The Doughgirls

Ann Sheridan, who could play anything... in a wartime flick. INCREDIBLE cast... Sheridan, Eve Arden, Jane Wyman. The amazing Jack Carson, who was always second banana. Arthur and Vivian (Carson and Wyman) get married during WW II, and find people in the hotel room they had reserved. "Doughboy" was usually used for soldiers during WW i.... Charles Ruggles is here for comedic effect. and it turns out the new bride knows the ladies who won't get out of their room! the women are all old buddies from way back. the plot thickens! and the incredible Eve Arden is russian Sergaent Moskoroff. anything Arden is in has GOT to be good! Directed by James Kern; this was his FIRST film as director. and he moved into television pretty quickly, so i guess he wasn't so successful as a director. died young at 57 of a heart attack, and according to imdb, died at DesiLu Studios, in Culver City. pretty rare to have such a specific location. this story started as a play by Joe Fields, who also had a hand in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"! it's pretty good.

Many of the reviews here seem to be posted by people who have no clue as to the time period of history which this film is set in. When you watch an older contemporary film you need to be able to watch it with the mindset of a viewer seeing it in a theater at it's release. If you can't relate to 1944, you don't get this film. If you do it's a true gem.

Warner's threw it's best female leads at this, Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman and Alexis Smith (sans Bette Davis), capped off with Eve Arden in a memorable role, added Jack Carson and the reliable John Ridgely, stirred in Charlie Ruggles, Alan Mowbry and Regis Toomey in brief support and a supporting cast rated A+ It is a manic comedy, but if you don't get the political and historic tongue in cheek it falls flat. If you do, sublime!

This is about as wild and wacky as it gets. Eve Arden, who made a career of playing second banana, is wonderful as a Russian soldier. Jame Wyman, though not a blonde, delivers one "dumb blonde" line after another. Jack Carson is his usual blustery, pompous self. Charley Ruggles is a lecherous old man. Alan Mowbray is a Rush Limbaugh-type broadcaster, who "just got back from the front-the home front." The setting is a hotel room, and all these characters, and many more, create the most hectic, confusing and daffy atmosphere since the Marx Brothers. In fact, "The Doughgirls" is really a female Marx Brothers circus. If you like the characters mentioned above, you'll love this movie.

Director James V. Kern also co-adapted this screen-translation of a once-popular play by Joseph Fields involving three would-be brides rooming together in the Honeymoon Suite of an overcrowded hotel in WWII-era Washington, D.C. They are joined by confused suitors, Eve Arden as a gregarious Russian guerrilla fighter, an amusingly out-of-it hotel staff, a blustery broadcaster, and the inimitable Charles Ruggles as the smitten boss of dotty Jane Wyman, whose heart belongs to flustered Jack Carson (who only wants to have his honeymoon!). Breathless farce came in on the tail-end of the screwball rage, but nevertheless contains several big laughs. The staginess of the material becomes overpowering before long, but the cast never runs out of energy. **1/2 from ****

I saw this when it came out. Although I was only around 7 or 8 years old, I found it a very funny movie. I expect that I didn't understand most of the jokes, but the situation and the constant frenetic action, characters coming and going, must have impressed me. I found Eve Arden's character particularly funny. Firing a rifle salute from a swanky hotel balcony...wow!

Looking at it now, it is clear that it was originally a stage play-characters coming and going on one set. Machine-gun rapid quips, jokes, reactions...if one joke doesn't get you, the next one will. Jane Wyman's dumb Dora character was a stock comedy character in those days (Gracie Allen). It might have been demeaning for her to play, but it made her a star before her later weepies.

The Washington no rooms to rent situation is long forgotten. Absurdist humor has gone out of fashion, perhaps because our society has become so absurd that absurdity is no longer funny. Thus, a lot of the humor of this film and its satire don't register today. Yet, it was quite good for its time, and it is still a hoot to watch today.