The story itself is incredible enough, but how do you wrap your head around managing to survive on about eighteen dollars a week? That's what struggling writer Bill Smith (Jimmy Stewart) got away with in his simple but by no means impoverished apartment. Just goes to show you how life was like in the Forties, and how inflation did away with all of it.
This is one of those stories which you know how it will end; the fun is in seeing how it gets there. For the sake of the script and in order to avoid deportation, Viennese immigrant Johnny Jones (Hedy Lamarr) asks the yet unnamed Bill Smith to marry her on their very first meeting! Taken aback, but seeing the possibilities, Smith agrees when Johnny offers to pay him a weekly stipend that will keep him afloat. But even more than that, the entire situation gives Bill the idea for a story that just might be accepted by a publisher. And not just any publisher, but the married one who's in love with Miss Jones!!
I thought the story was ripe for a few more screwball touches, but in general, the humor was kept nuanced. Donald Meek provided unusual insight into the human condition as a homeless street bum offering Johnny some worldly advice, while Smith's country excursion with Johnny made a brief stop at 'Ye Indian Inne' offering Chinese-American food. Hmm, have to think about that one. In any event, it might have been Grandma's (Adeline De Walt Reynolds) homespun wisdom to set Johnny's mind right, with a little help from Barton Kendrick's (Ian Hunter) wife, who helped get the ball rolling to save her own marriage.
All in all, this is one of those pictures that warrant the old 'they don't make them like they used to' sentiments. A nice vehicle for Stewart and Lamarr with a happy ever after ending that the era was well noted for.
This is one of those stories which you know how it will end; the fun is in seeing how it gets there. For the sake of the script and in order to avoid deportation, Viennese immigrant Johnny Jones (Hedy Lamarr) asks the yet unnamed Bill Smith to marry her on their very first meeting! Taken aback, but seeing the possibilities, Smith agrees when Johnny offers to pay him a weekly stipend that will keep him afloat. But even more than that, the entire situation gives Bill the idea for a story that just might be accepted by a publisher. And not just any publisher, but the married one who's in love with Miss Jones!!
I thought the story was ripe for a few more screwball touches, but in general, the humor was kept nuanced. Donald Meek provided unusual insight into the human condition as a homeless street bum offering Johnny some worldly advice, while Smith's country excursion with Johnny made a brief stop at 'Ye Indian Inne' offering Chinese-American food. Hmm, have to think about that one. In any event, it might have been Grandma's (Adeline De Walt Reynolds) homespun wisdom to set Johnny's mind right, with a little help from Barton Kendrick's (Ian Hunter) wife, who helped get the ball rolling to save her own marriage.
All in all, this is one of those pictures that warrant the old 'they don't make them like they used to' sentiments. A nice vehicle for Stewart and Lamarr with a happy ever after ending that the era was well noted for.