Romance sans lendemain

About Mrs Leslie,in less credible hands,would have been just another average 1950's tearjerker,but in the hands of (Oscar) winning actress "Shirley Booth" the film crosses the boundary, from maudlin to interesting. Anyone familiar with Booth's acting genius, knows that the actress could have made a film about the invention of the "pencil sharpener" worth watching. It could be said, and rightfully so that 'Robert Ryan" was miscast, as Mr. Leslie, but if given a chance, I believe you'll gladly overlook Paramount's little casting error. All in all, About Mrs Leslie, isn't "Shirley Booth's" greatest moment, but she still had reason to crow! I highly reccomend this dramatization of "Vina Delmars" best selling novel of the same name.

In this romantic melodrama from Paramount Pictures and director Daniel Mann, boardinghouse proprietor Vivien Leslie (Shirley Booth) flashes back on her romance years earlier with George Leslie (Robert Ryan), an aircraft manufacturer and wartime (WWII) military adviser struggling with personal demons. Mrs. Leslie also tries to help out the various tenants at her residence whose dilemmas include a good cross section of middle class angst 50s style.

In the flashback, Vivien meets George Leslie at a nightspot where she is an entertainer. The two hit it off and he asks her to come to California with him for a six week vacation that he needs to treat the strain he is under and his resulting nerves. What starts out as friendship quickly turns to love and a "same time next year" arrangement with the two having six weeks together in the same beach house every January. Leslie is a bit of a Civil War buff, and Vivien starts to read about the Civil War too, because it makes her feel close to him when they are apart. And this brings me to the most shocking part of the film when it comes to modern sensibilities - A bookstore owner actually says something positive about Robert E. Lee! Oh the humanity!

Booth's nightclub act at the beginning is really quite bad. In spite of that and the fact that Booth and Ryan look every bit of their eleven year age difference, I was moved by Booth's various plights. Her great acting talent managed to transcend her age and even her singing. I also liked Harry Morgan in a small role as a sleazy talent manager with a pencil mustache. In his youth, Harry Morgan could always be counted on to be whatever kind of slimy little weasel the production required, and be memorable in the process.

The film also has a great score, and it turned out to be one of those films that is better than it ought to be.

If people did not accept back street arrangements like Shirley Booth did in About Mrs. Leslie a whole lot of romance novels and soap operas would never be written. In one of her few film appearances Shirley Booth plays Mrs. Leslie who owns a boardinghouse in Los Angeles and deals with the problems of her tenants while thinking back on her wartime romance with what was called then, a dollar a year man.

Her dollar a year man is Robert Ryan whom she met back east when she was singing in some second rate supper club. They more than hit it off and she accepts his proposition for a six week vacation on the southern California coast though her breaking her contract puts her career such as it is in jeopardy.

She only finds out about who this man really is when she sees a newsreel in the theater and finds out that 46 weeks a year he's a business executive and former World War I ace who married a Senator's daughter to advance his career. Ryan regrets this and Booth regrets having to settle for back street status though in the end financially she comes out well.

Combining elements of both Back Street and Maytime, About Mrs. Leslie is a fine film, one which we used to call a woman's picture. Booth made too few feature films for the big screen, but when she got there everyone was a gem.

About Mrs. Leslie is an uncut diamond. It should be broadcast more often.

This movie was ahead of it's time, but still posturing to the "Code" and Hayes Office. "Mrs. Leslie" knew she was a once a year Date for a married man, in a "Open Marriage". The movie treated her with respect, as a woman, and not a cheap whatever, going to a Motel with a married man. It didn't matter to her the "reasons" that this man craved her companionship once a year. He never gave her the trite, "I'm getting a divorce", or "She doesn't understand me" spiel when he arranged their vacations. He didn't say anything about his wife, i.e. put-downs, horror stories, when he was Mrs. Leslie, either. The only people in the film that treated her like scum were the Lawyer for the Estate, and the neighbor she babysat.

This is a silly, tear-jerker of a story, but interesting in spite of itself, the kind to help you pass a rainy day when you're feeling kind of blue.

However . . . . if anyone wants to know who was one of America's greatest actresses, they have only to watch Shirley Booth in this film. She was a very low-key, actually kind of dumpy-looking woman, with a not very pretty speaking voice, but she will keep your attention, amaze you, and break your heart. Even though she looks sort of like she could be Robert Ryan's mother, or at least his older sister, you don't have a moment's doubt that this tall, handsome leading man could fall for her and maintain a long-term relationship with her. She is luminous in her quiet way.

Booth did many stage plays, and to give you an idea of the heft of her acting abilities, several of the parts she played on the stage were subsequently played on screen by Katharine Hepburn. Booth unfortunately lacked what Hollywood considered glamor, but she was chock full of talent and charisma. If you know her only from re-runs of the sitcom "Hazel," you are in for a big surprise if you see her in this film, or in the even better "Come Back Little Sheba."