Pillow to Post

Mildly amusing wartime programmer about housing shortage for service couples. Jean (Lupino) finagles an army officer (Prince) to pose as her husband so she can get restricted housing in a motel court. Naturally, "who sleeps where" type complications ensue as they work to keep up appearances. The pace picks up as the difficulties mount, ending finally in madcap farce.

The cast tries hard to make familiar material for the time work. Still, seams do show, especially with Lupino's sometimes over-eager performance. Clearly, she's anxious to show she's as good at comedy as she is at dramatics. Then too, when movie buffs think Greenstreet, comedy doesn't come to mind. But here he plays an unlikely over-weight colonel to pretty good effect. (Note how the script deals with this fudging of army fitness standards.)

The colorful mix of supporting characters includes a mischievous little Robert Blake, a busybody Ruth Donnelly, a bug-eyed Willy Best, and an addled Stuart Erwin. Together, they manage to keep the chuckles coming. The movie, however, doesn't rise to the first rank, perhaps because the elements don't blend into a seamless whole—you can almost see the characters and situations being assembled. Nonetheless, it's a generally entertaining glimpse into what titillated audiences coming out of the big war.

Sweet, silly little trifle is merely an excuse to see Ida Lupino get a chance to put the heavy dramatics aside briefly as a career girl who becomes more pixelated as the complications pile up.

The story addresses the wartime housing shortage and some of the subterfuge that had to be resorted to just to have a decent place to rest your head at times. Of course misunderstandings abound.

Ida is charming and adept at comedy, William Prince is fine but it's a shame that since she rarely did comedy she didn't have a chance to costar with one of the master of the form like Cary Grant or Clark Gable. Sydney Greenstreet is funny as Prince's commanding officer as always relishing a chance to also break from the villain role and play comedy.

All together a cute little ride with nothing important to say but a nice little picture nonetheless.

Pillow To Post has Ida Lupino working for her dad Paul Harvey's oil drilling supply company because his sales force have all been drafted. She has to sell John Mitchell the company supplies and get a signed order.

But with wartime housing being what it is, the only room she can find is at a motel court built for GIs and their dependents. Fortunately she finds a nice lieutenant in William Prince to take on the role of husband.

I'm sure you know that love will bloom as it always does in these movies. The wartime housing shortage was always a good subject for comedy, the best known being The More The Merrier.

Lupino is quite frazzled in her role, but all to good effect. William Prince is an officer and a gentleman always. Nice supporting cast headed by Sydney Greenstreet as Prince's commanding officer who is on a diet to lose weight so he can go overseas. I'm betting George C. Marshall wants his officers slim and trim for the front.

Pillow To Post is a nice wartime comedy that still holds up well.

This wartime romcom is about Jean Howard (Ida Lupino), the daughter of an oilfield supplies company owner. Though she is feminine and delicate, she volunteers to handle field sales and sets off to deal with roughnecks out west. This fish out of water story is secondary to the humor that evolves from a falsehood she employs.

She needs a room to operate out of, but like almost every other commodity, rooms are scarce and (practically) rationed. Out of necessity, she pretends to be the wife of an army lieutenant to get accommodations in an auto court. Then she sets off to find a lieutenant to play along with her charade. She finds Don Mallory (William Prince), who becomes trapped in her lie.

Lupino and Prince have excellent chemistry. This is a cute film that is well written. Though its stage play roots are evident, the screenplay is very entertaining. It also does a good job of demonstrating wartime exigencies and the resulting culture.

Willie Best plays the role of Lucille, the all-purpose fixit-man and gopher for the auto court. He is mystified by some of the goings-on that surround the Mallory household. Though his part may be seen as stereotypical, he rises above it and delivers many of the best lines of comedy.

Watch for Sydney Greenstreet as a commanding officer and Louis Armstrong who performs with his band.

Ida Lupino was mostly known for drama but she does well in comedy. Its too bad the script wasn't as good as she was. It has some laughs and cute moments but it misses the mark as a screwball comedy or a farce. It is still enjoyable and worth seeing.

It is fun seeing Greenstreet in a non villainous role.