User Reviews

So says Judge Henry Travers at the conclusion of this charming light-hearted comedy that shows a different side of the Gipper. Ronald Reagan, during his Democratic/Jane Wyman days, was a dashing leading man, even if his acting talents never matched up with similar all-American heroes like Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda and James Stewart. Like those actors, he switched between comedy and dramas, westerns and war films, with ease, and was featured with practically every major leading lady during the golden age of Hollywood. Here, that leading lady is Virginia Mayo (no "Airplane!" ham jokes please!), a beauty who went from light-hearted musicals and film noir to some rather forgettable "Z" grade stuff much later on. During her heyday, she was a rival to other blonde cover girls like Betty Grable and June Haver, yet like Reagan, never made the top echelon of stars.

This innocuous little comedy features Reagan as a famous artist who has sketched "The Randolph Girl", whom the 12 girls he used as models found out were only used for certain body features. Thanks to clumsy Eddie Bracken, this secret is revealed, and after Bracken spots Mayo from his boat at Jones Beach, Reagan high-tales it there to make her the one and only. He poses as a Czechlosovakian immigrant to enter her class for immigrants seeking citizenship and successfully romances her while trying to figure out a way to get her to model her figure for him. But when the board members of the school (lead by Florence Bates) find out, her job is in jeopardy, and she sues the school for the right to live her life as she sees fit, claiming that there is nothing scandalous about her bathing suit. This leads to a Capra-like courtroom finale where a movie is shown of bathing suits throughout history where the evidence points to someone in the courtroom being scandalous at the turn of the previous century!

Charming and sweet, this will never be considered of award caliber, but for what it is, it is a lot of fun. Mayo and Reagan have an easy going chemistry which they would repeat later on in "She's Working Her Way Through College", a musical version of "The Male Animal". Petite Dona Drake is a scene stealer as Bracken's girlfriend who keeps saving him from suicide attempts which you know are bogus. (One of them takes place on the Times Square subway platform, giving a glimpse into how much has changed and how much nothing has changed.) The models are all shapely and feisty which results in an amusing confrontation after Reagan's secret is revealed. Also very amusing are the fantasy scenes of Reagan viewing Mayo first clad in a bathing suit while she's in teacher uniform and later in teacher uniform while she's clad in a bathing suit, and later, Mayo fantasizing about the fully-dressed Reagan in tight swim trunks when she finally comes to terms about her feelings.

Much reminds me of the decade-later film "Teacher's Pet", in which newspaper man Clark Gable joins Doris Day's night class on journalism. Naturally, he becomes her star pupil, and a romance follows........ This B&W film is only 78min. long: a typical length for a 'B' programmer film. Reagan would again costar with Virginia a few years later, in "She's Working her Way through College".......... Ronnie is an artist, currently specializing in painting gorgeous young women. He also is drawing a composite woman, made up of the best feature of 12 women, which he calls 'the Randolf girl', his last name being Randolf.............His friend Chuck(Eddie Bracken) knows that Randolf is looking for a real 'Randolf girl', and thinks he spots her in a bathing suit on Jones Beach(Long Island), while boating just off the beach. But, she disappears into the women's bath house, and he doesn't recognize her when she emerges. Nonetheless, he tells Ronnie about this, and they motorboat in front of Jones Beach again, about week later, and spot her again. Again, she disappears into the women's locker room, but Chuck recognizes her this time when she emerges and follows her home, where he discovers that she is a night school teacher for immigrants, who hope to become US citizens, and that she prefers to be known for her brains rather than her beauty. Ronnie decides to sign up for her class ,pretending to be from Czechoslovakia, humorously speaking with a pan-European accent, which Virginia isn't sure is believable. At first, a goof off, eventually, he impresses her with his sincerity and knowledge, so much so , that he she accepts an offer for a moonlight stroll along Jones Beach. Here, he discovers that she also likes to be known for her beauty..........A photo of Virginia in her swimsuit, on the beach, appears in the local newspaper, and the schoolboard, especially in the person of old Miss Shoemaker(Florence Bates) takes exception to this display, and fires Virginia. But, Virginia decides to fight back, and a trial is arranged. Ronnie helps her by displaying a series of slides of women's bathing suit fashions through the past few decades, noting that when Ms. Shoemaker was young, she was arrested for wearing her then daring swimsuit. Charismatic character actor Henry Travers is the judge, and is impressed by Ronnie's logic, rendering a decision to reinstate Virginia as teacher......... Now, Chuck has a girlfriend, played by the very light-skinned African American Dona Drake, who is playing a Caucasian here. He suggests to Ronnie that they have a double wedding, and the film ends there..........In sum, this is a pleasant breezy romantic comedy, if you have nothing better to do, and are turned on by one or more of the stars. Eddie Bracken, as usual, adds light comedy with his awkwardness and hair-brained ideas.

This is a rather dopey comedy starring Ronald Reagan, Eddie Bracken and Virginia Mayo. Reagan plays an artist known for painting pinup girls. Bracken is trying to discover WHO Reagan's model is, as she's practically perfect in every way. After repeatedly pestering Reagan, he learns that there is no one model--but that the 'girl' is made up parts of 12 different models. Later, however, Bracken discovers a girl who does embody all 12 perfect attributes (Mayo) and, oddly, instead of just approaching this beautiful lady, Reagan concocts a crazy plan. He has the silly idea of getting to know her by posing as a member of the citizenship class Mayo teaches at night---talk about contrived! In this guise, Reagan talks like a person who who knows where--as he seems about as Czech as Mickey Mouse! Also, pay attention to the beach scenes. The rear projected scenes were poorly integrated and it was obvious that these outdoor scenes were done on a sound stage. The lack of quality in these scenes (along with the writing) would seem to betray that Warner Brothers didn't particularly care about this film and just churned it out regardless. Too bad...it could have been a nice film.

It's a shame about this film, really, as Mayo and Reagan made a nice pairing and this had some of the makings of a nice romantic comedy. Too bad the plot just made no sense and was MUCH more contrived that the average comedy of the day. Overall, a highly flawed film that should have been so much better. Even a nice supporting role by Eddie Bracken wasn't enough to save this odd film. I actually think my score of 4 is a bit charitable...it almost earned a less than stellar 3.