This 1948 B&W romantic comedy was adapted from the play of the same name, written by Elma Rice. See it at YouTube. It's difficult for me to give a rating. Some will like it, while others won't. I'm somewhere in the middle. The central character Betty Hutton plays (Georgina) is so different from her typical film, she was barely recognizable to me. Especially, her halting speech manner is irritating to me. A better title would have been "Girl Dreaming", for it's her propensity to indulge excessively in daydreaming that is the central problem to be solved. She seems perpetually unsure of herself, immersed in writing a novel about a family she considers ideal. We are treated to 6 of her daydreams, 4 of which are positive experiences for her, while 2 are like nightmares.
Betty has a crush on Jim Lucas(Patric Knowles), who is about to marry her sister Miriam (Virginia Field). During the wedding, she daydreams that, at the alter, Jim suddenly says no, and after consultation with Betty, she replaces her sister as the bride.
Her next daydream relates to the provision in her uncle's will that she and Mariam will inherit some oil wells after their mother dies. Her sister suggests that could be many years from now. She daydreams her mother suddenly dies, making her wealthy. She says now she can give most of her money to the needy.
During this time and afterward, a man called Clark Redfield keeps bugging her, showing up unexpectedly or calling her on the phone, often making insulting remarks about her or her recent first novel. Also, someone arranged a date for her with a George Hand, who asks her to go with him on a Mexico trip. Clark claims that he is married. She has a daydream that she is met in Mexico by Hand's wife, who points her pistol at Betty. She struggles with the gun, which fires, killing the wife. This is followed by a daydream that she has fled to a tropical island, where she is a low class entertainer in a honkytonk. She takes poison and dies.
Jim and Miriam are divorcing, since Jim made a big mistake at his job of reviewing book manuscripts. Jim asks Betty if she will go with him to Reno to get a divorce, and suggests they might marry and live on a ranch in the West. This sounds romantic to Betty. She daydreams she has married Jim and has just given birth. She doesn't consider that Jim has no experience living on a farm or ranch.
Betty is conflicted whether to go with Jim to Reno , or go on a date with the persistent Clark to dinner, followed by a production of "Madame Butterfly". She decides to try to do both, since Jim's plane leaves very late in the evening. During dinner, Clark continues to make critical remarks relating to Betty, especially her lack of experience in real life, without her parent's support. Nonetheless, Betty is beginning to show some positive interest in him. While at the opera, Betty daydreams that the lead female is suddenly taken sick. The director chooses her to take her place. She does a very impressive job singing Cho-Cho-San, showing that she can be successful at something.(I suspect someone dubbed Betty on this one, if indeed it was Betty on stage.) Afterward, Clark quips "Dreaming is easy. Life is hard", referring to her relative lack of real life experiences. He talks about himself, and Betty is impressed. He works as a newspaper sports columnist. He asks again if she wants to take a taxi to the airport to hopefully go with Jim. She says yes.(Sort of like the "Casablanca" situation.) I will stop here and let you see the film to find out the finale.
Why did Clark, coming out of nowhere, decide to start chasing Betty, but usually belittle her? The standard Hollywood formula for the romantic aspects of a film was for the girl to hate the boy initially, then, gradually or suddenly at the end, change her mind, for various reasons. However, Clark is an extreme case of this formula. Realistically, it's hard to believe that Betty would put up with Clark's constant stalking(by foot and phone)and criticisms to get to the point where they have an evening date. She finally came to see that
his criticisms were often valid. On the other hand, Jim had failed at his job, and had no clear prospects for the future, offering a pipe dream that probably wouldn't turn out. Clark, on the other hand, had a steady job as a newspaper sports critic.
Patric Knowles' speech sounded just like that of Errol Flynn. In fact, he costarred in several Flynn movies, serving as Will Scarlet, in "The Adventures of Robin Hood", for example. Virginia Field played sister Miriam. Walter Able played the father, while Peggy Wood played the mother. Peggy also would play the mother in the TV series "I Remember Mama" running from 1949-57....Zamah Cunningham played Betty's music teacher, whom several reviewers found amusing.
Betty has a crush on Jim Lucas(Patric Knowles), who is about to marry her sister Miriam (Virginia Field). During the wedding, she daydreams that, at the alter, Jim suddenly says no, and after consultation with Betty, she replaces her sister as the bride.
Her next daydream relates to the provision in her uncle's will that she and Mariam will inherit some oil wells after their mother dies. Her sister suggests that could be many years from now. She daydreams her mother suddenly dies, making her wealthy. She says now she can give most of her money to the needy.
During this time and afterward, a man called Clark Redfield keeps bugging her, showing up unexpectedly or calling her on the phone, often making insulting remarks about her or her recent first novel. Also, someone arranged a date for her with a George Hand, who asks her to go with him on a Mexico trip. Clark claims that he is married. She has a daydream that she is met in Mexico by Hand's wife, who points her pistol at Betty. She struggles with the gun, which fires, killing the wife. This is followed by a daydream that she has fled to a tropical island, where she is a low class entertainer in a honkytonk. She takes poison and dies.
Jim and Miriam are divorcing, since Jim made a big mistake at his job of reviewing book manuscripts. Jim asks Betty if she will go with him to Reno to get a divorce, and suggests they might marry and live on a ranch in the West. This sounds romantic to Betty. She daydreams she has married Jim and has just given birth. She doesn't consider that Jim has no experience living on a farm or ranch.
Betty is conflicted whether to go with Jim to Reno , or go on a date with the persistent Clark to dinner, followed by a production of "Madame Butterfly". She decides to try to do both, since Jim's plane leaves very late in the evening. During dinner, Clark continues to make critical remarks relating to Betty, especially her lack of experience in real life, without her parent's support. Nonetheless, Betty is beginning to show some positive interest in him. While at the opera, Betty daydreams that the lead female is suddenly taken sick. The director chooses her to take her place. She does a very impressive job singing Cho-Cho-San, showing that she can be successful at something.(I suspect someone dubbed Betty on this one, if indeed it was Betty on stage.) Afterward, Clark quips "Dreaming is easy. Life is hard", referring to her relative lack of real life experiences. He talks about himself, and Betty is impressed. He works as a newspaper sports columnist. He asks again if she wants to take a taxi to the airport to hopefully go with Jim. She says yes.(Sort of like the "Casablanca" situation.) I will stop here and let you see the film to find out the finale.
Why did Clark, coming out of nowhere, decide to start chasing Betty, but usually belittle her? The standard Hollywood formula for the romantic aspects of a film was for the girl to hate the boy initially, then, gradually or suddenly at the end, change her mind, for various reasons. However, Clark is an extreme case of this formula. Realistically, it's hard to believe that Betty would put up with Clark's constant stalking(by foot and phone)and criticisms to get to the point where they have an evening date. She finally came to see that
his criticisms were often valid. On the other hand, Jim had failed at his job, and had no clear prospects for the future, offering a pipe dream that probably wouldn't turn out. Clark, on the other hand, had a steady job as a newspaper sports critic.
Patric Knowles' speech sounded just like that of Errol Flynn. In fact, he costarred in several Flynn movies, serving as Will Scarlet, in "The Adventures of Robin Hood", for example. Virginia Field played sister Miriam. Walter Able played the father, while Peggy Wood played the mother. Peggy also would play the mother in the TV series "I Remember Mama" running from 1949-57....Zamah Cunningham played Betty's music teacher, whom several reviewers found amusing.