The Girl from Manhattan

Back in 1987 Charles Laughton's biographer Simon Callow cited this sub-Capra fluff as the Laughton film absolutely nobody had ever seen. Talking Pictures has once again come to the rescue and one can now see exactly why it resides in such obscurity.

Although named for Dorothy Lamour's character the real star is George Montgomery as a virile former sportsman turned clergyman, whom Laughton sagely advises to "Try for that touchdown" when Montgomery comes to the aid of little man Ernest Truex threatened with foreclosure.

Ironically the villain of the piece is in cahoots with a bigger, flashier church; a lesson today's evangelicals could learn from.

The first reviewer has done a fine job of summarizing the film. What remains to be said, however, is that the film is a stinker. The script is particularly awful. It was designed to appeal to small town folks, apparently, and focuses upon homey matters such as the loss of a boarding house by a wicked businessman. Lamour and Montgomery are so wholesome and giggly you want to wretch. Christians are, as usual, cast as bigoted and gossipy. But how about Charles Laughton as a bishop. (What church? Methodist?) Hugh Herbert is completely wasted. The jokes are extremely lame. And 34-year-old Dorothy as a top high fashion model in New York is, well, ridiculous. George Montgomery should have stuck with Westerns, although he does his very best with his lame lines. A company on e-Bay is selling this film right now, which is how I came to see it. Money totally wasted.

I haven't seen the film since 1948 and the only thing I remember is the "mink coat/synthetic mink coat" dialog between Dorothy and Charles Laughton: The Bishop, eying the coat, asks..."has it suddenly turned cold out"? Carol, wearing the mink, explains that she drove in with her convertible top down but realizes instantly that the suspicious, curmudgeonly old Bishop KNOWS how beautiful New York models GET mink coats, offers that it isn't real mink, but synthetic and given to her for modeling it. Carol departs; The Bishop picks up the telephone and dials a number. "Fred... this is the Bishop..... Is there such a thing as synthetic mink"? (scoffingly--Fred you're going to think I'm daft for even asking a question to which I already know the answer) We don't hear the reply but Laughton's reflective face, voice and manner make the movie for me. Sure it is a knock-off on the popularity of "Going my way" but when has Hollywood ever failed to cash in on a good thing and Laughton, here, is as memorable as Orson Welles working in other peoples' less than stellar films. I will suggest to TCM that they run the film so I can see it again.

Playing the title role of The Girl From Manhattan is Dorothy Lamour who came over from Paramount to do this independent film released by United Artists. Her leading man here is George Montgomery slipping out of his western and action features to play a young minister assigned to a parish by Bishop Charles Laughton. Montgomery is excited about going to a parish which is about to get a brand new spanking church. The problem is that it is going to be built on the site of a boardinghouse which Ernest Truex owns. Truex is also Dorothy Lamour's uncle.

Montgomery is urged to board there by Laughton for a bit and he's caught in quite a dilemma. Of course that's nothing compared to the jackpot Truex is in. His generous easy going ways have put him in debt to Raymond Largay. In fact the only two guests that are paying regular are Lamour and Montgomery. The rest to be brutally frank are a gang of deadbeats. But they are delightful deadbeats like Constance Collier, Hugh Herbert, Frank Orth and more. It's just like the Vanderhof house in You Can't Take It With You.

Truex's jackpot is similar to the one Lionel Barrymore is in in the Frank Capra film. The tone here is far more whimsical than the one George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart took with their story. I wish there had been more of Charles Laughton. He isn't given much to do, but does create an interesting character in his Bishop with very little to work with.

The Girl From Manhattan is a pleasant bit of viewing, but could have been better.

THE GIRL FROM MANHATTAN is the most obscure film in the filmographies of both Dorothy Lamour and Charles Laughton so I wasn't expecting much but surprise - this is a charming if modest little movie with a wonderful cast doing some of their best work. Lamour stars as a successful fashion model who returns to her hometown to visit the uncle who raised her, Ernest Truex, the proprietor of a run-down boarding house. Dottie knows he's not making much money so she's been sending him funds to keep the house going only to discover the soft-hearted uncle has been using the money to finance the pipe dreams of his elderly boarders who don't even have the dough to pay rent to him. As a result uncle has not been paying the mortgage and the house is now scheduled to be in foreclosure. Also back in town is Dorothy's childhood fame, former football star George Montgomery now about to start a career as a minister in the town's 150-year-old church, only to find the parishioners are ready to sell the old historic church to a local businessman who also owns the boarding house, the land on which he has promised to donate for.the new church. Bishop Charles Laughton is kindly guiding Montgomery in his new calling but a little concerned about him possibly getting tangled up with New York fashion model.

Dorothy is a vision in this movie in smart if conservative clothes and gives a nice performance. I was pleased to see the big cast of character actors directed into giving restrained performances and not hamming it up for laughs. It was also nice to see the obviously villainous property owner played with a light touch and not the cartoonish bad guy with horns often seem in these Capraesque dramas. Charles Laughton also nicely underplays his role. Director Alfred E. Green even gets Hugh Herbert to calm down (for the most part) and give a real performance, not just his stock schtick comedy. Constance Collier plays a faded actress with illusions of starting a late life career as a playwright in a role that recalls her famous work in STAGE DOOR and she's.charming as is Sara Allgood in one of her last roles as Laughton's housekeeper. Elderly character Adeline De Walt Reynolds has a moving scene as a very aged churchgoer (said to be 93 although Ms. Reynolds herself was only a babe of 85 at the time) who regularly visits the old church quite late at night for comfort. George Montgomery does some of his best work as the low-key preacher man and his and Dottie's romance is quite chaste but quite sweet. I enjoyed this little movie and it was pleasing to see so many nice people in one film.