It was champagne that brought them together, and I'm wondering how much of the bubbly the screenwriter had when they wrote this, and how much champagne that Olivia deHavilland and ray Milland drank when they signed to make this. Milland, fresh from hiding booze in chandeliers in "The Lost Weekend" was celebrating his Oscar victory perhaps, but deHavilland's first Oscar was a year away. It wasn't for this, one of the more embarrassing examples of screwball comedy and long made after the height of that sophisticated genre.
After searching San Francisco for much of the first half for the largest bottle of champagne, rivals Milland and deHavilland end up on his navy ship, arguing with captain James Gleason over why the navy should have the bottle to christen a ship over deHavilland who wants it for her wedding to another Navy lieutenant, that great screen actor of such raw emotional power, Sonny Tufts. It doesn't take Milland and deHavilland long to discover their feelings for each other, leading to more ridiculous complications that bring the film down even more.
If the thought of Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main is a bizarre combination, try Kilbride playing deHavilland's father. Slinky Constance Dowling adds sultry seduction as the woman who initiates a split between deHavilland and Tuft. Her hairstyle here is reminiscent to Lauren Bacall's, already copied by Lizabeth Scott and K.T. Stevens. This seems to be the type of script put together through shuffled word cards, formulating a plot that reeks of desperation for all involved.
After searching San Francisco for much of the first half for the largest bottle of champagne, rivals Milland and deHavilland end up on his navy ship, arguing with captain James Gleason over why the navy should have the bottle to christen a ship over deHavilland who wants it for her wedding to another Navy lieutenant, that great screen actor of such raw emotional power, Sonny Tufts. It doesn't take Milland and deHavilland long to discover their feelings for each other, leading to more ridiculous complications that bring the film down even more.
If the thought of Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main is a bizarre combination, try Kilbride playing deHavilland's father. Slinky Constance Dowling adds sultry seduction as the woman who initiates a split between deHavilland and Tuft. Her hairstyle here is reminiscent to Lauren Bacall's, already copied by Lizabeth Scott and K.T. Stevens. This seems to be the type of script put together through shuffled word cards, formulating a plot that reeks of desperation for all involved.