You For Me (1952)

You For Me is a cute comedy from the early 1950s starring Jane Greer, Peter Lawford, and Gig Young.

            While Tony Brown (Lawford) is out hunting he gets shot in the behind. Katie (Greer) is an OR nurse. She had wanted to go out that night to get a new dress for a dance that night but she is told she has to stay longer when Tony is brought in. Tony gives the hospital Katie works at one hundred thousand dollars a year. Katie gets fresh with Tony not knowing who he is and he takes the money away. After his surgery Katie is fired and the head nurse tells her she will never work in another hospital again.

            Doctor Jeff Chadwick (Young) benefits the most from Tony’s funding. He wants to find Katie to tell her to say sorry to Tony for what she said. At the dance that night when Jeff figures out who Katie is he is mad at her but then he softens up and asks her to have a drink with him. Jeff wants to have Katie get her job back and gets the nursing supervisor to do so. Jeff, the nursing supervisor and the head of the hospital want Katie to talk to Tony about the funding.

            When Katie goes to talk to Tony at his house his ex-wife is there asking for more money. Tony likes Katie and wants her to come over his house after she gets out of work to take care of him. After she leaves Tony’s house Jeff takes her to his place for dinner where he lives with his aunt. He shows her the monkeys he keeps for research purposes down his basement. They talk and soon they kiss.

            The next night Tony comes to pick up Katie for their date. He sits down on a chair and a spring come out getting him right in his behind which is still healing. The whole family keeps talking away and embarrasses Katie somewhat. Jeff comes to the house saying he was checking on her sister who is pregnant. He also checks out Tony and says that his wound needs to be checked out at the hospital and that Katie needs to check out her sister’s blood pressure. At the hospital Jeff goes to the supervisor and tells her he does not like that Katie is being used and that they have to get someone else to get Tony to give the hospital the money. The supervisor tells Jeff that even with the money the hospital is still in the hole. They can get along without him and his research if necessary.

            Both Katie and Tony get a call to meet at a motel with the message that the other has been hurt. When they arrive there a photographer show up and takes a picture of them. The ex-wife has set them up for blackmail. When Katie arrives home her brother-in-law is in trouble from a bad business deal that Tony had helped him with. Tony believes the only way to make things right with Katie is to ask her to marry him. He buys a new house for her parents.

            Eventually Tony realizes that Katie really loves Jeff.

            So You For Me is not one of the best romantic comedies ever but, as I said, it was cute. I only watched this film for Jane Greer and she was fabulous. This is weird but I love Jane Greer’s face she was not gorgeous she was pretty and for some reason I love looking at her (let’s not even talk about how incredible she was in Out of the Past I have so many screencaps of her in that film). I need to watch Jane Greer in  more films, besides her face, I do like her acting. Peter Lawford was alright I am not a big fan of his. He just seemed like he did not want to be making the film and just rushed all his lines. Gig Young really did nothing for me I barely remember his performance. Unless you like Jane Greer or Peter Lawford or Gig Young I cannot suggest watching the film otherwise. You For Me is not available on Youtube or DVD. Keep an eye out for it on TCM.

 

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.  

Dead Ringer (1964)

“I've gotten so I'm afraid to turn around for fear of what will happen next.” 

            Dead Ringer was the first time I have seen Bette Davis in a film outside the Golden Age of Hollywood. This is also the first time I have ever seen her in one of her later creepy roles. Here role here is made even creepier because she plays twins with totally different personalities. The plot is unbelievable and crazy but I had a good time sitting through it.

            Edith Phillips (Davis) attends the funeral of her brother-in-law Frank DeLorca. She has not seen her twin sister Margaret in years. Margaret sees Edith and invites her sister back to her house. Once the sisters get to talking we find out that Margaret stole Frank away from Edith by claiming she was pregnant. Edith never forgave her sister and was even more upset over the fact that there never was any baby her sister just flat out stole the man she truly loved from her.

 

 

            Edith goes back to her place above a bar that she owns. The owner of the building says she has until the following week to move out because she is very late on the rent. Her friend Jim Hobbson, a local cop, stops by for a few minutes. He really likes Edith it is noticeable on his face and the way he is made comfortable in the home. Jim sees that Edith is a little shaken up when she asks him to take her out anywhere that night just to get out.

            When Jim leaves Edith calls Margaret to come over, she wants to talk to her. Edith plans to kill her ungrateful sister and take her place in her big house and have all her money. She carefully arranges her apartment and fixes her hair to look like Margaret’s. She even hides a gun in a drawer besides a chair. When Margaret comes over Edith has her sit in the chair by the drawer where the gun is. Edith pulls the gun out and kills her sister.

 

 

            Things go pretty well for Edith as Margaret for a while. But after a while Jim starts pocking around investigating “Edith’s” death and Margaret’s lover Tony Collins (Peter Lawford) comes into the picture. Tony knows something is off about his lover when he notices her smoking which Margaret had quit and the dog all the sudden liking her. He tells her he knows her secret and begins to blackmail her. Jim has Tony looked into and they find that he had purchased arsenic. He concludes that arsenic has the same symptoms of a heart attack and has Frank’s body dug up.

            In the end Edith gets a kind of payback from her Margaret for killing her.

            I am not a huge fan of Bette Davis, I like her but I am not like a huge fan I can usually take or leave her films. I have to say though after sitting through this film I think I like Davis better in her later films! I have read that Davis was a bit of a bitch and it seems that with her later roles that side of her was able to come out! She definitely played the bitchiness very well here. Davis did a good job of playing the twins with the different personalities at the beginning.

