Harrison's Reports (1953)

50 HARRISON’S REPORTS March 28, 1953 “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” with Doris Day and Gordon MacRae (Warner Bros., May 2; time, 102 min.) This Technicolor musical is a pleasurable follow' up to “On Moonlight Bay,” with all the principal players repeating their characterizations. This time the action takes place in 1919 and, though the story has its deficiencies, it shapes up as a warm and ap' pealing entertainment, with plentiful light comedy situations, and with a good number of songs, most of them old favorites, which are put over by Doris Day and Gordon MacRae in fine fashion. The romantic complications involving MacRae and Miss Day are amusing, but most of the comedy stems from the family’s erroneous assumption that Leon Ames, the father, is carrying on an affair with a glamourous French actress. It has its slow spots here and there, and on occasion the situations are to contrived to be funny, but on the whole it is the type of enter' tainment that is easy to take and that leaves one hum' ming the tunes when the picture is over: — Returning home from World War I, MacRae finds Doris and her parents (Leon Ames and Rosemary DeCamp) contemplating his immediate marriage to her. He makes it clear to Doris that he wants time to build a “nest egg,” and this leads to a lover’s quarrel. MacRae, however, starts work in Ames’ bank. One evening Ames keeps a business appointment with Maria Palmer, French actress, who was seeking to lease a theatre operated by the bank. He approves the script of her play, except for a passionately ro' mantic speech, of which he makes a copy in order to discuss it with his associates at the bank. This copy is inadvertently seen by Doris, Billy Gray, her imagina' tive 12'year'old brother, and Mary Wickes, the maid, and all three assume that it is a love letter to Maria. Keeping this discovery to themselves, Doris and Billy set about to bring their “erring” father back to their mother’s loving arms. From then on every move made by Ames is misinterpreted. Through a series of mixups, MacRae sees the “love note” and thinks that another man had written it to Doris. Billy, in attempting to set MacRae straight, allows the news of his father’s “philandering” to spread all over town. Every one begins to feel sympathy for Rose' mary but acts cool to Ames. It is not until Maria arrives on the scene to inquire about the theatre lease that the misunderstanding is cleared up to the happiness of all. William Jacobs produced it, and David Butler directed it, from a screenplay by Robert O’Brien and Irving Elinson, as suggested by Booth Tarkington’s Penrod stories. Family entertainment. “The Lady Wants Mink” with Dennis O’Keefe, Ruth Hussey, Eve Arden and William Demarest ( Republic , March 30; time, 92 min.) A pleasing domestic comedy, photographed in Tru' color. There are a few husband'and-wife spats and reconcilliations, but the disagreements are not disturb' ing, for the characters are presented as nice people. The same holds true for their two youngsters, aged seven and nine, who are presented as real boys and not as devils. The comedy stems from the fact that the wife, desirous of a mink coat likes the one owned by her neighbor, decides to breed her own minks. The action is mostly humorous, and one is kept chuckling throughout. Dennis O’Keefe and Ruth Hussey are ingratiating in the leading roles, and William Demarest and Eve Arden contribute considerable comedy as their warm-hearted neighbors. The color photo' graphy is very good: — O’Keefe, a department store accountant, feels unhappy about being unable to present Ruth with an expensive mink coat on her birthday, such as had been done by Demarest, a flashy used-car dealer, when Eve had a birthday. Ruth, happy with O’Keefe and their two boys (Tommy Retting and Earl Robie), thinks nothing of the matter. But when Eve makes an innocent joke about Ruth raising her own fur coat, Ruth visits Hope Emerson, a mink breeder, and purchases several minks to breed them herself. O’Keefe, tries to stop her but to no avail. From than on other troubles follow rapidly. Ruth’s innocent interest in a handsome mink breeder is misinterpreted by O’Keefe and leads to a quarrel; O’Keefe, upset, insults Gene Lockhart, his boss, and loses his job; and their landlady compels them to move because the raising of minks violated the lease. Taking command of the situation, Ruth sells all but a male and female mink and with the proceeds buys an old shack in the country. O’Keefe rebels against the move but grudgingly helps to make the house liveable, while Ruth attends to the minks and her household duties, and while the children become avid vegetable gardeners. In due time they transform the old farm into a dream place and the minks multiply to a point where they are worth thousands of dollars. Ruth decides to sell the place out of consideration for O’Keefe, but by this time he is so happy and contented that he rejects the idea of selling. His newly acquired pride and selfrespect are complete when Demarest and Eve come to visit them and decide to buy an adjoining piece of property; he now feels that the “Demarests” are keeping up with the “O’Keefes.” William A. Seiter produced and directed it from, a screenplay by Dane Lussier and Richard Alan Simmons, based on a story by Leonard Neubauer and Lou Schor. Family entertainment. “Penny Princess” with an all-English cast ( UniV'Int'l , March; time, 91 min.) A moderately amusing British-made comedy, photographed in Technicolor. Its story of an American girl who inherits a bankrupt mythical European kingdom and of her efforts to put it on a paying basis is lightweight, and it does have its charming and comical moments, but on the whole its humor is too weak to evoke more than some mild chuckles. Moreover, it drags in many spots and its running time is much too long for the slender tale it has to tell. It probably will have little appeal for the general run of American audiences but may fare better in theatres that specialize in British and other foreign product. The production itself is good, and so is the acting, but the script leaves much to be desired: — Yolanda Donlan, a New York sales girl, inherits a vast fortune from a distant relative, including the European State of Lampidorra, a quaint country he had bought for himself. She heads for Lampidorra to become its ruler, and finds it snuggled in the mountains between the French, Italian and Swiss frontiers. There she meets Dick Bogarde, a handsome young Englishman, who was on a mission to popularize British brands of cheese on the Continent. After being received royally by the Lampidorrans, Yolande discovers that the country is broke and that its only