Jane Wyman's recent passing has elicited a great flurry of comments about her strong work ethic, her humble modesty and her strict no-gossip code, all admirable qualities. But her acting legacy leaves little evidence that she was a versatile performer capable of conquering a variety of thematic realms (and her finest performance, in "Johnny Belinda", which won her an Oscar, suffered at the hands of a second-rate script). In this musicalized version of Arthur Richman's play "The Awful Truth", filmed as a straight comedy in 1937, Wyman wears a succession of shoulder-exposing, low-cut cocktail dresses and fur-lined evening wear, yet her wardrobe doesn't match her personality; Wyman's short, old-lady bob and her harried little face never give the impression she's having a good time. She gives the proverbial Jane Wyman Performance, that of a prudish woman forced by circumstance into skirting grown-up female issues. It seems her little-girl tricks of making songwriter-hubby Ray Milland jealous have turned him away, so Wyman, unconvincingly portraying a musical starlet, attempts to woo Milland back with more little-girl tricks. News of the couple's pending divorce brings other men Wyman's way, but naturally she's too uptight to do anything more than a little fancy dancing with them (but then that's understandable, once you get a load of graceless, nervous Aldo Ray on the dance floor). The picture is nothing more than a fashion show set to the type of fake-nightclub music you'd never hope to hear again, and the creaky dialogue probably shamed Arthur Richman (Wyman to her maid: "Is the champagne ready?" The maid: "Ready, willing and able!"). Sure, it's undemanding fluff not meant to be taken seriously, but in the context of Wyman's B-minus career, it is Exhibit A. * from ****
Review of Let's Do It Again
