Crê em Mim

When the story begins, Alison (Deborah Kerr) learns she has just inherited a ranch in Texas. She and those around her assume she's wealthy. On the cruise ship across the Atlantic to the States, three men all set after her. Terence (Robert Walker) is a crook and plans on bilking Alison. Jeremy (Peter Lawford) is rich and plans on winning her with his charm. And, finally, Matthew (Mark Stevens) is with the DA's office and falls for her...but also wonders if she might be a crook because she's often with Terence and his 'gentlemans gentleman' (James Whitmore)...a crook Matthew recognizes.

The film started off well and I enjoyed it through the long ocean voyage. But when the film made it to land, it really sank. The plot just got dumb and the film dragged....so much so that I longed for it all to end.

Deborah Kerr plays no-nonsense British lass who inherits a ranch from her Texas pen-pal and sails for the States; aboard ship, she is wooed by three bachelors: a lawyer, a millionaire playboy, and a con-artist. Sleek, genteel comedy plays like a blue-haired drawing-room farce. Kerr chirps along happily, but there's really no character here for her--just the outline of one (we can't even be sure what she did for a living back in London). Although there are no big laughs, amiable second-banana James Whitmore steals all his scenes with little effort. Extremely minor offering, one of the very last from famed producer Val Lewton, and perhaps just glossy enough to engage Kerr's fans. ** from ****

In London, Alison Kirbe (Deborah Kerr) receives news that she has inherited a gigantic cattle ranch in Texas from old Hank whom she befriended during the war. The newspaper proclaims her to be a new heiress. In reality, Hank was prown to tall tales and his will is no exception. Alison boards a ship to American and is followed by some men with an eye for her. Terence Keath is an indebted gambler looking to steal her fortune. Vincent Maran (James Whitmore) is watching over him for his boss Lucky Reilly who owns Terence's papers. Rich bachelor Jeremy Tayler is traveling with his lawyer Matthew Kinston who is suspicious of Alison.

The funniest scene is probably the group of old men reading old Hank's will. I love the donkey. The whole section is deadpan hilarity. The rest of the movie is a bit bland. I don't know if Kerr has any comedic chops. She shows a bit of it here or there but she needs to be so much more wackier. The writing doesn't give her enough telephone poles to help her get there. The guys do have some fun at times. Whitmore comes the closest with his constant frustration. It's light. It's harmless. It's nearly funny.

The film Please Believe Me is based on a simple premise, that people who are from Texas have to be rich and vulgarly so in fact. When Deborah Kerr, a most prim and proper English lass inherits property in Texas everyone assumes she inherited something like South Fork. Especially after the English tabloids get a hold of the story and she goes sailing to the other side of the pond to claim her inheritance.

On ship three guys start buzzing around Kerr, playboy Robert Walker, millionaire Peter Lawford, and lawyer Mark Stevens. Walker has a real good reason for wanting to marry her, he's owing big bucks to gangster/gambler J. Carrol Naish so his courtship is tinged with some big desperation.

People will recognize the resemblance with this and the earlier RKO Ginger Rogers classic, Tom Dick, And Harry. If you think you know who Rogers winds up with after seeing that one, you'll be wrong. Please Believe Me also bears strong resemblance to another MGM film with Jane Wyman, Three Guys Named Mike.

Kerr's career in America was zooming into high gear at this time, she was doing a number of classic films like King Solomon's Mines and Edward My Son. This one is funny, but it seems like it was done as an afterthought, all the men and her happened to be free so let's do this property we've had sitting around for a while.

Funny, but Please Believe Me won't be on anyone's top ten.

Zippy little comedy that never bogs down thanks to both director Taurog's pacing skills and writer Curtis's snappy dialogue, though plot developments don't make much sense. But then, this is a comedy. There's more amusement than hilarity even though the ensemble cast doesn't meld that well. The plot's something about the guys trying to romance Kerr out of her big Texas ranch. But get a load of that big inheritance ranch that none of plotters nor even Kerr have seen. It's a hundred miles of nothing, so someone's in for a big surprise. Meanwhile the guys shuffle in and out of Kerr's life whether on shipboard or in hotel rooms, while she slowly succumbs.

Kerr does well enough as the lady-like mark, though I don't think she looks comfortable. However, Mark Stevens comes across as something of a bland dead spot among Kerr's prospective suitors. Fortunately, he later found his strength as a successful director and producer. The surprise is tough guy Whitmore who shows a spirited comedic side that viewers of the Asphalt Jungle or Battleground might never suspect. And who would think horror meister Val Lewton-- Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie--- would act as producer of a comedy like this one.

Overall, it's a fairly pleasant little diversion if you're not expecting too much. Plus, I can't help thinking the filming would have been better done in Technicolor rather than the bland b&w that flattens what should be livelier visuals.