7/10
Comedy about cutting through Washington's red tap during War II
25 November 2016
For those who could never imagine Olivia de Havilland in a totally madcap comedy but would like to, I would highly recommend this movie to you!!

The story is set in Washington, D.C. in the middle of WW II, when all the hotels in town are full of important people doing business, mostly to help support the war effort. In this way, this movie is highly similar to The More the Merrier (1943) which was made in the same time period with a similar theme.

However, this movie is more about getting things done quickly rather than taking shortcuts through the housing shortage. Here, de Havilland serves as sort of an activity coordinator, trying to guide people to the right place and keep the herd of visitors moving with the least possible disruption. However, she is not ready for the likes of Ed Brown (Sonny Tufts) who is knowledgeable about manufacturing the huge number of aircraft needed quickly for the war.

Ed will do anything to make airplanes and put them into service quickly. To do this, he takes shortcuts to get through the red tape of Washington, and Elizabeth Allard (Olivia de Havilland) can do nothing but go along with him on his wild ride through the bureaucracy, always about five steps in front of any roadblock that may get in his way.

De Havilland often plays the clown to Tufts character, but is soon brought on board his madhouse tactics when she sees hundreds of new warplanes being launched and deployed, thanks to him.
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