This Michael Curtiz directed film from 1938 doesn't add up to much more than a showcase for Priscilla Lane, though it is probably more known now for launching the career of John Garfield.
Lane's two sisters are in the film too, playing....well....her sisters, but they fade into the background. The main plot revolves around Lane wanting to marry one guy but not doing it because her sister is in love with the same fella, so she marries John Garfield instead, who bores her to death by constantly moping about what a loser he is. Conveniently, the movie does away with him so that Lane can marry the guy she really wants without feeling guilty. And even better, her sister decides she wasn't in love with him that much anyway and gets a different guy of her own. Yay, everyone gets a man!
It's not surprising that this movie has a completely inconsequential plot, seeing as it was based on a short story that appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine. What is more surprising is that anyone thought enough of it to nominate it for five.....yes, five.....Academy Awards, including Best Picture(!). Curtiz received a Best Director nomination, one of two he received that year (the other for "Angels with Dirty Faces"), while Garfield was the favorite to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar until Walter Brennan won it instead. The film's other two nominations were for Best Screenplay and Best Sound Recording.
Grade: B-
Lane's two sisters are in the film too, playing....well....her sisters, but they fade into the background. The main plot revolves around Lane wanting to marry one guy but not doing it because her sister is in love with the same fella, so she marries John Garfield instead, who bores her to death by constantly moping about what a loser he is. Conveniently, the movie does away with him so that Lane can marry the guy she really wants without feeling guilty. And even better, her sister decides she wasn't in love with him that much anyway and gets a different guy of her own. Yay, everyone gets a man!
It's not surprising that this movie has a completely inconsequential plot, seeing as it was based on a short story that appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine. What is more surprising is that anyone thought enough of it to nominate it for five.....yes, five.....Academy Awards, including Best Picture(!). Curtiz received a Best Director nomination, one of two he received that year (the other for "Angels with Dirty Faces"), while Garfield was the favorite to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar until Walter Brennan won it instead. The film's other two nominations were for Best Screenplay and Best Sound Recording.
Grade: B-