Over 21

It is well known that Irene Dunne could sing somewhat more than a little. And I think her talent as a comedienne can only be really understood once one has struggled through a sonata by Haydn or a song by Debussy and made a success of it. Her instrument is her voice and her handling of it is pure musicianship. She could tackle any part. The only thing she couldn't do was to not make a success of it. This film is a perfect example. In it, she channels Ruth Gordon (because the play is the thing), is feminine, charming, willful and self-effacing, generous, protective and combative but never pretentious. She manages to stay as believable as Alexander Knox is in another difficult role he assumes with aplomb. The viewer gets to believe in what he is seeing and to care for it. It is refreshing to see a film that is both entertaining and intellectually challenging while pushing all the right patriotic buttons. I sincerely hope the entire Dunne oeuvre makes it to DVD one day because it's really hard to keep a secret like that among just a few initiates.

This little-known comedy from the hit play by Ruth Gordon is a delight. The script, based on the play, is spicy, rich, and completely undated. Ditto the cast but I must underline the work of the leading lady,Irene Dunne. Irene is simply superb - as usual - and lights up the screen with every frame she's in (and she's in it a lot, thank heaven). In addition, director Vidor has given her some unusual close-ups that are mesmerizing. What a gal! I know of no other Hollywood actress from any era who has her versatility and is so convincing in every film. Why she remains so little known is a mystery. I have seen most of her films and this one was a surprise, even for a solid ID fan like myself. See it, everyone!

This American film has all the elements of the talked about, but little known "Flag Waver". While films like "Tender Comrade" and "Days of Glory" have become well known, this one has languished in obscurity. It is a lot less dramatic, but the illustrations of life stateside in wartime were revealing. Rationing, overcrowding, and folks pulling together to achieve a better life are well depicted. I can watch any movie with Irene Dunne, even if it is otherwise unremarkable.

I first saw this movie in the 1960's on TV. I subsequently saw it a couple of more times in the next few years but have not seen it since the late 1960's. I don't believe there are any existing copies of it, but I may be wrong. I found the movie, as I recall it, pleasant and amusing. As you can tell, it made an impression on me.

This film is about the editor (Alexander Knox) of a New York newspaper who, already an older individual, gets called near the end of World War II, into the U.S. Army's Officer Candidate School and the difficulties he goes through to meet the standards in order to become an officer. He agreed at his publisher's (Charles Coburn) urging to continue with editorial writing. Because he becomes burden with trying to pass the classes at OCS he becomes, he can't devote time to effort to writing the weekly editorials as he promised. His wife (Irene Dunne), who lives with him while he attends OCS, starts writing the editorials but passes them off to the publisher as his (Knox's character does not know that she keeps writing the editorials after he stops).

What impressed me about this movie was a speech Knox's character gives at the graduating class commencement in OCS toward the end of the movie. It is called "The World and Apple Pie" and speaks about the need for America to remain active in world affairs after World War II ends (in view of America's isolationism prior to World War II). He makes the analogy between the ingredients and person that make a apple pie and the ingredients that and people that make a peaceful world, that the pie and the world are only as good as the ingredients and the people who made them.

If there is an extant copy of the movie with the speech in it, I would love to find it. If you do have a chance to see the movie, do so. It's not a great movie but the speech, I think, will make its mark.

I did come across a book, a few years back, containing Ruth Gordon's play upon which the movie was based but the play did not have the speech in it.

Max Wharton (Alexander Knox), 39, is the editor of the New York Bulletin -- or he was, until he announces to his boss over the Teletype that he's quitting to join the army. Robert Gow (Charles Coburn), who owns the paper, is furious. Wharton is the Bulletin. Without him there's no newspaper. But what Wharton wants is to be close to the war. And his wife, Polly (Irene Dunne), wants to be close to him. And so she finishes up her latest movie script and goes to live near the barracks. She suffers life in a bungalow that has no shower, lights that you have to turn on and off from the outside, a refrigerator that will make a hideous noise when she's lucky (that means it's working), moths and other niceties. Meanwhile, Max is starting to believe the saw that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Supposedly, anyone over 21 has great difficulty in learning what one needs to learn to become an officer.

It's a lie, says Polly. But she's not sure whether she wants him to graduate or not. If he fails, he can go back to the paper, his baby, the thing he's constantly worrying about when he isn't worried about his tests. Gow has been calling her constantly, trying to talk to Max, but Polly won't let him, not when he has more important things on his mind.

Finally, Gow tells Polly that he has to sell the paper. Polly stops him in the only way she can. She tells him Max will write editorials from the barracks. But there's no way Max could handle the extra work load, so she writes the editorials herself.

The British critic, Leslie Halliwell, sums up this movie in his Film Guide: "Thin star comedy based on Ruth Gordon's play about her own predicament; not for the wider audience, and not very good anyway." Irene Dunne and Charles Coburn are good, as always, but you can see them in other movies.