Julia Misbehaves

and do a very good job at it. If you've always wanted to see Greer Garson scantily clad and singing while being tossed about by acrobats and cheered on by sailors on leave, or if Walter Pidgeon being roughed up by a trained vaudevillian seal appeals to you, this is your movie. Garson and Pidgeon, a very popular MGM screen team of the 40's, this time are a long-estranged married couple. Pidgeon plays a real scoundrel in this one, but fortunately the scoundrel part is something we're largely told about, not something that we see much of. Pidgeon's character, William Sylvester Packett, is to the manor born and meets chorus girl Julia (Greer Garson) while in the service during World War I. They are hastily married, and a daughter Susan (Elizabeth Taylor) is born during the following year. War is often the great equalizer - it makes everyone involved forget their peacetime stations in life. Thus, when the war ends, it only takes a few months in familiar settings for William to decide he doesn't love Julia anymore and send her packing. However, William never divorces Julia, a symptom of his split feelings towards her. He does keep the baby for himself, though. Once you get familiar with the characters you feel that maybe William's mom had a hand in the break-up since she obviously thinks Julia is not good enough for her son.

The two are thrown back into each other's lives when Julia receives an invitation to her daughter's wedding. The problem is, nobody seems to know who sent that mysterious invitation. Before anyone can get in touch with her to "disinvite" her, free spirit Julia appears at the Packett estate a few days before the wedding. With estranged hubby and his mother so cool to her presence, the servants so happy to see her after all of these years, and her daughter a perfect stranger, how will this whole thing work out? I know this sounds like it has all the potential for Madame X style melodrama, but believe me it is good fun all the way. I highly recommend it. As an aside, don't be too confused by the fact that the time factor doesn't make much sense. This movie was made in 1948 but set in 1938 so the whole issue of World War II doesn't enter into the plot at all.

Greer Garson is again teamed up with Walter Pidgeon in the delightful comedy, "Julia Misbehaves," which also stars 16-year-old Elizabeth Taylor and a very adorable Peter Lawford. Taylor and Lawford are a subplot in this film, which mainly concerns Garson as Julia, an entertainer, showing up to attend the wedding of the daughter she hasn't seen since infancy. Because of the breakup of her marriage and her transient lifestyle, she left the child with her husband's family.

This is a fun movie with some great scenes, the best of which is an acrobatic act featuring Julia. It is hilarious. Cesar Romero makes a game attempt at a Cockney accent, and is very good as Nicky, the head of the act who is interested in marrying Julia. Nigel Bruce is a man conned out of 6950 francs by Julia, and Lucile Watson is Julia's disapproving mother-in-law. Pidgeon plays Julia's husband, who hasn't seen her in years, but on encountering her again, realizes what he's been missing.

Wedding plans don't go as expected once Julia is in the house. A very pretty Elizabeth Taylor gets her first screen kiss from Lawford, and they make a charming couple. But this isn't their film, it's Garson's, in a different type of role for her. She is up to the task. Over the years, perhaps due to some of the sentimental movies she made and being raked over the coals by Pauline Kael, Garson's reputation has suffered. However, she is terrific in "Julia Misbehaves," and this entertaining film is well worth seeing.

"Julia Misbehaves" is a charming comedy filled with romance and touching moments. Greer Garson sparkles as Julia, a penniless showgirl who has been invited to attend the very formal wedding of her daughter, Elizabeth Taylor, whom she hasn't seen since she was a baby. Along the way, she encounters acrobat Cesar Romero and his wacky family, rich aristocrat Nigel Bruce with an eye for pretty girls, and estranged husband Walter Pidgeon who begins to wonder how he ever let her go in the first place. All of the interactions lead into one humorous complication after another and show off Ms. Garson's comedic timing that was rarely seen in her usual dramatic roles.

Greer Garson, soaking in her tub and locked in her room, pretends she's about to end it all. All this is a ruse in order to get her good friend Reginald Owen to pay her creditors, who are at her door. Ms. Garson's carefree, gay, and a delicious tease in this fun-filled romp that is sure to please even the crankiest of viewers. This shows Ms. Garson in a new light from her usual fare of melodrama, as she lets her hair down and has all the men around her on a string and using them to her advantage. It happens that she gets an invitation to her daughter's impending wedding. She had left her years ago, with her husband, of whom she never divorced (played by Walter Pidgeon,) because she is an stage actress and travels a lot. When she arrives, we see that most of them are not glad to see her, after all this time. But what happens next is a riot. Cesar Romero is great as part of an acrobatic act and as a suitor vying for Greer, giving the debonair Walter Pidgeon a run for his money. "What muscles am I using now?" If you've never seen this, you're in for a real treat, the cheery side of Miss Greer.

Both Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon, having made several dramas together, have done a remarkable switch to comedy. Both are charming and classy in their romp of delight. Along the way with the help of the likes of Caesar Romero, as the head of a family of acrobats, the zany Mary Boland, his alcoholic mother [loved her hanging from the smoke stack of a liner], Nigel Bruce, a woman chaser, attempting to pick up Greer in a lady's clothing shop, Elizabeth Taylor, all of 16 years old and gorgeous, Peter Lawford, also young and gorgeous and Lucille Watson, the wealthy grand dame of the family, Greer and Walter go through the antics of falling into mud puddles, sinking into the water in a beaten up old row boat, being forced to go through a high flying acrobatic act, being slapped on the rear by a trained seal and generally having a grand time of it. Hats off to a slick and silly script and a cast of performers who don't take it seriously at all.