The Captain Is a Lady

A wonderful cast is wasted in this bland rather self-consciously "cute" comedy/drama. Charles Coburn and Beulah Bondi star as a long married couple who lose their home. The only retirement place in the small community is an "old ladies home" and when Beulah refuses to be parted from her husband, the staff and residents agree to make an exception and allow Coburn to become their one and only male resident.

It's rather startling to see this cast of mostly 50-ish players being residents in an "old ladies home", particularly the vivacious if well into middle-age Billie Burke. This was one of Coburn's first starring roles and one of the few in which the great character actress Beulah Bondi has essentially the "leading lady" part. The other old gals at the home get rather infatuated with the lone man on the premises, leading to misunderstandings and bit of jealousy. I was fairly shocked by one rather unkind speech Beulah spouses to the maiden ladies about them not knowing what it's like to have a man in their lives.

It was nice to have the chance to see this little film on Turner Classic Movies but I found it rather dull and didn't keep it as a permanent title in my film collection.

This is a light-weight film with a stellar cast of mature actors that rise above it's so-so script simply because the actors are so sturdy. No doubt their experience adds depth to characters who would otherwise have none and plays a huge part of making this a winner, even though no one goes far out of their way to steal a scene or play over the top. It's really great to see so many "old ladies" working together in the same film, without the backstabbing or bitchiness in THE WOMEN. Sure they fall into "types": the busy-body, the old maid, the grand dame..., but everyone hits their mark and says their lines with little fuss and the film just flies. Charles Coburn is a wonderful foil as the curmudgeon sea captain who suddenly finds himself at the center of attention in an old ladies home and the butt of jokes by the old men in town. Most of the comedy plays around him being cantankerous because he can't smoke or cuss or drink like a man should -- and the ladies being both fascinated and repulsed by his manly failures. It drips with sentimentality and there are no bad guys here, just a lot of "aww shucks" kind of men who bumble their way through a world controlled by women hoping to be loved and accepted for all their faults.

This pleasant comedy stars Charles Coburn as Captain Abe Peabody. He dearly loves his wife of thirty years, but he is not very astute with regard to money or financial planning. When they are evicted from their home, it looks like they will have to find separate accommodations, but some kindly souls find a way to keep them together.

Coburn is surrounded by a talented supporting cast. They make the most of this simple story that is amusing.

I made sure to watch this film on TCM recently because I love seeing Charles Coburn in films. He was such a wonderful character actor that I couldn't resist. Surprisingly enough, he did not play the usual Coburn role of the cranky rich gentleman (like he did to perfection in THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES). Instead, he played a cranky old sea captain dreading his retirement. The cranky part was very true to type, but at first it was hard to imagine him as a captain as well as a dreadfully poor one. However, this change was really appreciated--he was wonderful as the likable curmudgeon.

In addition, he was very ably supported by a ton of wonderful characters--most of which were residents of the ladies rest home who invited the Captain to live there!! Beulah Bondi played a sweet wife for Coburn and Marjorie Main and the other residents were wonderful and colorful.

The plot itself is pretty silly, but that's not the reason to see the film. Instead, the acting is so great and the characters are written so well that you can't help but love them. It's a sweet and wonderful film--the type they just don't make any more (what a pity).

Old New England skipper Charles Coburn makes some bad business decisions. He and wife Beulah Bondi are evicted from their house.

Even with a low-rent programmer like this one, directed by Robert Sinclair, the MGM gloss is apparent, not only in the star casting -- Billie Burke, Helen Broderick, and Helen Westley -- but in art direction and so forth. Not that this is prime Charles Coburn, but there's a lot of Code-compliant fun in this one. It's worth looking at and a bit more for the cast.