Obliging Young Lady

This weirdly inept attempt at screwball comedy is undone by the casting of its three leads. Edmond O'Brien -- best remembered today as the desperate poisoning victim in the 1950 cult classic "D.O.A." and the alcoholic senator in "Seven Days In May" (1964) -- and Ruth Warrick -- known primarily for playing Charles Foster Kane's first wife in "Citizen Kane" and a long run on a TV soap opera -- were never known as adept farceurs. And moppet actress Joan Carroll has the kind of physical and verbal precocity that makes the audience wonder if perhaps she might not be a midget (OK, "little person," if we have not yet appropriately repudiated the silliness of political correctness). And she's a little person with a distracting tendency to let her mouth hang open in closeup reaction shots, at that.

The script -- rewritten (over Frank Ryan) by Bert Granet, suggesting that a certain paucity of talent may have been what redirected him to demi-success as a TV producer in the '50s and '60s -- is littered with what are presumably meant to be running gags, but bespeak a lack of understanding that to merit that classification, the shtik must be funny, not merely repetitive. These "runners" include the bizarre notion of a train's sound mimicking the name of a famous baseball player of the period, Heinie Manusch, and every passenger on the train getting the name stuck in their head, treating us to tedious extended sequences of extras chanting the name over and over again in syncopation with the chugging of the locomotive. There is also Carroll's character, Bridget, who repeatedly demands, for no apparent reason, "What's wrong with the name Bridget?"

This farrago of badly-executed ideas is ultimately ill-served by the direction of B movie hack Richard Wallace, whose coverage is so inadequate that the cutter is repeatedly forced to go from masters to two-shots in which actors' positions and expressions change radically, making startling jump cuts out of what should be seamless transitions. Wallace even manages to undermine the usually-redoubtable Eve Arden, evidently sabotaging her trademark talent for wringing laughs from the lamest one-liners by underplaying. It almost looks like Wallace coaxed her to overact. It's painful to watch...not unlike the film as a whole.

I could have decided not to watch this film since it was rated very low. Never judging a book by its cover, I thought I'd give it a chance. It caught me up in the romantic pursuit O'Brien after Ruth. The little girl was cute with her attraction for getting a thrill by putting tacks on seats. Believe me, I know from experience that this kind of act shouldn't be funny because it once happened to me in grade school. However, it is part of the movie that O'Brien can relate with when he meets the little girl on the train and how he did it too to people. PLEASE WATCH THIS MOVIE!!! Never be afraid of ratings because some movies haven't been out there to the public and need a chance. It is a movie THE WHOLE FAMILY CAN ENJOY! My Father (bless his heart!) reminds all his 10 children to just concentrate on watching ROMANTIC COMEDIES! I want to say that this would definitely be a movie that my Pop was talking about. As far as the Bird-calling scene, only true birders can understand and appreciate the comedy. I don't want to spoil anything else but real birders will obviously find errors in the actual bird that made the calls made by the actors.

Linda Norton (Ruth Warrick) encounters strange guy, reporter "Red" Reddy (Edmond O'Brien), on the train back to New York City. She works for a lawyer who is handling a contentious divorce with the Potters. Their daughter Bridget Potter (Joan Carroll) is part of the contention. The Judge gives temporary custody of Bridget over to their lawyer friend. Linda takes her to a remote resort. They are followed by Red and chaos ensues.

It's a screwball comedy of schemes and misunderstandings. It's light, convoluted, and silly. By the time they get to the resort, I'm completely lost in all the confusing lies. They don't start with reason and logic. By then, non of that matters. It's a bundle of silliness. The bigger issue is the love triangle. Charles is a fine guy if a bit stiff. Red is no catch either. Sure, he's a cad but not always a fun one. The meet-cute has cute ideas but it's also very much stalking. This would work better without Charles. Linda could judge Red based solely on his own merits. I understand what the love triangle is trying to do but I don't think it works well enough. That's this movie's Achilles heel.

Ruth Warrick does not exude charm. Edmund O'Brein is fun but a little strange in a comic role. The child is all right.

The plot if lots of fun, though, and some of the supporting players are delightful.

Franklin Pangborn gets one of the juiciest roles I've ever seen him in. He plays the leader of a bird watchers group.

I have to say, his role seems modeled somewhat on Charlie Ruggles's in "Bringing Up Baby." But the bird watchers' assault on the hideaway hotel is genuinely hilarious.

The whole movie has a sweet, friendly quality.

A very annoying young girl's rich parents are getting a divorce. Apparently this is big news, as reporters are flocking to interview them as well as the child. In order to keep the child away from this hysteria, the child is sent on a vacation in the country--with a fake mother so reporters won't recognize her. In the process, Edmond O'Brien meets up with the pair and instantly falls for the lady (Joan Carroll) and spends the film following them.

I love romantic comedies from the 1930s and 40s, so you can't attribute my indifference to this film to any sort of dislike of the genre. I also love Edmund O'Brien and he could have handled this film better....if he'd had a decent script. The combination of a romantic comedy and O'Brien simply SHOULD have been a lot better.

The biggest problem with "Obliging Young Lady" is a complete and total lack of subtlety. As a result, the humor sure seems very, very forced. Too many story elements just seemed to be tossed in for effect--not for coherence. And, because of this, the characters seem, at times, more like caricatures than real people. Now SOME of this is due to the genre--in "Bringing Up Baby", Katharine Hepburn's character sure isn't all that believable--but the script was so good that you could suspend judgment. With "Obliging Young Lady", the script just doesn't have the energy or quality to do this.

Here are a few problems with the script. First, the young lady (from the film's title) was so completely unlike a real child it was ridiculous. She ran around putting tacks on people's seats compulsively--for a VERY cheap laugh that they did AGAIN and AGAIN. She also manipulated the heck out of everyone with a finesse that few, if any, adults could match. And, she was too 'cute' for her own good--and the film makers really tried too hard to make her adorable and kooky. I just wanted to hit her! Second, while O'Brien could have been great (especially since he was thinner and not yet Film Noir ugly back in 1942--plus he was a nice actor), his character too often was annoying. His "Heinie Manush" joke simply wasn't funny--yet it was repeated again and again and again. This really got me hating O'Brien's character and made me wonder if Manush (a retired baseball player) ever thought of suing these folks! Also, his character often got too close to the border between being a nice, cute guy AND being a creepy stalker. The way he forced himself on the leading lady made me wonder if he might just be a date rapist--he came on THAT strong and ignored every request to leave her alone. Nice. Third, while the bird watchers sequence could have been very funny, it was WAAAY overdone--too kooky and ridiculous--almost like it was made for a Three Stooges short (for which it might have been appropriate).

So is the film worth seeing? Well, it's not all horrible and is a watchable time-passer--but nothing more. If you love old movies, it's worth seeing--otherwise, try seeing "Arsenic and Old Lace", "My Man Godfrey", "His Girl Friday" or "Bringing Up Baby" instead--these are all far more worthy romantic/screwball comedies.