Honeymoon for Three

Slim comedy that boasts terrific comic performances by stars Sheridan and Brent as bickering secretary/boss who confront a hoard of adoring women fans who flock to see their favorite author (Brent). Good support from old reliables like Charlie Ruggles, Walter Catlett, Lee Patrick, and Jane Wyman in a small part. The stars are definitely better than their material here, but the film has a lot of funny lines and cute confrontations. Ann Sheridan--one of the most underrated actresses of her time--is especially gorgeous!

An interesting cast tries to keep this comedy afloat and on course, but the story is riddled with inconsistencies and irrelevancies. The plot is preposterous.

Author Kenneth Bixby (George Brent) has just become engaged to his secretary Anne Rogers (Ann Sheridan), when a former flame shows up. He does not even remember her at first, but for some reason he seems determined to sneak off with the nutty woman, even after discovering she is married. Then the slighted husband shows up and a flock of attorneys starts hovering, looking for lucrative lawsuits.

Brent plays it for screwball, as do most of the cast. Sheridan, though, is pragmatic, sarcastic, and sophisticated. She holds the entire production together. This beauty's career was too short and underappreciated. Without Ann Sheridan, this film would have been a noisy, noxious mess. As it is, it deserves watching; just don't expect "The Philadelphia Story". Besides, this story takes place in Cleveland.

George Brent and his future wife Ann Sheridan star in "Honeymoon for Three," a 1941 film, featuring Osa Massen, Charles Ruggles, Jane Wyman, and William T. Orr (who became a very big producer for Warner Bros.).

Brent is Kenneth Bixby, a best-selling author of a new book, Miriam, who is traveling with his secretary Anne Rogers (Ann Sheridan), whom he wants to marry, on a book tour. While in Cleveland, he is accosted by his college sweetheart Julie (Massen), who wants him back and believes she is the Miriam of his book. She is currently married to Harvey Wilson (Ruggles).

An attorney, Arthur, and his fiancée Elizabeth, don't want a scandal in the Wilson family and want Bixby and Julie kept apart. Wilson, meanwhile, has been hearing about Bixby for years and wants to see him, so he shows up at Bixby's suite. Anne is furious, Julie wants a divorce, and Wilson wants Bixby to marry Julie so that he can be rid of her.

Mildly funny comedy and a routine one. Everyone is commenting on George Brent's comedy expertise. I actually didn't get that. He held his own, certainly, but this was more of a Cary Grant role. I frankly think Errol Flynn, though he wasn't known for it, was better at comedy than Brent. Also, it stretched credibility that Brent was in college ten years earlier with Massen.

Ann Sheridan is in her milieu here and adds a lot of spark to the film. She also looks wonderful and does a great rumba. Jane Wyman, alas, has a very small role.

There is a scene where Brent is having dinner with Massen on one side of the restaurant and Sheridan, Ruggles, Westlake, and Wyman on the other side, with the same waiter for both tables, who believes he is going crazy. That scene is good but could have been much better.

Pleasant.

The individual scenes and performances are hilarious, but if you sit back and look at the big picture it really doesn't make much sense. Author Kenneth Bixby (George Brent) has proposed to his secretary Anne (Ann Sheridan), and in the first scene she accepts. Apparently Ken has a roving eye for the ladies, and Anne knows this yet is ready to marry this guy. Now maybe that might make sense because love generally trumps common sense. What doesn't make sense is when Ken's now married old flame of eight years ago, Julie (Osa Massen), shows up acting like a groupie with Ken not even remembering her at first, yet he still agrees to have a romantic rendezvous with her. Ken is supposed to be such the ladie's man yet he acts like Julie is a hot potato he would just as soon get rid of - so why doesn't he? Ken behaves more like a kleptomaniac than a great lover - carting Julie around like a stolen watch where the thrill of the crime is much more exciting than the ill gotten loot to which he is largely indifferent. Likewise, secretary Anne seems to enjoy catching Ken in the act of lying about other women and doesn't seem disappointed in his behavior at all.

The individual scenes, witty dialogue, and performances make up for all of this to a degree. There is the great Charlie Ruggles as Julie's husband who is grateful that someone has come along - Ken - to finally rid him of her annoying presence without him having to pay alimony. Then there is Jane Wyman as Julie's cousin and William Orr as her overbearing fiancé who want to insert themselves into the Julie/Ken romance as the keepers of decency with their elaborate schemes to keep the two apart.

It's a good thing this is a comedy because there is nobody to sympathize with in this film. Julie would be a sympathetic figure if she just wasn't so manic and emotionally needy. Likewise I'd feel sorry for Anne if she didn't have the annoying habit of undoing Ken's one positive character trait - that of being a big tipper. Anytime Ken leaves a tip she takes it out of the waiter's hand and replaces it with something much smaller.

I'd recommend this one if you are just willing to take off your thinking cap, laugh, and enjoy.

Who would ever think that amiable, but rather wooden, George Brent could have a deft comedic touch? In this, as a put-upon author, he is terrific, engagingly silly, with great timing. Maybe it is the truly snappy dialogue by the Epstein brothers, who worked on so many great Warners films, including Casablanca. Or maybe it was playing opposite Ann Sheridan (a year or so after the movie was made the two were married for a year). As Brent's long-suffering secretary, Sheridan also shines, as she did in most of her films, and is absolutely gorgeous as well. The film is fast-paced farce, with a double-dinner restaurant scene that is positively manic. If you ever get a chance to see this movie, grab it. It will leave you smiling.