            Now the whole reason I even wanted to sit through this film was because Jean Hagen is in it. Anyone who does not recognize her name ought to be ashamed of themselves because Hagen played the absolutely fabulous and completely hysterical Lena Lamont in Singin in the Rain. She was only in like two or three scenes but I love seeing her in anything no matter how long her screen time is. Her character Dede Marshall is shallow and a very fast talker. If you have never seen Jean Hagen outside of Lena Lamont you may not even recognize her at all because the woman did not have blonde hair nor did she have a squeaky high pitched voice.

            Peter Lawford in his short scenes was a creep. The guy fit the part perfectly because he did look like a slimeball who just looked out for themselves.

 

            Paul Henreid, who I have only ever seen act in Casablanca and Devotion, directed the film. He did a fantastic job in creating a suspenseful atmosphere and got some great shots. Henreid gave the film a Noir look and feel which added greatly to the unbelievable plot.

            Dead Ringer has an unbelievable plot but a critic at the time perfectly said that the film is farfetched but fun. I liked how if Margaret had lived her whole plan most likely would have worked her husband’s death would have just stayed at natural causes but because Edith was upset and killed her and Jim got involved everything fell apart. It was interesting to see how Edith’s/Margaret’s life unraveled the way it did. 

 

Julia Misbehaves (1948)

As a lover of classic films I often have a very difficult time finding films on DVD and even on youtube and through downloading sites. Thankfully I get TCM so I am able to catch many classic films that are unavailable anywhere else. Often I will see an excellent old film on TCM, look for it on Amazon or to download, and if it is not available I am left wishing to no end it was available on DVD. Julia Misbehaves starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon was one such old film that left wishing it was on DVD.

            Julia Packett (Garson) is a dancer and actor who makes very little money. Several years ago she was married to a man named William Packett (Pidgeon) and they had a daughter together but he left her because as he said he did not love her anymore and she let him take their daughter Susan so she could have a better life. They are still technically married they never divorced. Julia gets an invitation in the mail for Susan’s wedding. She has to go even though she has not seen her daughter in so long.

            William lives with his mother and daughter in the south of France. His mother is a pain in the behind and very overbearing and is no doubt the reason why William left Julia. When his mother finds out Julia is coming to the wedding she has her son meet his former wife in Paris to stop her from coming. On the ship over to France Julia meets an acrobat named Fred Ghenocchio (Caesar Romero) and his family. She decides to join his act for one night leaving a note with William that she cannot go out to dinner with him because she has accepted an invitation to the opera. William figures out where she is and sees her show.

            Julia never did see William in Paris and gets to his home before him. His mother is none too pleased but Julia could care less she just wants to see her daughter. She finally does and Susan (played by a sixteen year old Elizabeth Taylor) is beautiful. Julia finds out that Susan sent the invitation. The two women hug and cry after so many years apart. Julia decides to make up for all the years and Christmases missed she is going to buy gifts for her daughter but unfortunately she does not have any money. She goes to a gambling house loses her money but finds a very nice rich old man who is more than willing to give her money for some dresses he thinks she is buying for herself.

            She sneaks out on the old man and when she gets back to the house William opens the door for her. As soon as they see each other their old spark is reunited between them.

            As the film progresses Julia sees that Susan is not really in love with the man her grandmother has set her to marry she really loves a boy named Ritchie (Peter Lawford). William and Julia begin to fall back in love but two slight problems arise when Fred and his mother come by and the man Julia took money from is a friend of William’s (William sets up a gag with his friend that helps to get rid of Fred).

            This was my first time watching a Greer Garson film and one of her famous pairings with Walter Pidgeon.  I loved Greer Garson in this film I she was so hysterical. I know she is more famous for her dramas and won an Academy Award for Mrs. Miniver but she was so fantastic in this comedy. I was cracking up to no end when Julia did her stage show with Fred and his brothers. She had to be up in a tower singing and the brothers would climb onto each other and get her down. Well, Julia was not too happy about that she was terrified so she kept messing up the brothers and her singing. When she got down and finished her number she saw some sailors from the Royal Navy and sang their song. The whole time she is singing she is moving around on stage and the brothers are trying to get her off the stage but they keep pulling off some of her clothing like her wrap around her skirt and her gloves. You would have to see it I was cracking up. The ending is adorable: Julia is determined not to be left along with William in the middle of nowhere in his vacation house so she treks it out during a storm but he is watching the whole time. Julia gets stuck in the mud and digs out her shoe and slides down some fire wood. William comes out and the two of them are stuck in the mud. Garson was fantastic I enjoyed her so much I cannot wait to see her in her other films.

            Elizabeth Taylor was gorgeous and usually she gets on my nerves to no end but I really liked her in this film she actually acted nicely. The whole time Susan claims she does not like Ritchie because he fell in love with her and started kissing her but after talking to Julia and being purposely scared by a bear she sees how much she loved him. Peter Lawford was adorable he was so cute when he was younger.

            Julia Misbehaves is an adorable film. Not too many things are explained such as the whole reason why William broke things off and there is no animosity from Susan towards her mother for leaving her. The film came out after WWII when people really wanted something light and to forget about their problems for a while so there is no heavy explaining which is fine and it fit the storyline. It was nice to see an old film not look so much to the past but look ahead Julia was not a woman to really look backward she was looking forward.

            I really wish Julia Misbehaves was on DVD. Hopefully Warner Archives will eventually. If TCM airs the film again definitely catch it.