"Joy of Living" is a pleasant film that is suitable for the whole family. But, it's far from great comedy or romance. It has a little different twist for the genre - it has a message. Irene Dunne and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Are the leads, and do well as Maggie and Dan. The screenplay is weak for a plot that surely needs some injections of laughter and energy. A small bonus is that we get to hear Dunne sing a couple of numbers. She had an excellent singing voice, and plays a singing star of stage.
Dan is a Boston blue blood who has escaped the family trappings of upper crust society and responsibility. He bought an island in the Pacific and wants to rescue Maggie from her career. It's not her singing that she needs rescuing from, but her career as support for a whole household of hangers-on. She has a mom and dad who "gave up" the chance for vaudeville greatness to have a family. Her sister, Salina, played by Lucille Ball, is her understudy; and Warren Hymer plays Salina's husband, Mike. This group hangs onto Maggie and her career like leeches. They have become codependents long before the word came into common use after the middle of the 20th century. Other reviewers have pointed out that this is a story that could mirror the lives of some early Hollywood stars.
It takes happy-go-lucky Dan, who falls for Maggie, to point this all out to her; and to rescue her before it's too late. Will he succeed? Will she free herself and her family from their dysfunctional relationship? Will she sail away to Paradise Island with Dan on his ship? I'll bet you can guess the answer.
The fun in the film is mostly in the circumstances of Dan chasing Maggie when she's not interested in him at first. She gets him arrested as a masher. The second offense results in a court case. The court scene is the funniest in the film. Another is in a German café. The script isn't one that has us laughing a lot - there are just a few witty lines. And, the camera work for a roller skating sequence is very poor.
The supporting cast are all fine in their roles. Again, they have to deal with a weak script. Here are some of the few witty lines. When Dan says he fled to an island to escape his family's banking heritage, Maggie says, "You mean you overcame the natural impulse to work?"
Dan says to Maggie, "Why do you have to be so awfully grown up? Weren't you ever a kid?" Maggie, "No no. I was born full grown."
In the German café, the waiter tells the owner that a famous singer is present. When the owner, played by Billy Gilbert, makes the announcement, Dan and Maggie act like other patrons and look in a direction to see the famous singer. The café owner then goes to their table and Maggie speaks to him in German - so he's fooled. He then apologizes: "The waiter is a dummkopf. She's not who she is. I thought she was who she is not. But she ain't. Is it?"
"Joy of Living" is nowhere near the funniest or best films by Dunne or Fairbanks. But it's light entertainment that has some wonderful actors of early Hollywood and the mid-20th century.
Dan is a Boston blue blood who has escaped the family trappings of upper crust society and responsibility. He bought an island in the Pacific and wants to rescue Maggie from her career. It's not her singing that she needs rescuing from, but her career as support for a whole household of hangers-on. She has a mom and dad who "gave up" the chance for vaudeville greatness to have a family. Her sister, Salina, played by Lucille Ball, is her understudy; and Warren Hymer plays Salina's husband, Mike. This group hangs onto Maggie and her career like leeches. They have become codependents long before the word came into common use after the middle of the 20th century. Other reviewers have pointed out that this is a story that could mirror the lives of some early Hollywood stars.
It takes happy-go-lucky Dan, who falls for Maggie, to point this all out to her; and to rescue her before it's too late. Will he succeed? Will she free herself and her family from their dysfunctional relationship? Will she sail away to Paradise Island with Dan on his ship? I'll bet you can guess the answer.
The fun in the film is mostly in the circumstances of Dan chasing Maggie when she's not interested in him at first. She gets him arrested as a masher. The second offense results in a court case. The court scene is the funniest in the film. Another is in a German café. The script isn't one that has us laughing a lot - there are just a few witty lines. And, the camera work for a roller skating sequence is very poor.
The supporting cast are all fine in their roles. Again, they have to deal with a weak script. Here are some of the few witty lines. When Dan says he fled to an island to escape his family's banking heritage, Maggie says, "You mean you overcame the natural impulse to work?"
Dan says to Maggie, "Why do you have to be so awfully grown up? Weren't you ever a kid?" Maggie, "No no. I was born full grown."
In the German café, the waiter tells the owner that a famous singer is present. When the owner, played by Billy Gilbert, makes the announcement, Dan and Maggie act like other patrons and look in a direction to see the famous singer. The café owner then goes to their table and Maggie speaks to him in German - so he's fooled. He then apologizes: "The waiter is a dummkopf. She's not who she is. I thought she was who she is not. But she ain't. Is it?"
"Joy of Living" is nowhere near the funniest or best films by Dunne or Fairbanks. But it's light entertainment that has some wonderful actors of early Hollywood and the mid-20th century.