Letitia TISH' Carberry enjoys nothing more than controlling the lives & romances of all around her, aided and abetted by her two dearest friends - Lizzie Wilkins and Aggie Pilkington.
The popular characters from the stories by Mary Roberts Rinehart come alive in this funny, nostalgic (and nearly forgotten) film. Helping immeasurably in the movie's success is the casting of a trio of Hollywood's finest comedic character actresses. Bossy & down-to-earth, Marjorie Main tackles the title role and wrestles it into submission, her ever-present Swear Box ready to accept the coins she must deposit whenever she unlooses one of her colorful, G-rated oaths. As sensible Lizzie, Aline MacMahon brings a patrician respectability to her part, although that doesn't keep her from sitting on a rowboat's leak at a crucial moment. ZaSu Pitts becomes vague, fluttery Aggie, who still writes a hilarious memorial poem on the anniversary of her sweetheart's death.
Guy Kibbee is very droll as the judge whose life is made a misery by the feminine triumvirate. Among the young persons in whose lives they interfere are pretty Susan Peters & Virginia Grey. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Nora Cecil as one of the old ladies at the boarding house.
The film benefits from MGM's typically fine production values. The story becomes unexpectedly serious near the end, but by the closing moments hilarity reigns again as Tish once more starts to meddle.
The popular characters from the stories by Mary Roberts Rinehart come alive in this funny, nostalgic (and nearly forgotten) film. Helping immeasurably in the movie's success is the casting of a trio of Hollywood's finest comedic character actresses. Bossy & down-to-earth, Marjorie Main tackles the title role and wrestles it into submission, her ever-present Swear Box ready to accept the coins she must deposit whenever she unlooses one of her colorful, G-rated oaths. As sensible Lizzie, Aline MacMahon brings a patrician respectability to her part, although that doesn't keep her from sitting on a rowboat's leak at a crucial moment. ZaSu Pitts becomes vague, fluttery Aggie, who still writes a hilarious memorial poem on the anniversary of her sweetheart's death.
Guy Kibbee is very droll as the judge whose life is made a misery by the feminine triumvirate. Among the young persons in whose lives they interfere are pretty Susan Peters & Virginia Grey. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Nora Cecil as one of the old ladies at the boarding house.
The film benefits from MGM's typically fine production values. The story becomes unexpectedly serious near the end, but by the closing moments hilarity reigns again as Tish once more starts to meddle.