This Time for Keeps

"This Time For Keeps" is a pleasant little film, but it also is pretty forgettable--more like an episode of a 1950s TV sitcom than a traditional movie. Unlike a TV show, however, the film meanders very slowly to the conclusion--taking a very leisurely pace that is nice but far from exciting.

The film begins with a young married couple. The wife (Ann Rutherford) is going away for a few days and her husband (Robert Sterling) plans on living it up while she's gone. However, his fun is very short-lived as he's hopelessly married and lost without her. In the interim, her family takes him under wing--inviting him to stay with them. This also allows him to get closer to his nice-guy father-in-law (Guy Kibbee). Things end up going so well between the the men that Kibbee offers to have the young man go into business with him. They sure have become a lot closer, but Kibbee is also unintentionally smothering Sterling--and Sterling only wants a chance to make good. Eventually, his efforts to create a niche for himself in the business ends up leading to tension with his wife...and his father-in-law is oblivious to this. Can this all be worked out for a happy ending? Tune in and see if you are looking for a breezy time-passer.

This film is not objectionable at all, but it also is pretty shallow and forgettable. My advice is to see it by all means if you love old films and have some spare time. However, if this isn't the case, pick another film--one with a bit more meat to it.

MGM may have been trying out a new family series like the Hardys when it came out with This Time For Keeps. I certainly could have seen Guy Kibbee and Irene Rich as the patriarch and matriarch of another wholesome all American family.

Kibbee and Rich have two daughters, Ann Rutherford and Virginia Weidler. Rutherford is slightly beyond the newlywed stage married to Robert Sterling.

Some trouble is brewing on the horizon. Kibbee likes his son-in-law well enough, in fact he always wanted a boy. He talks him into coming into the family real estate business, but Sterling does it against his better judgment. He likes Kibbee also, but when he goes to work for him, Sterling finds Kibbee smothering any initiative he takes.

As for Weidler she's going through her teen age angst especially around young Richard Crane. All these problems naturally get resolved in the end.

This Time For Keeps is a pleasant enough family film which didn't embarrass anyone at MGM's B picture unit. And I'm sure it played well enough with any of MGM's featured products. Look quickly for a small bit by Ava Gardner and for me the hit of the film was seeing Richard Crane, the future Rocky Jones Space Ranger decked out as a ballerina at a costume party.