Vamos Brincar de Amor?

A YOUNG olivia dehavilland is Catherine Hilton, in a wacky family, with wacky maids and cooks. a few subplots raging in this story that started as a stage play. Catherine is falling for her (married) artist friend Paul. The amazing Alice Brady and Roland Young are brother and sister, along for laughs. SHE won an oscar; he was nominated. if you haven't seen them in other things, you really should; they are both hilarious. Muriel (Brady) has picked out a wife for brother Frank.. .but he isn't convinced he wants a wife. Dad Hilton is being pursued by a client, an actress! . Spring has sprung. even Mom Hilton accidentally gets mixed up in a love triangle. mistaken identities! mixups! Keep an eye out for Una Oconnor, the short, tiny housekeeper. she speaks her mind, and was always prim and proper. Director Archie Mayo made this right after Petrified Forest. sadly, Alice Brady would die quite young just two years after making this film. this film is fun... snappy. has a lot in common with Merrily we Live, but that is MGM.

Although given top billing for the first time in her career, it is not Olivia de Havilland who carries this low-key comedy of spring fever running rampant in an upperclass British family. Ian Hunter and Frieda Inescourt have the main burden--as well as Roland Young who makes amorous advances toward Frieda and Bonita Granville giving another of her irritating brat performances. Olivia makes scant few appearances as a lovesick girl batting her eyes at artist Walter Woolf King. Her role is so small it is a wonder the studio bothered to give her top billing. Likewise, Anita Louise is reduced to a small role as the attractive girl next door. Hunter and Inescourt do well in their parts but this minor comedy from a stage play is a trifle easily forgotten. Incidentally, Olivia's sister Joan Fontaine played a role in a Los Angeles stage version of the film. May have been the same one Olivia plays, but I'm not sure.

I caught this gem of a comedy on a Saturday morning on TCM, and I wasn't expecting much from it. I watched it for the star, Olivia de Havilland. However, although she received top billing, her part was more of a supportive one as the eldest daughter. The plot centers on a married couple with three nearly grown children who find themselves each fielding persistent and unexpected flirtations. There are many clever, funny lines in the script. ("What about the children?" "Well, you could just divide them up between you." "But there are three, it wouldn't come out even!" ) Olivia's facial expressions in her scene with the painter show her rarely tapped comedic talent. I'm not sure why other reviewers gave this film such low marks; I've watched dozens of films from the era (often with bigger stars) that weren't nearly as funny. Another plus for this film is that it doesn't, like so many other Hayes Code era films, pretend that adultery either doesn't exist or that no one ever actually goes through with it. The two lead actors are witty and believable and the ending is surprisingly touching.

It's a happy family, what with Ian Hunter as the father, Frieda Inescourt the mother, and three childre: Olivia de Haviland, Bonita Granville, and Peter Willes are the children. They live a well-to-do life and like each other. But it's spring, and it's not just young men that fancies come to.

It'sa well-produced movie version of Dodie Smith's play that we have here, under the direction of Archie Mayo. It's well stocked with capable players, like Anita Louise, Alice Brady, Roland Young, and Walter Woolf King, and of course, Asta is someone's dog here. Hunter and Miss Inescourt are right in the middle of their sweet spots for their roles, and as various people show up to tempt these people from their unconsidered and often staid lives, we can see the temptations. But those temptations never seem to be a real threat. Everyone is too polite for such a consideration. Who would give up Hunter for Young? Who would give such a mild King the time of day? That, alas, stays this from being more than a very good version of the play.

Its title suggests that the action in this film takes place in a 24-hour period and that its happenings are of little consequence. This adaptation of a Dodie Smith play does occupy only one day, and some of the day's happenings will probably seem like dreams in the reset of another night's sleep.

There is a manic energy in the air as the day begins in the Hilton household. It is the first day of Spring and, much like a troupe of Shakespearian characters, they are greatly influenced by the seasonal airs and the vernal moon. Inspired, they are, to flights of fancy and foolishness.

The narrative is divided into various subplots for the numerous characters, so each actor has limited camera time, but the acting is credible. I especially enjoyed the performance of Roland Young as the older man who instantly falls in love with Mrs. Hilton and---at least for a day-is willing to upend his life for this singular passion. And I found Marcia Ralston charming as an American actress who tempts Mr. Hilton; she has a screen presence reminiscent of Kay Francis.

Though British conventions are bent, they are never broken in this ebullient farce. All's well that ends well. And no one ever misses a tea time.