Story of fallen woman's redemption gone wrong. Typical '50's "women's movie' moral: Housewives GOOD, Career Girls BAD
Run out of San Francisco for a casino hustle, lil' ole Mamie Stover (Jane Russell), originally from a dirt-poor small town in Mississippi, sets out to make good (which to her means make good money) in Honolulu, joining the corps at 10 cents a dance in a gentlemen's nightclub, and ends up the most celebrated taxi dancer, not only in Hawaii, but also Alaska and all (at the time) 48 states.
She falls for a handsome, successful, seemingly sensitive Jim Blair (Richard Egan), practically perfect except for one thing: he comes from the RIGHT side of the tracks. His comfortable money vs her lust for it is the only thing that comes between them, but it does, a LOT. Every meeting is a fight and reconciliation. till Pearl Harbor happens and he's sent off to war with the promise that she'll stay home and pine for his return
But by now she's gotten a taste of the Big Time and can't stay away. She's become such a star that she forces Me. Tinkertoy, uh, Bertha Parchman (the incomparable Agnes Moorehead, who can do no wrong, even in a throwaway project like this), the dancehall's proprietress, to give her bigger and bigger percentages of the business profits, with which she steals property from poor unfortunate locals who feel they have to get out of Dodge, their most likely other option being learn Japanese, and ends up becoming the biggest female real estate mogul in Hawaii, all the while lying to her Odysseus, giving him to believe she's just sitting around knitting sweaters till he gets back.
He learns of her perfidy when the guys in his barracks overseas pass around her current pin-up, and breaks the engagement the first opportunity he gets for leave, In the past he's insisted that he understands her, but obviously not, If he can't come down from his snooty high-horse and accept a self-made accomplished woman, then good riddance, and she ends up giving it all up and returning home to Mississippi, like she swore she never would.
In addition to her usual masterful delivery of passive-aggressive smart-ass jabs, here Jane's softer side is glimpsed from time to time, and at such times her vulnerability is palpable. Richard Egan seems sincere,
#metooers won't like this
Run out of San Francisco for a casino hustle, lil' ole Mamie Stover (Jane Russell), originally from a dirt-poor small town in Mississippi, sets out to make good (which to her means make good money) in Honolulu, joining the corps at 10 cents a dance in a gentlemen's nightclub, and ends up the most celebrated taxi dancer, not only in Hawaii, but also Alaska and all (at the time) 48 states.
She falls for a handsome, successful, seemingly sensitive Jim Blair (Richard Egan), practically perfect except for one thing: he comes from the RIGHT side of the tracks. His comfortable money vs her lust for it is the only thing that comes between them, but it does, a LOT. Every meeting is a fight and reconciliation. till Pearl Harbor happens and he's sent off to war with the promise that she'll stay home and pine for his return
But by now she's gotten a taste of the Big Time and can't stay away. She's become such a star that she forces Me. Tinkertoy, uh, Bertha Parchman (the incomparable Agnes Moorehead, who can do no wrong, even in a throwaway project like this), the dancehall's proprietress, to give her bigger and bigger percentages of the business profits, with which she steals property from poor unfortunate locals who feel they have to get out of Dodge, their most likely other option being learn Japanese, and ends up becoming the biggest female real estate mogul in Hawaii, all the while lying to her Odysseus, giving him to believe she's just sitting around knitting sweaters till he gets back.
He learns of her perfidy when the guys in his barracks overseas pass around her current pin-up, and breaks the engagement the first opportunity he gets for leave, In the past he's insisted that he understands her, but obviously not, If he can't come down from his snooty high-horse and accept a self-made accomplished woman, then good riddance, and she ends up giving it all up and returning home to Mississippi, like she swore she never would.
In addition to her usual masterful delivery of passive-aggressive smart-ass jabs, here Jane's softer side is glimpsed from time to time, and at such times her vulnerability is palpable. Richard Egan seems sincere,
#metooers won't like this