One for the Book Reviews

A three-character play that was expanded by the original author to fit the screen proved to be a winner in Reagan's career, even though he tried every which way to get out of doing the picture. Parker is an actress who loves being in love, but the pickings are poor in the male department during the war and she has not found the man of her dreams. At present, Parker is dating Smith, her producer, but when he gives her the air, her mood becomes blacker than the inside of a cow. Parker meets Reagan, an Army sergeant who is in New York to meet Arden, another actress, who is given to promiscuous behavior and sharp wisecracks. By this time, Arden has totally forgotten her date with Reagan and is out with Morris, a Navy commander. When Reagan wonders who Morris is, Arden says he's her husband. Reagan is stuck for a place to rest his wavy head and Parker offers to put him up in her flat, but strictly on a platonic basis. Well, you know what happens. The two of them get closer and closer after Parker lets down her hair. Meanwhile, Arden has discovered that she likes Reagan as well and can't bear losing him to Parker, so she tries several ploys to break up the duo, including countless telephone calls and staying as close to the two as she can. It's all for naught, and Parker and Reagan wind up together. "The Great Communicator" actually lost a battle here but won the war, which must have been good practice for the second career he chose after playing the vicious gangster in THE KILLERS remake. Reagan was under contract to Warners; over Reagan's many objections Jack Warner insisted that he take this role. John Huston had offered Reagan the Bruce Bennett role in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, a film Reagan preferred to this, but Warner believed Reagan's career would be better aided by a starring assignment in this adaptation of a hit play (which had already been on stage about four years and was still on Broadway when the film was released). Reagan asked for June Allyson as his costar because he really didn't know Parker and wasn't sure if they could play off each other. His request was denied and production began with Parker, who wore a Margaret Sullavan hairdo (Sullavan had starred in the play and was bypassed for the movie) and did what amounted to a Margaret Sullavan impression. Bets were made that this very chic play about manners and morals during wartime could not be translated to the big screen, but getting Van Druten to adapt his own work was a great help and the result was a delightful movie. Good character performances by all concerned and slick direction by Rapper for producer Charles Hoffman, who later moved into TV for years.