Despite the Day-MacRae pairing the movie's not exactly a musical, the numbers being few and far between. Instead, the storyline is more like a down-home romantic comedy set in 1917. In fact, young Billy Gray gets as much screen time as Day. That's not to say the results are not generally delightful, especially the first part. But MacRae later disappears for a surprising period, while Day's presence is also intermittent. Somehow I suspect there may be a backstory here, even though the results are consistently entertaining.
It's a fine cast, Day never fresher nor lovelier, MacRae as handsome as ever, along with stuffy dad Ames and sweet mom DeCamp. And for comedic effect, it's a surprisingly accomplished Gray as the impish son and Wickes as the sarcastic cook. On the other hand, there's tuneful singer Jack Smith in thankless role as nerdy extra man. It appears he's taking up some slack in MacRae's absence. Nonetheless, the pairing of the leads is almost picture perfect.
The plot has daughter Day falling for unconventional neighbor McRae of whom her conventional banker dad (Ames) disapproves. So how can their true love blossom, especially when her mischievous little brother (Gray) is always up to something amusingly disruptive. Somehow, though, you know things will work out.
A couple of points to note—catch Mom's pressing Day to enhance her natural attributes with a pair of falsies worn for the big dance. That really surprised me. After all, the 50's were the big airbrushed decade; plus, falsies amount to an ironic comment on the Monroes, Mansfields, and Russells of the decade. Also, having hero MacRae talk down our conventional economy, primarily the role of banks, seems a risky move for the movie's hero in that Cold War period. Then too, unless I missed something, he never recants those sentiments.
Despite the occasional edginess, it's still a fun film full of candybox colors and the two charming leads. But fans looking for big production numbers may be disappointed.
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