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Three Blind Mice is a story that's been put to film too many times to count or keep track of. The three leads here are Young, McCrea, and Niven, all solid performers who I generally enjoy. However, despite their likeability I almost feel like they're miscast here. This screwball comedy is fine but what it likes is the screwy/zanniness of the genre, it just isn't silly enough. Sure, some of that is due to the direction but I think Young, as good as she is, is the weak link with this specific material. The film for me does pick up a bit with the entry of Binnie Barnes as Niven's sister. She has the comedic chops and timing this project needs, unfortunately she arrives a little too late into the proceedings. Still, despite its shortcomings The Blind Mice does come together favorably in the last third to make it a pleasant enough watch.

This comedy about three sisters who inherit a bit of money and use it to mount a gold-digging expedition is given a fairly glossy Fox handling. Yet, despite a cast that in a few years would be considered stellar for screwball comedy, it never quite gets off the ground. In fact, this looks like it is miscast, something that should have starred Janet Gaynor. Fox had dumped Miss Gaynor a couple of years earlier and used Loretta Young in the lead role. She lacks that adorability that makes you forgive her her trespasses.

Only Binnie Barnes, as David Niven's emphatic sister, really shines. Although director William Seiter was a dab hand at social comedy, he never really got a feel for out-and-out screwball, and this effort shows the gap.

If anything, this movie looks like Preston Sturges was so annoyed by it that he wrote the script for THE PALM BEACH STORY and cast this movie's lead, Joel McCrea in the lead.

Darryl Zanuck certainly liked The Greeks Had A Word For Them. 20th Century Fox did four versions of this story of which Three Blind Mice was the second.

From roaring twenties flappers the three husband seeking girls are the proprietors of a chicken ranch on the Kansas plains and after getting a $5000.00+ inheritance they're off to Southern California to seek a rich husband. Loretta Young is given the lead so to speak as a rich débutante with Marjorie Weaver and Pauline Moore as secretary and maid. No particular reason for them to invest in Loretta as all three women are lookers. But Loretta's most sold on the idea.

After a fashion they get themselves involved with Joel McCrea has an impressive WASP name, but little cash. He's an excellent extra man for a dinner party though. He's got a friend in David Niven who is really rich and sights are set on him. But hanging around is Stu Erwin who is a bartender who has a dislike for whom he considers gold diggers.

Three Blind Mice is a pleasant and witty comedy very typical of the era when people still dressed for dinner. Of course in this situation that fourth remake that 20th Century Fox did was the best. It was nothing less than How To Marry A Millionaire.

Still this one holds its own quite nicely.

All true romantic comedies have happy endings; otherwise they are not romantic comedies. If I'm not entertained or do not sense good chemistry and witty dialog in the first fifteen minutes, then I turn them off. Three Blind Mice was a last minute decision to DVR, but it was billed as a comedy and starred three of my favorite actors: Loretta Young, Joel McCrea, and David Niven. Surprisingly, I was hooked well before the fifteen minute mark.

I loved the elegant costuming, the plot, the signature dry humor of Joel McCrea, the suaveness and wittiness of David Niven, the twists along the way, the setting, the chivalry, the necessary scheming for this plot, and, especially, the supporting cast. A more classically comic actress might have suited Loretta Young's part, but her elegance made her character credible.

Next time you get a chance to see Three Blind Mice, give it a try. It was a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes. If you do not like these actors or the standard romantic comedy, then consider if this genre is really worth your time. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.

The three "Charters" sisters are avidly awaiting the news of their inheritance from their recently deceased aunt. $5,800-odd dollars. Not enough to change anyone's life - but they hope that by putting elder sister "Pamela" (Loretta Young) forward and with sisters "Moira" (Marjorie Weaver) and "Liz" (Pauline Moore) acting as her entourage they can head to California and marry well! Their antics result in some hit and miss escapades as they alight on some gents just as bent on "gold-digging" as they are. All, that is, except for David Niven's "Harrington" who has a sort of dating double-act going with "Van Dam Smith" (Joel McCrea) and the poverty stricken "Mike" (Stuart Erwin) who'd give his last (and only) $100 to help out his gal. Can any of the girls get any of the rich guys? It's a bit too contrived and the scenarios repeat themselves a little, but we can see the beginnings of the Young/Niven rapport that went on to work well and there are a few gags that raise a smile over a quickly paced and enjoyable enough seventy-five minutes.