Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore

I adore Simone Simon. She's just as cute as a button isn't she? Obviously she's most remembered today for Cat People and (maybe) The Devil and Daniel Webster, but this is a rare starring role for her in a wartime romantic comedy. She plays a superstitious girl from Quebec who comes to Washington, DC to work at a defense plant. When her roommate gets married, she's left without a place to stay. She lucks out when she meets a Marine about to ship out. He gives her the key to his apartment to stay there while he's away. But what he fails to tell her is that he's also given keys to some of his friends so they have a place to crash when they are in town. This leads to several comedic situations where the men show up unannounced and the nosy neighbor lady gets all the wrong ideas. Then it's just a wait to see which lucky guy Simone winds up with in the end. You will NOT guess, let me assure you of that!

Simone is absolutely charming in this and funny, too. Her thick accent may make her hard to understand at times but who cares -- she's irresistible! James Ellison and William Terry play the main two guys who fall for her. Both seem kind of plain and uninteresting, which hurts the movie overall. Robert Mitchum appears in a small role that's been overstated in publicity due to his becoming a big star years after this. Horror movie staple Rondo Hatton has a 'blink and you'll miss him' bit as an undertaker. In a sad piece of trivia, this is the last screen appearance of Billy Laughlin, who played Froggy in the Our Gang shorts. Laughlin retired from movies after this and, four years later, was killed when a truck hit him while riding a motor scooter with a friend.

It's a flimsy story but it's helped greatly by Simone's sparkling screen presence and a great twist ending. Love the little bits of business involving the gremlin Rumpelstilzken, voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc. The lack of a strong male actor who had good chemistry with Simone is the film's biggest flaw. Still, if you're a fan of hers or just a fan of light comedies from the '40s, you will probably enjoy this one.

"Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is a wartime comedy that centers around the housing shortage. From the very beginning, the film falls flat for two reasons. Firstly, the star is Simone Simon, whose French accent is distracting. More importantly, her nominal understanding of the English language derails some lines that could be funnier if she knew where to place emphases.

But the bulk of the blame lies with the script, which might have done better as a play. Most of the gags are almost humorless. I doubt that any actress could have made a winner of this collection of overworked and uninspired lines.

The "hijinks" begin when Simon (Kathie Aumont) spills a salt shaker. A gremlin emerges and, as everyone supposedly knows, it curses her with seven weeks of bad luck. So begins her crusade to find a place to live. She locates a temporary residence, but her privacy is invaded by a long line of people who also have keys to the premises. She reacts to this in various ways that have no apparent rhyme or reason.

The film's ending, which is supposed to be a big reveal, probably had theatergoers saying "What?" or "So what?".

Fairly sharp script by Philip Yordan and John Kafka, from Alice Reeve's magazine story, about a working gal in Washington, DC who, because of the housing shortage created by returning WWII soldiers, accepts an apartment from a Marine on deployment. Unfortunately, he has also given copies of the key to all his buddies on shore leave, though our attractive heroine--Simone Simon, who keeps singing "Frère Jacques" to tell us she's a Frenchie--doesn't seem to mind the unwarranted drop-ins. For some odd reason, a comical Beelzebub (with what sounds like the uncredited voice of Mel Blanc) is injected into this merry mix-up of the sexes, as well as bratty twin boys who keep barging in unannounced to use Simon's bathroom! It all begins well enough before losing steam in the second-half, turning into a screwball romp with pie-in-the-face humor and the type of wrap-up in Night Court which seldom works. Noteworthy for an early appearance by Robert Mitchum (who has a funny bit flipping Simon onto a bed), but the laughs are spread pretty thin. *1/2 from ****

When Kathie (french born Simone Simon) takes an apartment.... she realizes she's not the only one with a key to the joint. Johnny let Kathie sublet it, but forgot to tell her about his many friends wtih keys! Some fun special appearances; right at the beginning, Mel Blanc does the voice for the gremlin when Kathie spills the salt. And watch for the awesome Grady Sutton as George, the new, henpecked husband a few minutes later. Froggy Laughlin from Our Gang is the punk kid who comes in to use the bathroom. The landlord on the front porch is Chester Clute... he had minor roles in SO many things a parade of characters comes marching through... some are nice. Some aren't so nice. Johnny the marine is played by Bill Terry.... died young at 48. No cause of death given. We were still in the dark days of the hays film code, but they really pushed it to the limits... maybe they cut Monogram Pictures some slack, since it was a war-time flick, highlighting the housing issue at the time. When Kathie starts to fall for some of John's friends, it could be a problem! Kind of a light hearted war time bit. Directed by Joe May. Similar to Rafter Romance, from 1933, and Walk Don't Run from 1966.

When Simone Simon rents an apartment from William Terry, she thinks everything will be properly respectable. After all, he's a soldier with his marching orders, and she'll have the place all to herself for weeks. The only trouble is, William forgot to tell her, he also lent out a few copies of his apartment key to his fellow soldiers. . .

It sounds silly, and parts of it are, but Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore is hilarious! It's a cross between The Apartment and Young and Willing, with fast-paced quips and even faster situational comedy. Whenever you're in the mood for a cute black-and-white comedy about a situation of errs, rent this one. It's so funny, and even though Simone's accent is a little thick, she keeps up with the banter. "I'm Mike," James Ellison says. "I'm Jack," Chick Chandler says. "I'm going!" Simone answers.

Chester Clute and Minna Gombell, the married couple who own the apartment complex, are treated to quite a show as several uniformed gentlemen are seen coming and going from Simone's apartment-and in 1944, that just wasn't okay! Every time there's a new visitor looking for the old tenant, Simone informs then, "Johnny doesn't live here anymore!" and no matter how many times she keeps repeating the title, it never stops being funny. Plus, an extra funny side plot is that three of the visiting soldiers fall in love with her, and each think she's exclusive-imagine their surprise when they finally see other men coming and going from the front door!

If you need any more incentive to rent Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore, it features a young, insanely adorable and handsome Robert Mitchum. He plays a soldier named Jeff Daniels who's desperate to use the apartment because his wife's coming into town to help him enjoy his 48-hour leave. Described as looking "like a movie actor", he takes full advantage of every minute of screen time he's given; it's no wonder this was the last year before he started getting first billing!