I have to concur that there would be no film if John just told Mary the truth from the beginning.
The silly premise of this film is that John (Reagan) marries his best friend's girl to facilitate her immigration to the U. S. after WW 2. Because he hasn't notified his friend, Fred has married someone else and is about to have a baby, thinking Lily (Field) has died. However, he neglects to tell him at first. It comes out in a phone call that's overheard by John and the unsuspecting Mary. Then, the two of them conspire to keep this news from Mary (Neal) with the help of an old army buddy (Morris) by fabricating some top secret mission in Nevada, where John plans to go to get his divorce from the war bride. Mary thinks John doesn't really want to marry her, so her father (Arnold) uses his connections as a Senator to expedite the marriage with the help of an obliging General (Harvey). A lot of ridiculous situations happen when the truth comes out. It's a farce but it's awfully silly. The last 10 minutes are really the funniest part of the whole film, when we learn that it was all for naught.
I gave it a 5 because Carson, Arnold & Morris are all quite funny in their roles--they save the whole thing. Neal & Reagan are adequate as the young couple. I could definitely see Reagan's former wife, Jane Wyman, in the Mary role--she was specializing it this kind of stuff at that point in her career. Too bad they split before they got a chance to do this movie. Neal is just all wrong for her part.
The silly premise of this film is that John (Reagan) marries his best friend's girl to facilitate her immigration to the U. S. after WW 2. Because he hasn't notified his friend, Fred has married someone else and is about to have a baby, thinking Lily (Field) has died. However, he neglects to tell him at first. It comes out in a phone call that's overheard by John and the unsuspecting Mary. Then, the two of them conspire to keep this news from Mary (Neal) with the help of an old army buddy (Morris) by fabricating some top secret mission in Nevada, where John plans to go to get his divorce from the war bride. Mary thinks John doesn't really want to marry her, so her father (Arnold) uses his connections as a Senator to expedite the marriage with the help of an obliging General (Harvey). A lot of ridiculous situations happen when the truth comes out. It's a farce but it's awfully silly. The last 10 minutes are really the funniest part of the whole film, when we learn that it was all for naught.
I gave it a 5 because Carson, Arnold & Morris are all quite funny in their roles--they save the whole thing. Neal & Reagan are adequate as the young couple. I could definitely see Reagan's former wife, Jane Wyman, in the Mary role--she was specializing it this kind of stuff at that point in her career. Too bad they split before they got a chance to do this movie. Neal is just all wrong for her part.