The Reluctant Debutante

I saw this one during its first-run release at the Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills, Calif. The CinemaScope projection there was top-notch, doing full justice to Minnelli's always creative use of the wide screen. Among MGM's A-list ingredients was the casting of Kay Kendall, whose elegance and comic verve made this confection as enjoyable as one could have hoped. How I wish she had lived to make many more screen memories. Her early death was a real loss. This title appears to be available on video only in a VHS version, which no doubt means that it is probably not letterboxed. "There oughta be a law!"

This is a cute movie, made funny by Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall. Both actors are superb in comedy, especially in this comedy. It's hard to believe Ms. Kendall would be gone a year later. According to Mr. Harrison's autobiography, he knew his wife was dying, but she did not know. This movie is a wonderful valentine Rex Harrison gave to his wife, Kay Kendall.

A few years earlier, Kay Kendall made a very funny movie, "Simon and Laura" with Peter Finch. Movie is not available on video, so watch for it on television.

This is my favorite comedy. Rex Harrison plays a man in London remarried to a strikingly lovely Kay Kendall. His daughter comes to live with them from America, played by Sandra Dee. She is just the right age for a "Coming Out Party", so her step-mom Kay Kendall sets about to get her ready and invite all the eligible bachelors.John Saxons plays a young man named David. Sandra meets John Saxon and likes him immediately. But a friend of Kay Kendall's Angela Lansbury who also has a daughter coming out, tells her what a terrible person John Saxon is. Angela Lansbury's own daughter likes the palace guard David.Sandra cannot stand him. John Saxon is as always the handsomest man in the movie with his smoldering good looks. He is a drummer who plays at these coming out parties.Sandra likes David ( John Saxon ) but there is another David who is one of the Palace guards.This other David looks like and acts like Edgar Bergen's dummy Mortimer Snerd. He is the classic bore. With two young men with the same name you can just imagine all the fun of mistaken identity and misunderstandings. Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall are so hilarious as they go from party to party night after night, till they are not quite sure who's party they are at or why they are there. A laugh a minute. It all makes for loads of fun and laughs. Between going to all the parties Rex and Kay have to keep their eye on Sandra, which makes for more fun then I can relate. Sandra likes Saxon and sneaks out to see him. A wonderfully hilarious comedy~ Don't miss this movie. You will be glad you saw it. Go buy it because you are going to want to see it over and over again. I think I will slip my copy in the VCR now and enjoy this movie too. Enjoy!

As others have noted, the plot is pretty slight, but it's a charming film, thanks to the effortless performances of Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, and Angela Lansbury. The adults run away with this movie, rather like Beatrice and Benedick own 'Much Ado About Nothing,' even though Hero and Claudio are really the plot. The mile-a-minute dialogue between the older generation outshines the tame goings-on between Sandra Dee (who is completely adorable) and John Saxon (ditto). The reviewer who called Peter Meyers a Mortimer Snerd look-alike was spot on; he's so hilariously boring!

But to return to the exquisite Kay Kendall--her comic timing is superb and so is her dress sense! She looks totally fabulous in this film. It's terribly sad to see it and realize that she had not long to live. Film comedy lost a jewel in her.

According to the closing credits of 'What Every Girl Wants', 'The Reluctant Debutante' inspired that lamentable movie. Don't watch that; watch this!

I saw this film with my family at Radio City Music Hall in 1958, the year of the film's release and it took the house down. The entire audience burst into applause at the film's conclusion. What simple days those were. Alas, I miss the great days of movies so much I haven't been in a movie theater in 30 years. Thirty years ago people were nice. Not any more. People in movie theaters are just as rude as they are everywhere else. To escape in such a simple delight as this film is all I can do these days aside from my daily solitude which I refer to as ZEN and which occupies most of my time. But occasionally along comes a delightful film like this and I am flooded with happy memories of my youth when everything came up roses. I have such fond memories of Kay Kendall not just in this film but also in Les Girls which was just as marvelous. She was a treasure, taken much too soon.