Dixie Dugan

Roger Hudson, a wealthy businessman who has moved to Washington to work for the government as a "dollar a year man," is late for a radio broadcast about his new department, the Mobilization of Woman Power for War. He takes a cab driven by Dixie Dugan, who hopes that being a cabbie while the country's men are away fighting will help the war effort. Her incompetent driving, however, results in an accident for which Roger must take responsibility in order to reach the radio station in time. Dixie then returns home,

I never read the Dixie Dugan comic strip, so I can't say how faithful this movie is to it. However, the comedy is pretty broad and reminds one of "Blondie" and other successful comic strip adaptations of the time. There are three reasons to see this film: Lois Andrews who plays the title character, the nice World War II home-front atmosphere, and the woman power theme. Lois Andrews makes a smashing debut. She is beautiful, looking a lot like 1950's model Betty Page, and is really good at farce. The opening scene of her driving a taxi is great. She stops short and the passenger gets upset. She tells him, "I've never had an accident in my life." He asks how long she has been driving? She deadpans, "Today's my first day." It is sad that the Dixie Dugan series was not picked up. This could have been the start of a great career for her. Unfortunately, she only did a few more movies and disappeared. The movie manages to show a lot of the atmosphere in Washington D.C. during World War II. They were worried about spies and rooms appeared to be hard to come by. They seem to have expected to be bombed as London was. Finally, there's an interesting take on women in the movie. The movie endorses "Women Power" and wants women to replace men. It shows how the government had to entice women into the workforce. No great shakes, but it is quick, painless, funny and enjoyable.