In the Meantime, Darling

Slender little wartime comedy whose best feature is a winsome young Jeanne Crain and a lively Gale Robbins as new brides. The boys are training in the desert before being shipped overseas. In the meantime, the married officers are boarding at what looks like the only house for miles around. Many of the junior officers are newly married and much of the comedy comes from their efforts to cope. For the girls, it's a period of adjustment sharing facilities and household duties with others. For Crain, with her privileged background, adjustment proves especially difficult.

The premise is promising, but the screenplay remains underdeveloped and never really gels as a comedy. That's not surprising since the running time is 70 minutes for a production probably chunked out in 10 days and scheduled for bottom-of-the-bill showing to the eager droves of wartime audiences. Also, cult director Otto Preminger seems an odd choice for light comedy, his strength being slow, heavy psychological dramas like Laura (1943). The results here suggest he was uninterested in the material, to say the least. Nonetheless, for those interested in how newly-weds adjusted to wartime demands, the movie offers a generally entertaining if lightweight glimpse.

This slight drama rather reminds me of the much more entertaining "Something for the Boys", also released by Fox in '44. That film clearly could be labeled a musical comedy, as there was plenty of both. In this film, there is a minimum of both. The chief bit of comedy comes from Jeanne Crane, as Maggie, making a total mess of her first attempt to prepare baby formula, highlighting her general lack of experience in home economics, despite having a college degree. She's used to servants doing these things. Then, there's the false rumor that she is pregnant, that she has to deal with.

This was the film debut for Gale Robbins. Gale had been a singer in various bands. She would be sparingly used by Hollywood, seldom with a major part, as in this film. Sometimes, as in this film, she would get to sing a song. Given her beauty, singing and acting ability, it's a wonder she didn't become a major star. Instead,she was often cast as 'the other woman'.

Information from another site indicates that there were many changes to the screenplay, even as filming proceeded, suggesting dissatisfaction. Veteran character actor Eugene Palette, who played Jeanne's father, was fired part way through, for pro-German utterances, and racial slurs. The film does give us some idea of the stressful conditions which many married military couples went through, forced to live in substandard temporary housing, until their next assignment.

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The purpose of this film was obvious--the filmmakers wanted to press home the notion that there must be self-sacrifice for the war effort. The problem is that this propaganda message seems a bit too obvious--especially since they made the main character, Maggie, a bit too unrealistic.

When the film begins, Maggie (Jeanne Crain) is marrying Lt. Ferguson. However, it's obvious that they're a bit mismatched. He is a normal everyday guy, she's a spoiled rich brat who is used to having everyone cater to her. However, she's going to be living in a boarding house with a lot of other military wives...and it's going to be tough going because of her ridiculous expectations.

The Maggie character was just poorly written. She either came off as an entitled jerk or a self-less woman who, miraculously, realizes the importance of the war. It's just too black & white in its portrayal of the lady. Overall, a decent enough idea for a wartime film but one that just doesn't seem to work.

During world war II my father was a buck private in the army,while stationed in California a casting agent asked my father and a few of his army buddies if they would like to be in a movie,of course they said yes! When ever he talked about the experience,he always remembered how much Mr.Preminger screamed at everyone! While he was working as an extra he went to the Hollywood Canteen and danced with Judy Garland. So I can always say my dad was in an Otto Preminger movie and he danced with Judy! When I was a young boy I took the snapshots he took on the set to school for show and tell! All the kids were amazed at the way the buildings looked because they were only movie set props and were totally fake, because he took the pictures from the side! My father was only in the movie for about 8 seconds and I never even saw the movie until years after his death when it appeared on AMC one night...thank god for video tape now I have a copy of the movie forever!

First of all, 70 minutes of Miss C is worth far more than 7 hours of watching most of today's over-made-up, plaster-faced screen personalities. JC (nice initials) Lamarr, Lamour, etc. were natural beauties.

Now for the pic. Produced and directed by Preminger - certainly not his usual thing. The movie itself was pleasant, the characters interesting and fun.

It is a woman's movie, but it gives insight into the lives of GIs and wives during WW2. I recommend it as a pleasant diversion, and an opportunity to watch its beautiful star for a good length of time.