User Reviews

Don't get me wrong. Joan Caufield and William Holden were fine here. Very good. But the real star here was Edward Arnold, who only got fourth billing. Arnold had at one time been a starring actor, got fat, and switched to character roles...to his advantage; he was well respected and always busy. Frankly, it's a little difficult to imagine this film being as good as it is without him being in it. Kudos to Arnold.

I also felt somewhat similarly about the mother role, played by Mary Phillips. Mona Freeman, as the eccentric daughter, did well, too.

The one cast member that just didn't feel right here was Billy DeWolfe. I used to like DeWolfe, but for this film he seem more prissy than Prissy in GWTW. Hard to see him marrying Joan Caufield's character.

This is a different kind of role for William Holden than most of us remember him for. Light comedy, oozing over with congeniality. He did well here, and this led to him getting better roles in the future.

I wasn't really expecting a lot from this film and was pleasantly surprised. Much of the dialog is very witty and the overall story is simply a funny concept. Recommended, especially to see a different side of William Holden.

This Norman Krasna play of the war era was a surprising Broadway hit and makes for an above average domestic comedy where surprising performances and a charming light-heartedness make it much better than predicted. Joan Caulfield is Ruth, the 21-year old bank employee who still lives at home (with parent Edward Arnold and Mary Phillips, and pesky teenaged sister Mona Freeman) and finds herself the victim of an unintentional deception which the impish Freeman played by writing letters in Ruth's name to a lonely soldier (William Holden). Freeman, a teenaged champion of causes, is an amusing pest to everyone in the house who can't help but be bemused by her devotion to war causes, particularly her fight for peace and her devotion to the poor soldiers drafted all in the cause of freedom. Caulfield has somehow became engaged to bank executive Billy De Wolfe, a stuffy older man who gives impressions of interests other than in women, especially when being offered a drink and asked if he'd like it "straight". Holden shows up and all is revealed in time, and when Caulfield meets the lonely soldier on leave from Europe, she can't help but be charmed by him.

The best performances in these types of films are those which really don't seem to be acted, and in the case of romantic leads Caulfield and Holden, they do their job so effectively it really seems as if they are real people, not movie stars giving a "performance". Arnold, of course, displays his usual boundless energy, showing that while more grandfatherly in appearance towards the two young girls, he still has what it takes to rule the roost, chew the scenery and steal the moment every chance he gets. But for me, the real star of the show is young Mona Freeman who takes what could be truly an obnoxious character and turns her into someone very likable. What Shirley Temple was doing at the same time shows the difference that less is more, and Freeman's ease in her portrayal makes for a much more tolerable character than Temple and certain other young actors were doing at the same time in films somehow more remembered today.

There's lots of surprises here and a delightful adventure on the New York Subway is a comic gem, especially when De Wolfe gets his nose out of joint for something which got him a summons. This plot has been repeated so many times (with a nebbish young man loosing the pretty heroine to the handsome hunk) that it could have been a predictable generic sitcom like film, but the fresh writing, fast direction and amiable performances make this a delight from start to finish. Two sequels popped up after this became a hit and are curios to search out to complete the saga of this wacky family where the judge isn't always moralizing and the mother isn't always fretting for Andy Hardy to stay out of trouble.

"Dear Ruth" is a nice movie. But it's plot clearly is one which took on a very different meaning in more recent years, due to the public's awareness of pedophilia...something that simply wasn't talked about in the 1940s. This is because the plot hasn't aged so well and it's easy to see folks today being a bit creeped out by it!

Miriam (Mona Freeman) is a very capricious teenager (she appears about 14 or so) during WWII. She does lots of things to help the war effort. But one of the things she does is VERY bad. She begins writing letters to a serviceman and over times, instead of just trying to cheer him up, she began writing romantic things! To make it worse, she has been signing her older sister's name...and even included photos of her adult sister!! The family learns about the ruse when the serviceman (William Holden) has a leave....and shows up to see Ruth!!

