Ses trois amoureux

TOM DICK AND HARRY gives Ginger Rogers another chance to play an infantile woman (remember THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, MONKEY BUSINESS and IT HAD TO BE YOU). It's a screwball comedy so it works (to a degree) but she sort of overdoes the job of making this girl a complete dumb-dumb. So, in the end, she makes the right choice when she must choose between three suitors.

She has to decide whether to marry a poor, down-on-his-luck bohemian (BURGESS MEREDITH), a wealthy playboy millionaire (ALAN MARSHAL), or a conservative square (GEORGE MURPHY). Considering that she has no brains whatsoever, she chooses--well, you have to see the movie to find out.

The cute ending provides an original twist to a decidedly unoriginal story which gets a boost from its personable cast. Rogers is delightful enough when she isn't being a bit irritating with her baby-voiced coyness, and the men are splendid as her bewildered suitors. Alan Marshal is much livelier than usual in his playboy role--so much so that you have to wonder why Hollywood didn't find better roles for him as a romantic lead.

Ginger's fans will love this one--but I couldn't help thinking she played it a little too dumb at times.

Summing up: A screwball comedy that could have used a brighter script but the dream sequences are well done, thanks to director Garson Canin's way with wacky comedy.

This is a silly movie, to the point that Ginger Rogers' character blurts out "This is Ridiculous!" at one point close to the end. But it also has the self awareness to not take things too far. Rather it brings things to the brink of absurdity and stops just before going off the cliff. Rogers' performance is solid as the clueless Janie who must decide between three suitors. Murphy, Marshal, and Meredith turn in good performances as well as their respective characters Tom, Dick, and Harry. Meredith, as Harry, stands out among the three. The plot also revolves around the whirlwind courtship and marriage theme that is common in wartime movies. Viewers looking for a heavier more realistic romance should look to something like Roger's 1944 movie "I'll be Seeing You" where she plays a completely different character. But if you're in the mood for a whimsical, light-hearted hearted comedy to take your mind off the news, you could do much worse than Tom, Dick, and Harry.

Ginger Rogers had that combination of dinginess and likability in this film. Only "The Major and the Minor" may rival this one. She certainly could turn on the charm.

Another interesting note about this one is that Burgess Meredith, who always tended to be typecast as somebody love-ably, slightly (depending on the film) unstable, managed to garner a bit of sex appeal in this one, and given the idea that he was the nonconformist in this film, he actually does live up to his usual reputation. The sex appeal was a rarity for him, but that's not badmouthing him at all about his "stage" presence. He was great in just about everything, and who could forget that voice?

I wish I could purchase this one!

Certainly an adequately charming entertainment, although Ginger - an actor I enjoyed in many of her films - piles on the "barely legal" action a bit too thick, and some of the business with the wealthy part of the trio borders on the unsavory. The domestic bliss dreams are pleasantly looked forward to, and Burgess Meredith is (particularly in the diner scene) surprisingly sprightly and focused, as he advocates the working man's utopia, which must have been close to his Socialist heart. It ain't Noel Coward, and George Murphy is a stump as usual, but all in all, a pleasant enough way to waste a little time.

In fact everyone is at the top of their form in this wonderfully entertaining movie, but Ginger has never been better. Even Alan Marshall, who frequently came across in films as being a little on the smarmy side, is quite likeable here. And Phil Silvers is wonderfully obnoxious as the ice-cream salesman.

It is interesting to compare this film with it's 1957 remake "The Girl Most Likely", which apart from its musical numbers sticks pretty close to the original. Now "The Girl Most Likely" is quite an entertaining film in itself, and Jane Powell is certainly a talent not to be sneezed at. But having seen both films a number of times it always surprises me just how much better "Tom, Dick and Harry" is, and how flat "The Girl Most Likely" seems in comparison. Garson Kanin has somehow managed to infuse a lightness and subtlety of wit into the original which seems to have eluded Mitchell Leisen in the remake. And of course the three male leads in "The Girl Most Likely" don't hold a candle to the three male leads here.