The Lady Takes a Sailor

Wyman is fine and Arden does her usual duty, but the rest is an awful mess. The main flaw is very weak plot is all over the place. First we're in Wyman's potentially interesting workplace that, after a big setup, we'll never see again. Then we have the ridiculously stupid underwater tractor where our two leads meet. After that we just have dumb slapstick and unwitty dialogue. The pacing is terrible, nothing makes sense, and there's little chemistry with the love angle. Give it a miss.

Okay, it's forgettable fluff but Curtiz at least gives it some pep. Best of the whole magilla is Max Steiner's score. Worst of all is Robert Douglas. What in heaven's name was Warners thinking by casting him in a knockabout farce. He just sinks the whole ship. They were trying to build him up (he played another incongruous role in THE DECISION OF CHRISTOPHER BLAKE) but this was a misstep. He faired MUCH better in ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN and THE FOUNTAINHEAD. They really needed a blowhard comedian (Raymond Walburn, Thurston Hall). Come to think of it, studio regular Sydney Greenstreet would have been perfect. Hmmm... I wonder if Douglas was a substitute. Watson - The Memmos!!

The David Butler unit was doing much better comedies at Warners during this period. But, still, it's worth one look (and listen).

When Jane Dylan is good, she's amazing. She was a wonderful dramatic actress. She also had charm and appeal. Dennis Morgan was a decent actor, as well as handsome and appealing.

Unfortunately, neither of them had a flair for comedy. I mean you really have it or you don't. They also have no chemistry whatsoever.

Usually when this happens they go back and punch up the second lead. It has often been Eve Arden. Unfortunately, her part isn't large enough to save this stink bomb.

"The Lady Takes a Sailor" is a kooky comedy that I wanted to like...but really didn't. Now I am not saying it's a bad film, after all the story idea is highly creative...but overall the film seemed forced and I agree with one reviewer who says it just misses the mark.

Jennifer (Jane Wyman) is out in her sailboat when the weather turns bad. But this is not her major problem...the problem is that her boat was just sunk by an experimental submarine-tank hybrid that was out being tested. When she later tells folks about it, no one believes her and they think she's mentally ill. so, it's up to her to find the guy from the sub (Dennis Morgan) and get pictures of this craft.

This is an interesting idea....so why did the film leave me a bit cold? I think it's a great case where the film tried so hard to be kooky and silly that it seemed to try too hard and felt contrived. Even more contrived was the love that came completely out of the blue at the end....more formulaic than realistic in any way. Not a great film...but the actors try despite indifferent writing.

Romantic comedies usually involve two characters in conflict. To make it work, for starters, they need to be likable, somewhat evenly matched, and in a fun and funny situation. That's why "The Lady Takes A Sailor" doesn't work.

Jane Wyman and Dennis Morgan are in an interesting (not fun or funny) situation: her career and personal reputation- like Aimee Semple McPherson's, a few years earlier- hinge on proving the truth of a wild story behind her brief disappearance, while Morgan's career depends on keeping that truth a military secret. Since Jane is clearly the wronged party- she's shipwrecked, kidnapped, drugged, mocked, and lied to by Morgan- we're rooting for her, but amid mixed messages that she should sacrifice everything for an ungrateful military.

Wyman and Morgan are not equally matched. There's no cleverness (or fun) in their conflict, just a lot of confrontation, in which he effortlessly bullies, stalks, and taunts her. She's a helpless victim and he's basically a cad and a thug.

Morgan's character is therefore totally unlikable, and the idea that he might win this fight, much less get the girl, clouds any fun that this film has to offer. With all that, it hardly matters that the film is completely unfunny, or that the message is (once again) that women don't really need careers when a man- (even a repellent one!)- comes along.

Incidentally, nothing against Wyman, Morgan, director Michael Curtiz, or Eve Arden, who all had fine careers and did excellent work elsewhere.