San Diego I Love You

And by Huttonesque I am talking about Betty Hutton, who, at the time this movie was made, was riding high over at Paramount as a bubbly blonde singing comedienne. Universal, with not nearly as much money as Paramount, has Louise Albritton in this role as Virginia McCooley, the oldest of five children - the rest are boys much younger than she - whose father is a widowed schoolteacher, Philip McCooley (Edward Everett Horton). Dad has invented a one man inflatable life raft, and he would like to sell it to the Navy, but is too afraid of leaving his safe teaching job. So Virginia quits dad's job for him, ends their lease, and moves their furniture to San Diego - without notifying dad first.

So off this family goes to San Diego, at that time the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet, and during wartime there is practically a no vacancy sign at the city limits, it is so packed with sailors and government personnel. The McCooleys don't know any of this, they are just feeling their way through getting a place and getting dad's invention accepted by the navy. But there is another road block besides housing. On the train to San Diego the McCooleys managed to anger someone who happens to be a very important person - the owner of the railroad, the third richest person in the US, and the arbiter of what inventions get accepted by the Navy's civilian research branch. And this guy, a young eligible bachelor, does not trust women because he figures they are all after his fortune. So if Virginia hopes to make inroads with him she will have to tread carefully.

With Buster Keaton as a bus driver who is in a rut, Irene Ryan as somebody who mistakes the McCooley home as a boarding house and is determined to hold on tight to what she thinks is her new room, and Eric Blore once again gets to make Horton's life miserable as an incompetent and unwanted gentleman's gentleman.

It is funny independent of the time in which it is made, but it is also great as a history lesson about life on the homefront in 1944. Highly recommended.

As for Louise Albritton, Universal's own Betty Hutton, you may have never heard of her before, but not because she hit the skids. She married in 1946 and eventually dropped out of show business to raise a family in the post war baby boom tradition, dying in 1979 after 33 years of marriage. A much happier ending to her tale than to poor Betty Hutton's tragic life.

Terrific little comedy from Universal. I didn't expect much and watched only to see the great Buster Keaton in a supporting role. But this is a solid and wacky little comedy about a pushy daughter (Louise Allbritton) and her inventor father (Edward Everett Horton) in their attempts to crash the corporate headquarters of a company in San Diego run by a reclusive millionaire (Jon Hall). The situations may be very TV but in 1945 this was fresh material. But the cast is tops and saves this one.

Eric Blore is hilarious as the "family retainer." Irene Ryan as the wayward tenant is also very funny. I also spotted Almira Sessions, Florence Lake, Chester Clute, Hobart Cavanaugh, Esther Howard, Sara Selby, Dewey Robinson, Vernon Dent, and many other great character actors.

Certainly worth a look.....

I saw this movie with my mother in 1944, and it made a lasting impression upon me. We lived in Buffalo and both of us agreed that San Diego would be a better place for us and decided that some day we would live there. Though this never came about, and I have never been to San Diego, it must have "put a bee in my bonnet" because eventually I came to Mexico where I have been living permanently since 1955. This is a motion picture I would like to see again.

I watched this recently by chance- absolutely charming! Clever writing, excellent timing and completely family friendly- without seeming dated. This movie has influenced me to take more chances, enjoy life more and recommend it to my three children-ranging in age from 11 to 27. Draws attention to the coincidences in life that may not be concidences and the opportunities that we may miss if we're not watching! One of the best of its genre and generation, in my opinion. I had forgotten how clever the writing could be in some of these old classics. If this is not counted as one of the classics, it should be and certainly is in my book. I will probably buy it!

I was happily surprised at the enjoyment this little film provided. It could be described as a screwball comedy, I suppose, but it never gets carried away with itself and stays committed to what really amounts to a mostly subtly comedic sequence of vignettes. There are so many opportunities for this film to become just a silly and hectic hodgepodge but admirably the fantasy-like story is made to seem enjoyably plausible.

The players are just so engaging and the little moves and bits of business exhibited by the cast, especially Louise Allbritton, are admirable. She is gorgeous and her eyes are particularly fascinating. I was particularly impressed by the restrained and excellent performance by Edward Everett Horton...his is the effort that, if not held in check, could have sunk the picture. Luckily, too, the youngsters in the film were not allowed to run amok and bring the picture down. And what can be said of Buster Keaton's appearance... it is as affectingly priceless as the entire bus episode is affectingly unique.

One reviewer found it odd that the story was set in San Diego during the War and that no sailors and soldiers are evident. But there are, for I actually looked for that very thing during a brief street scene and indeed there is a liberal peppering of sailors walking the street in the parade of passers-by. Whether on the street, in the office, or in the home, the sets are decked out appropriately. Additionally, the film's editing is crisp and continuity is wonderful.

For sure this is a fantasy, including the curiosity that the third richest man in America would happily fall for the propellant of a small-town eccentric family. But this is a successfully comedic film from the World War II era and no doubt will be enjoyed by fans of movies from the era.