recognizable. Nice film.
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6/10
Simple, Amusing Story
atlasmb22 May 2022
This pleasant comedy stars Charles Coburn as Captain Abe Peabody. He dearly loves his wife of thirty years, but he is not very astute with regard to money or financial planning. When they are evicted from their home, it looks like they will have to find separate accommodations, but some kindly souls find a way to keep them together.

Coburn is surrounded by a talented supporting cast. They make the most of this simple story that is amusing.
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7/10
Fun For The Cast
boblipton14 May 2022
Old New England skipper Charles Coburn makes some bad business decisions. He and wife Beulah Bondi are evicted from their house.

Even with a low-rent programmer like this one, directed by Robert Sinclair, the MGM gloss is apparent, not only in the star casting -- Billie Burke, Helen Broderick, and Helen Westley -- but in art direction and so forth. Not that this is prime Charles Coburn, but there's a lot of Code-compliant fun in this one. It's worth looking at and a bit more for the cast.
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6/10
Broadway's World War 1 distraction, dusted off for the gathering clouds of WW2!
JohnHowardReid25 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Charles Coburn (Captain Abe Peabody), Beulah Bondi (Mrs Angie Peabody), Virginia Grey (Mary Peabody), Helen Broderick (Nancy Crocker), Billie Burke (Blossom Stort), Dan Dailey (Perth Nickerson), Helen Westley (Abigail Morrow), Marjorie Main (Sarah Mac Willett), Clew Bevans (Sam Darby), Cecil Cunningham (Mrs Homans), Francis Pierlot (Roger Bartlett), Tom Fadden (Pucey Kintner), Robert Middlemass (Peterson), Ralph Byrd (Randy), Harry Tyler (Lem), Earl Hodgins (man), Helen Dickson, Dorothea Wolbert, Vangie Beilby, Barbara Norton, Helen Bertram (old ladies), Joe Bernard, Henry Sylvester, Milton Kibbee (men in store), Ed J. Brady, Murdock MacQuarrie, Frank Hammond, Carl Stockdale, George Guhl (seamen), Robert Homans (Clem).

Director: ROBERT B. SINCLAIR. Screenplay: Harry Clork. Based on the stage play, "Old Lady 31", by Rachel Crothers and the novel by Louise Forsslund. Photography: Leonard Smith. Film editor: Frank Hull. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons, Harry McAfee. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis. Costumes: Dolly Tree. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Music score: Bronislau Kaper. Sound recording supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Frederick Stephani.

Copyright 18 June 1940 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 21 June 1940. Australian release: not recorded (October 1940?). 7 reels. 65 minutes.

SNOPSIS: An old sea captain is forced, through financial necessity, to stay in an Old Ladies' Home.

NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the 39th Street on 30 October 1916, and ran a surprisingly successful 160 performances. The newly formed Metro company was quick to snap up the screen rights, but didn't get around to making the picture until 1940! Rachel Crothers herself directed the original stage presentation which starred Emma Dunn and Reginald Barlow.

COMMENT: A sentimental, but reasonably restrained comedy of an old seafarer forced into the Old Folks' Home. Although modern day audiences will probably hate this sort of whimsy, it's ingratiatingly acted, competently directed, and attractively photographed.

What more could you ask? Admittedly, it's hard to believe that such a lightweight offering would appeal to Broadway's rather critical audiences, but the now totally forgotten Emma Dunn and Reginald Barlow were big names on the Great White Way in 1916-17. And as a distraction from gathering war clouds, the play was also ideally placed on Broadway.
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5/10
Charles Coburn has starring role in MGM B-film...
Doylenf27 April 2009
CHARLES COBURN as a crusty sea captain has to deal with dispossession of his house after making bad investments in THE CAPTAIN IS A LADY, a curious little comedy from MGM. The supporting cast includes a very young DAN DAILEY, billed as Dan Dailey, Jr. in one of his earliest roles.

BEULAH BONDI, HELEN BRODERICK, BILLIE BURKE and MARJORIE MAIN have their moments when Coburn is forced to find shelter in a home for women. VIRGINIA GREY provides romantic interest for Dan Dailey.

Despite a good cast, it's a pleasant trifle of the B-film variety. The title leads one to suspect Coburn will be masquerading as a woman, but no such thing. It's merely the fact that he's in a boarding house for ladies.

Summing up: Silly plot is pretty much of a yawner. Coburn has an abundance of corny lines like "Women is funny critters" and says "I reckon" every few minutes, as if he's playing Walter Brennan. It's no wonder you never heard of this one before.

I know Coburn fans who will find it a pleasant enough trifle, but it gets a decidedly negative review from me, overly sentimental and implausible nonsense makes it downright painful to watch.
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3/10
Charles Coburn and His Geriatic Groupies
HarlowMGM2 June 2009
A wonderful cast is wasted in this bland rather self-consciously "cute" comedy/drama. Charles Coburn and Beulah Bondi star as a long married couple who lose their home. The only retirement place in the small community is an "old ladies home" and when Beulah refuses to be parted from her husband, the staff and residents agree to make an exception and allow Coburn to become their one and only male resident.

It's rather startling to see this cast of mostly 50-ish players being residents in an "old ladies home", particularly the vivacious if well into middle-age Billie Burke. This was one of Coburn's first starring roles and one of the few in which the great character actress Beulah Bondi has essentially the "leading lady" part. The other old gals at the home get rather infatuated with the lone man on the premises, leading to misunderstandings and bit of jealousy. I was fairly shocked by one rather unkind speech Beulah spouses to the maiden ladies about them not knowing what it's like to have a man in their lives.

It was nice to have the chance to see this little film on Turner Classic Movies but I found it rather dull and didn't keep it as a permanent title in my film collection.
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8/10
Comedy?
montebainter7 November 2006
Happened to catch this today and it held my attention throughout. The story itself was a little thin and the film shot in probably three weeks. But the acting was very well done. As the synopsis already includes mention of the couple losing their home, it is fair to mention that I was genuinely saddened by the helplessness of their loss (again, the acting). Although the film is 66 years old, the under-swell of emotion involved in a retirement age couple uncontrollably losing their home to heartless circumstances and poor decisions seems timeless -- people doing the best they can to get along and seeing their hopes and security slip through their fingers. It is categorized as a comedy, but I did not know that beforehand and did not see it as such. Sure, there are many intentionally cute moments (many including Glinda, the Good Witch of the North), but it is a severely desperate premise. I haven't yet seen a convincing comedy about homelessness.
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