Three Loves Has Nancy

Janet Gaynor is charming and funny as Nancy, a southern girl who gets left at the altar and decides to go to New York City to find her intended. En route she runs in snooty author Robert Montgomery, who shares a swanky apartment in NYC with his publisher, Franchot Tone. Montgomery is on a book-signing tour to elude predatory Claire Dodd. Nancy is of course a walking disaster area and ends up moved in with the guys, where she cooks and looks after them. They both fall in lover with her and the fun begins. Great cast in top form. Gaynor is very funny, and Montgomery and Tone are a great team. The art deco apartment is fabulous, too. Also in the cast are Charley Grapewin, Guy Kibbee, Mary Forbes, Cora Witherspoon, Emma Dunn, Reginald Owen, Grant Withers, Marie Blake, Carol Tevis, Elise Cavanna, Charles Lane, Grady Sutton, Sarah Edwards, and Grace Hayle. Great line by Claire Dodd to Robert Montgomery: "I've had a lovely evening, but this wasn't it!"

Janet Gaynor is a country bumpkin who finds herself in New York with Robert Montgomery and Franchot Tone while her fiancée is missing in "Three Loves Has Nancy," a wonderfully funny comedy. Montgomery, Gaynor, and Tone are all hilarious as parts of this strange menage. Gaynor, as Nancy, stood up on her wedding day by "George," is sent by her family to New York to find him. After a series of events, she winds up being used by writer Montgomery to get a rapacious female and her mother off his case. When Franchot Tone, his publisher, friend, and neighbor, gets a sniff of Gaynor's southern cooking, the two men battle it out for her attention. Montgomery considers her a jinx and wants to be rid of Nancy - or so he thinks - until Tone decides he's in love with her.

There are quite a few laugh out loud scenes in this film. It's highly recommended. The "goof" described by IMDb indicates that perhaps two men were cast on different days as Tone's father, an uncredited role, but only one actor is listed. Anyway, it's great fun.

I enjoyed the running gag of Janet Gaynor always thinking she lost something - her purse or gloves - and Robert Montgomery trying to help but running into trouble himself because of it (especially in the cute ending). And the idea of a small-town homebody having two sophisticated New Yorkers fall for her is inherently funny, but most of the time I found myself not laughing. So the film is a valiant try but no cigars are forthcoming. This was the last film Janet Gaynor made for about 19 years. (The film "The Young in Heart (1938)" was made earlier in 1938 but came out later that year.) Gaynor is perfect as the girl, with Montgomery and Franchot Tone giving good performances.

I was startled at a major goof near the end, when Gaynor's family and Tone's family meet in Tone's apartment. His father is played by Douglas Wood, who has the speaking part. But in some shots we clearly see another man (Charles Richman) in the background standing in for Tone's father. There was no effort to hide him either, and even if you don't know either actor, you just have to know that Wood has a mustache and Richman doesn't. And the all the actors' placement with each of the fathers are totally mismatched. To me, this ranks as the greatest lack of continuity by a major studio ever, and I'd be curious to know why it happened.

Three Loves Has Nancy is a wonderful comedy from 1938 about a woman from a small town who goes to New York to find her missing fiancée. In the process, she meets a city author and his drunken friend who proceed to fall in love with her as well. What ensues is a madcap dash to win her affections in the process of her scatterbrained antics.

Janet Gaynor plays Nancy, the simple and "neighborly" star. Gaynor is wonderful in the role with a consistent accent and constant seriousness that brings plenty of laughs.

Robert Montgomery plays Mal Niles, the writer and perhaps the most grounded and standard of the lead characters.

Franchot Tone is absolutely hysterical as Bob Hanson, a drunk turned sober lovestruck fool. Although he is quite lovable in this film, he varies from his traditional portrayal, bringing lots of attention to his character.

This film, broadcast by Turner Classic Movies, is highly watchable and enjoyable both due to the content and the beautiful picture quality.

"Three Loves Has Nancy" is a frustrating film to watch. This is because it has many wonderful moments...but also some bad ones where the characters struggle very hard to make it work...and it doesn't. It's because the film sometimes tries just too hard to be goofy. I really think the film would have been better had they just allowed the film to have some quiet moments and trust the film to work. But, it's all loud and forced.

The film finds Robert Montgomery playing a novelist. In a funny scene, he meets the rather oblivious lady played by Janet Gaynor. And, from her on, Montgomery and Gaynor's paths keep crossing--and in each case, Montgomery comes off on the losing end! It's quite cute--and reminiscent of another 1938 comedy, "Bringing Up Baby". However, once Montgomery brings Gaynor home, the film really loses direction. Having the love triangle of Montgomery, Franchot Tone and the unseen George just doesn't work--I would have just concentrated on Montgomery and Gaynor. In fact, Tone really wasn't necessary at all--and from here on the film is a bit of a disappointment. Worth seeing? Probably....but understand the film is highly uneven.