Yes, My Darling Daughter

Married Ann Murray invited writer Titus Jaywood to spend the weekend with her family in New Brighton. Ann's daughter Ellen Murray (Priscilla Lane) is determined to spend time with boyfriend Douglas Hall before he heads off to Europe for a new job.

All the liberated woman and dating logistics feel very dated and unknowable. I kept thinking that this gathering would be a lot better for a holiday. The family, the boyfriend, the invited guest can all gather for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It should be Thanksgiving. It's the missing element. One of the issues with the comedy genre is that they often exist in their own times. Physical comedies can transcend time, but written comedies often have issues. This has the dated problem.

Rounding up much of the cast of the popular, money-making film, "Four Daughters", Warners Bros. probably figured that it made sense to keep "teaming" Priscilla Lane with Jeffrey Lynn. In my opinion, they do play well opposite each other, as they did in the aforementioned film, and subsequent films in which they appeared together.

The material is dated to us, so take it in the context of the time in which the film was made. Consider it a period piece as you do when you watch films like "Patriot" or "Marie Antoinette". You expect actors to behave as they did in the time, and the plot to be consistent with the thinking of that era.

But, even taking all that into account, it's a so-so film. I suspect the Broadway play upon which the film is based, was toned down to meet censorship rules, and that must have weakened the story considerably.

So,don't blame the actors if this film doesn't come off as great cinema. Nevertheless, it's worth watching if you like the particular actors appearing in this film.

Jeffrey Lynn gets a real bum rap by one reviewer on this site. He has an impossible part to play here, in which he's subjected to Priscilla Lane's endless platitudinous chatter. It's certainly refreshing to see a liberated woman in an old movie, but Lane's character is positively emasculating. Under the circumstances, Lynn does very well. Based on a popular play, this film was considered racy in 1939. Seen today, it's so innocuous, it's almost offensive! Needless to say, Lane retains her virginity even though she goes away for the weekend with boyfriend Lynn.

Forget the sociological implications, however, and you have a reasonably witty entertainment, successfully "opened up" from its stage origins.

This rather dated comedy involves young Priscilla Lane going unchaperoned to spend a weekend at a lake cabin with Jeffrey Lynn before he goes off to Belgium for a career change and a bit of excitement. It got all the censor's hackles up because the two at the moment are not intending to be married. Today it wouldn't raise a blip.

I'm in agreement with the other reviewer who said there's a whole lot of talking going on. Not as much as in one of Bette Davis's worst films Winter Meeting, still a lot. Today the young folk would be getting it on.

Lane and her grandmother May Robson are having a great old time pointing out to mama Fay Bainter that back in the day she was a frisky young thing herself, all that suffragette activity etc. Fay reacts like a mom, but she's hoisted on her own petard by her past.

Ian Hunter plays dad and he's out sailing on Long Island sound while all this is going on. When he arrives on the scene this pillar of the community proves singularly ineffectual. His sister Genevieve Tobin and house guest Roland Young function as kibitzers.

Hard to believe back in the day that Yes My Darling Daughter got the Legion of Decency in such a snit. The play by Mark Reed ran for 405 performances with a cast I'm sure you mostly never heard of. Just noting the Broadway cast list you can see how the play was expanded a bit for the screen.

One has to wonder that in 1939 those who saw Yes My Darling Daughter had to wonder what happens to all the characters the following year when the Nazis march into Belgium. It certainly had me wondering.

This is a most dated but amusing film.

One thing you can say about this movie, is that it doesn't lack in acting talent! There are the great talents of Priscilla Lane, Fay Bainter, Mary Robson, Roland Young and Ian Hunter, and the lesser but still okay ones of Jeffrey Lynn and Genevieve Tobin, and they combine to keep the movie going, even when there isn't much going for it.

There are matters of trust, hypocrisy, rebellion, conformity, individual freedom, moral standards, outdated roles, etc., and had the story more depth, had gone for drama rather than comedy, it might have worked a lot better.

As it is, it's one of those movies that you can skip without many regrets.