Drei Männer für Alison

What superb direction -- and please, hard as it is, believe this is the same Norman Taurog that basted more Elvis Presley turkeys than any other director. Here, Taurog is the star, slowed down only by an uneven cast and a script that creaked in a couple of places as it flexed its plot. Deborah Kerr is supreme, though, as the sentimental English poppy who is tricked up and down until she buckles on her sound, common sense English ingenuity and carries the day. And she had some carrying to do: co-star Mark Stevens is pure avoirdupois with no sense of the camera. Nice jackets, though. Peter Lawford is perfect as the rich guy with a sense of fun, flaunting his sleek biceps and slim waist in a swimming pool scene he steals with aplomb. The script is a beaut, too, but the way Taurog fills each scene with exposition and shtick is a joy to behold. The lighting is highly skilled 40s workmanship. And check the roulette scene for b/w colour play. But the scene that is all Seven Wonders of Hollywood script- writing rolled into one is the showdown in gangster Quinn's office. Unbeatable for its half a dozen plot twists inside three minutes. Believe me.

The film Please Believe Me is based on a simple premise, that people who are from Texas have to be rich and vulgarly so in fact. When Deborah Kerr, a most prim and proper English lass inherits property in Texas everyone assumes she inherited something like South Fork. Especially after the English tabloids get a hold of the story and she goes sailing to the other side of the pond to claim her inheritance.

On ship three guys start buzzing around Kerr, playboy Robert Walker, millionaire Peter Lawford, and lawyer Mark Stevens. Walker has a real good reason for wanting to marry her, he's owing big bucks to gangster/gambler J. Carrol Naish so his courtship is tinged with some big desperation.

People will recognize the resemblance with this and the earlier RKO Ginger Rogers classic, Tom Dick, And Harry. If you think you know who Rogers winds up with after seeing that one, you'll be wrong. Please Believe Me also bears strong resemblance to another MGM film with Jane Wyman, Three Guys Named Mike.

Kerr's career in America was zooming into high gear at this time, she was doing a number of classic films like King Solomon's Mines and Edward My Son. This one is funny, but it seems like it was done as an afterthought, all the men and her happened to be free so let's do this property we've had sitting around for a while.

Funny, but Please Believe Me won't be on anyone's top ten.

Sometimes I wonder why people who don't understand little movies like these didn't just turn them off. No offense to the other reviewers. They are, of course, entitled to their opinions.

However, for the romantics out there that can easily grasp the comic confusion of 3 men after (and sometimes not) one supposed heiress, this is a well-made romantic comedy that would hold up today with gorgeous scenery and a lovely soundtrack. I'm a chick who loves chick flicks. This isn't a guy flick by any stretch unless said guy digs chick flicks. We chicks don't get films like The Departed (this one doesn't care for it), but we romantics get a film like this.

2 of the 3 leads didn't quite make the first tier of films (one died at age 32, sadly). If this film had one more certifiable movie star, then this would have sent it to the level that might have made it memorable to many. I'm so grateful I take a chance and record films like these on TCM and then discover new faces and a new film to keep on my DVR.

This isn't the finest review. This is a suggestion to the lovers of light romantic comedy to record it the next time they see it and give it a look see. It works for me and did for this film, too:)

What's this movie really about? Who are all those characters? What do they want? This movie truly confuses me.

The movie is filled with many characters who are all after one thing; money. They think they can get it from the British Alison Kirbe (Deborah Kerr) who just inherited a livestock ranch in Texas. They all try to win her love for different reason but all money involved. After a while it starts to get extremely confusing who all those characters are, who is with who and what do they want exactly. Terence, Matthew, Jeremy, Vincent, Lucky Reilly, I mean who are all those people? They all look and act so much alike! Who's good, who's bad and for what man does Alison Kirbe eventually fall for and just why him? This movie gives me an headache just thinking about it! At the end the movie become even more confusing when everybody apparently start to scam each other, for whatever reason. The movie had reached a point at that time that I couldn't even care less what was going on and happening to the characters.

Guess the writer thought he was really being clever by putting as many plot twists as possible in the movie. It just doesn't work and makes things extremely confusing to follow. But also the entire execution of the script is below average. The movie doesn't always flow well and it seemed that director Norman Taurog also had no idea what he was shooting. The sequences are just put together after each other but it doesn't make one big well flowing whole piece.

And apparently this was supposed to be a comedy but for a comedy this movie surely does lack some laughs or even humor for that matter. Are the situations supposed to be funny? Are the characters supposed to be funny? Is the dialog supposed to be humorous? Fact is that the movie only just mildly entertains at points.

The movie gets also restrained by its settings. Its for most part set aboard a ship. It provides the movie with all of the usual sequences and settings and therefor also becomes rather formulaic.

Not a recommendable movie, unless you want an headache.

4/10

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In London, Alison Kirbe (Deborah Kerr) receives news that she has inherited a gigantic cattle ranch in Texas from old Hank whom she befriended during the war. The newspaper proclaims her to be a new heiress. In reality, Hank was prown to tall tales and his will is no exception. Alison boards a ship to American and is followed by some men with an eye for her. Terence Keath is an indebted gambler looking to steal her fortune. Vincent Maran (James Whitmore) is watching over him for his boss Lucky Reilly who owns Terence's papers. Rich bachelor Jeremy Tayler is traveling with his lawyer Matthew Kinston who is suspicious of Alison.

The funniest scene is probably the group of old men reading old Hank's will. I love the donkey. The whole section is deadpan hilarity. The rest of the movie is a bit bland. I don't know if Kerr has any comedic chops. She shows a bit of it here or there but she needs to be so much more wackier. The writing doesn't give her enough telephone poles to help her get there. The guys do have some fun at times. Whitmore comes the closest with his constant frustration. It's light. It's harmless. It's nearly funny.