Please Believe Me (1950)

There is a reason Please Believe Me is not a very well known classic film. It is not terrible it is just dull. There is nothing too funny or entertaining about it, the story falls apart almost from the moment the men start flocking around Deborah Kerr.

            For a number of years Alison Kirbe (Kerr) has been corresponding with an older American man named Hank she met during World War II when he was stationed there. He has passed away and she learns that Hank has left all his land to her down in Texas. Alison’s name is splashed all over the papers as an heiress to a Texas ranch.

            As soon as Alison steps onto the pier where she is to take a ship to America she is approached by a man named Terrence Keath (Robert Walker). His “helper” Victor takes Alison’s luggage away as if by accident. On board the ship Alison is brought from her second class cabin to a first class cabin in a room of her own. Terrence has given her his room. He claims that Hank was an old family friend and wants to help her out. At first Alison does not want the room but eventually changes her mind and says she will pay him back once she gets her money.

            Turns out, Terence is pulling a scam on Alison. His “helper” Victor was hired by Reilly the guy who Terence owes money to keep an eye on him. Terence’s idea was to marry a rich woman and he set his sights on Alison. He has been doing things to win Alison over such as giving her the room and his place at the captain’s table.

            Terence’s plan starts to fall apart when Alison meets Jeremy Taylor (Peter Lawford) and his lawyer Matt Kinston at dinner. Jeremy is a millionaire looking for someone to marry and Matt is his advisor keeping an eye on his client in case anyone tries to pull anything on him.

            For the next few days all three men try to get Alison to fall for them. Matt finds out that Terence is connected to Reilly and he think Alison is working with him and Victor to get Jeremy’s money. Matt tells Jeremy this but Jeremy does not care at all… for a while.

            Alison’s situation and the plot begin to fall apart once she lands in New York.

            Debroah Kerr was the only redeeming quality of this film. She was adorable and perfect. Kerr did a great job with what she was given to work with. I laughed so hard with her in two scenes. One scene is jokingly telling Terence how she cannot ride in a train in America because she watches the telephone poles go by on the right- then she moves her head as if watching the poles go by on a train- when in England she is used to the poles being on the left and she makes the same head motion with her head to the left. Kerr was so adorable in this scene I could not take it! Her second funny scene was when she goes to see Reilly to help out Terence and she just blazes into the room without a care or concern all tough and brave and tells the gangster how things are going to be and even scares his guard dog on the way out. You would have to see the scenes but trust me they were really funny.

            Robert Walker was his usual paranoid nervous self. Peter Lawford was alright I am not too crazy about him.

            Please Believe Me is worth seeing at least once and that is all especially if you are a fan of Deborah Kerr. Please Believe Me is not available on DVD or Youtube if TCM airs the film again give it a chance if you want.