Normally, had something weird like this happened, the mistake would have been addressed right away and the man would have been told about Miriam's awful actions. But instead, Ruth (Joan Caulfield) tries to go along with it...going out with Lt. Seacroft and assuming that she'll soon let him down gently. This is REALLY important because Ruth already has a boyfriend, albeit a guy who is a bit of a putz. And, since this is a film, you know ultimately that Ruth and Seacroft will hit it off VERY well...so well that the film had a sequel, "Dear Wife"!

"Dear Ruth" is an enjoyable film that requires you turn off the nagging part of your brain that might question what you watch. In other words, some of the plot doesn't make a lot of sense but if you look past it you'll no doubt enjoy this silly farce.

"Smiling Jim" was William Holden's disparaging name for the characters he was usually assigned throughout the 1940's. Those characters were mostly insipid twits whose depth was puddle deep and whose only purpose was to be pleasant and smiling.

There is no better example of a "Smiling Jim" role than "Lt. William Seacroft" in this forgotten piece of WW2 era fluff. Based on a popular wartime stage play by Norman Krasna (who should have been credited for the story of William Wyler's 1953 "Roman Holiday" because it's pretty much a remake of 1943's "Princess O'Rourke" for which Krasna won a screen-writing Oscar), "Dear Ruth" introduces the "Wilkins" family: father (Edward Arnold), mother (Mary Philips) and two daughters: "Ruth" (Joan Caulfield), a bank employee in her early 20's, and "Miriam" (Mona Freeman)- a teenage activist who has really taken aiding the war effort to heart. It's Miriam's activism that sets everything in motion. Besides petitioning the War Department to allow women to be drafted and volunteering her father as a blood donor, she's also taken to writing airman Seacroft encouraging him to greater efforts against the enemy. However, Miriam knew that her age would limit the effectiveness of her letter writing campaign. So, she used Ruth's name and enclosed Ruth's photo for good emphasis. Ruth, of course, is a knock-out whose looks quickly ensnare Lt. Seacroft into a lengthy correspondence with Miriam. He's so entranced that he volunteers for hazardous duty so he can get a two-day leave to go courting Ruth stateside.

Thus, Lt. Seacroft shows-up unannounced on the Wilkins' doorstep to the bewilderment of everyone except Miriam. Upon discovering why he's there wartime contingencies demand that everyone play along that Ruth actually did write those letters in order to avoid hurting Seacroft's feelings. However, Seacroft isn't there just for a meet-and-greet, but to propose. Most of the comedy comes from the alleged "hilarity" caused by the fact that Ruth is already engaged to her fussy, thirty-something year old 4F boss, "Albert Kummer" (Billy De Wolfe). Various hi-jinks and misunderstandings accrue before everything is sorted out at film's end.

I found this film's stage origins to be too obvious and the plot too far fetched and predictable to be interesting. The biggest problem is there is no contest between Lt. Seacroft and his alleged rival, Kummer. Let's see, on one hand, we have Seacroft a decorated officer and war hero, who is also extremely handsome and charming, and, on the other, we have Kummer- a homely, boring fuddy-duddy who works in the despised banking profession and is 4F due to an alleged bad back. Also, it's quite obvious that Kummer plays for the Pink Team. The question really isn't whether Ruth will choose Seacroft over Kummer, but what in heaven's name did she ever see in Kummer in the first place? (Also, it appears that Ruth's "gaydar" badly malfunctioned.)

Overall, William Holden as Smiling Jim, oh, I meant Seacroft, is charming. Joan Caulfield is pretty. Edward Arnold has fun playing a put-upon but understanding father. And Billy De Wolfe is amusing despite being hopelessly miscast. However, the film's predictability and its reliance on too many far-fetched misunderstandings for its humor eventually got pretty tiresome.

The setting for "Dear Ruth" is a suburb of New York City. It's 1944 and World War II is still going on. A bombardier in the U. S. Army Air Corps, Lt. William Seacroft has flown from Italy on a two-day leave. He pops in on the Wilkins family to meet Ruth, his pen pal sweetheart in person, and to marry her. Only he's a surprise to Ruth's parents, and to Ruth who just said "Yes!" to wed her childhood sweetheart, Albert. So, Ruth is a ruse of sorts, impersonated in the mail by her well-meaning and precocious teenage sister, Miriam. Bedlam breaks loose around the Wilkins household over the next two days. But the place was ripe for it, with a cast of characters that make up one of the zaniest sane families of film.

