Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

This is a VERY funny & "cute" film about two young girls travelling abroad during the 1920's. even tho some of the situations they get into are a bit "unbelieveable", it is QUITE FUNNY! (I especially liked their run-in with the "Geezer"!).

The sequel to this film (I forgot the name!) is a BIG disappointment! sigh. One wishes that this could've become a series, but NO WAY...not after the 2nd film! (I especially dislike the "Bohemian" who does the "miming").

But, if you're looking for "fun, light-hearted films", check THIS out! Norm

Based on Cornelia Otis Skinner's book about her misadventures in Paris during the 1920s, as she and Emily Kimbrough embark on an unchaperoned visit to Europe where they are to meet up with their parents at a later time.

Right from the start, the misadventures start--all tinged with humor as the naive girls cope with all manner of happenings, including an overnight stay on a Notre Dame balcony when they are locked out. Some of it seems a bit far-fetched but presumably much of it is based on real life events.

It's rose-tinted nostalgia and a fine period piece. It gives DIANA LYNN (as Emily) and GALE RUSSELL (as Cornelia) some wonderful bits of business that reveals they had a talent for light comedy. CHARLES RUGGLES, JAMES BROWN and BEULAH BONDI shine in supporting roles.

Trivia note: Gale Russell and Cornelia Otis Skinner would be re-united on screen in THE UNINVITED, in which Cornelia played Miss Holloway, the woman who hides a dark secret and keeps Russell locked away in a sanitarium.

They were just two American girls on vacation... who bring chaos wherever they go. What a fun movie. I love the little incident with the rabbit coats. You could never believe that anything in the movie was true until you read the book. It even states "Lest the reader should be in any doubt, we wish to state that the incidents in this book are all true and the characters completely non-fictitious." Once you see the film read the book! Like the film, it will keep you laughing!

It's important to note, going into this movie, that it's set in the 1920s. "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay" is based on a book of the same title by Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough. It's about their teenage adventures aboard ship and on a trip to Europe. But the book wasn't written until 1942, and the movie made in 1944. That was smack dab in the years of heaviest fighting during World War II. So, one wonders what audiences thought at the time. Here they were seeing scenes of gaiety and fun from around Europe - staged at the Paramount studios along with older film clips from Europe. But they were probably seeing newsreel films the same day of the war and devastation in Europe.

Well, that aside, this is a very good comedy travelogue of two young ladies who have mishap after mishap in their adventures. Their antics and miscues resemble the comedy scenes of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

The film is good and fared okay at the box office. But considering its best selling status as a book, Paramount might have expected it to do much better than below 50th with a box office of $6 million. There were many war-related films ahead of it that year, but also a number of fine dramas, crime and mystery films, and several comedy romances and musicals.

Gail Russell plays Cornelia Skinner, but already in just her fourth film and at age 20, she was drinking to steady her nerves. By the late 1940s, she was an alcoholic and she made only 10 films after that. She died of liver failure from acute chronic alcoholism in 1961. She was just 36 years old.

Here are a couple of the better lines from the film.

Mrs. Lamberton, played by Alma Kruger, "I never forget things." Miss Horn, played by Beulah Bondi, "How to you know, Ethel? People who forget things don't remember."

Hotel Clerk (Marek Windheim, uncredited), "We never worry about American girls. They know how to take care of themselves." Tom Newhall, "Not these girls." Avery Moore, "You said it."

They really don't make movies like this one anymore. Which is a shame as it has such charm and wit. And there isn't a bad scene in the film.

Both Gail Russell and Diana Lynn are wonderful as the innocent girls abroad who end up in all manner of often awkward and funny situations. As has been stated before this was a true story. Which makes it all the funnier that everything you see actually happened.

I only came across this movie by chance as I had been reading about the short tragic life of Gail Russell after seeing one her other movies "Night Has A Thousand Eyes." She shows far more talent than she ever gave herself credit for, even if she had never really wanted to be an actress.

This movie is well worth seeing.