Joan Caulfield and William Holden have top billing here as Ruth and Lt. William Seacroft. But the principals of the supporting cast are the sources of most of the humor. Edward Arnold has one of his many excellent roles in films as the dad, Judge Harry Wilkins. Mona Freeman is the sister, Miriam, who is the cause of much of the turmoil with its associated humor. Billy De Wolfe is Ruth's childhood sweetheart, Albert Kummer, who's frustrated and funny throughout. Mary Philips is Mrs. Edie Wilkins, the matron of the Wilkins household. Others of the cast all give fine performances.

The screenplay for this film is a running dialog of humor; and the facial expressions, looks and other gestures just multiply the comedy. For more humorous dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb web page of the movie. Here are some samples.

Miriam, "Your stomach has to have something to work on, Dad. In the morning, you have an empty 30-feet of small intestine." Judge, "Hasn't everybody?" Edie, "I'm in charge of your father's small intestine -- all 30 feet of it. And I don't care for such talk at breakfast."

Miriam, "As a judge, I thought you had an additional responsibility to set an example." Judge, "I'm a traffic judge. Let the Supreme Court give blood."

Judge, "No. Let her take it with her. I'd like to see that petition go through." Miriam (happily), "Dad " Judge, "It would solve everything if that girl were drafted."

Miriam, "Dad, you went to the blood bank today was it hard for you?" Judge, "Oh, there were 20 women in the room. I was the only person put to bed with a blanket over him. I hope the young fellow that gets my blood doesn't need it too badly because I have no confidence in it."

Edie, "How do you feel, Harry?" Judge, "Oh, fine, dandy, never felt better." Edie, "You looked terrible stretched out on that cot." Judge, "Were you there too?"

Miriam, "My contribution to the war effort today was two pints of blood?" Judge and Edie in unison, "Your contribution?" Miriam, "Well it was my idea, wasn't it?"

Ruth, "Miriam, do you realize what you did?" Miriam, "Yes I do. I have made a soldier out of a lonely, frightened youngster." Judge, "Oh, he is a grown man." Miriam, "Not in spirit." Judge, "I'm not talking about his spirit. The poor sucker's come home to see his sweetheart. He's entitled to something, and he's going to get it.

Miriam, "The game of man and woman maneuvering in pursuit of a mate I consider on the level of a game of checkers." Ruth, "What do you know about checkers?" Judge, "You're ahead, Ruth. It's your turn, Miriam." Miriam, "A witticism is no answer for logic." Judge, "You lose, Ruth."

Lt. Seacroft, looking at a picture of Ruth, "Be seeing ya', baby. That's what I call here - baby. You might as well know it." Edie, "I used to call her that." Judge, "It's not the same, dear."

Ruth, "I'm going to be married. Right away. Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Judge, "We're glad to get rid of you." Ruth, "That's what I thought."

Miriam, "I'm not sorry for what I've done. I've given a soldier to the war." Edie, "His mother will be happy to hear that."

Lt. Seacroft, "A toast. To the Post Office Department for bringing us together."

Edie, "Miriam, Hitler started by burning books. You must be tolerant of every opinion."

Ruth, "He's nothing like he seems." Edie, "He seems like a nice clean cut young fellow."

Albert, "What are they paying lieutenants in this war?" Ruth, "I've never met anyone who cared so little about money. Albert, "We meet that type at the bank. Squander dollars on peanuts then try to borrow nickels for bread."

Edie, "Harry, I just thought of something They're not supposed to meet." Judge, "Well if they're not supposed to meet, this is the place for it."

Sgt. Vincent, "Well, that's the way it goes. Bill gets his girl through mail. I lose mine the same way."

Ruth, "You know I'm going to wear your ring." Albert, "Why not? You have 10 fingers. There's room enough for 10 engagement rings."