As I may have mentioned elsewhere, for my money, the most beautiful actress in Hollywood history was none other than Ms. Jeanne Crain. From her very first film appearance, an uncredited cameo, poolside in a green bathing suit in the 1943 musical "The Gang's All Here," all the way to her final film, 1972's "Skyjacked," Crain never failed to awe the viewer with her remarkable good looks; indeed, in the 1945 film noir "Leave Her to Heaven," she managed the near-impossible feat of looking better than Gene Tierney (my personal choice for the second-most-beautiful actress in Hollywood history) at her most gorgeous. But for this old fan, Jeanne never looked more ravishing than she did in the mid-'40s, and so it has been a goal of mine to experience every single one of her films from that period. One of those pictures that I recently crossed off the list is the film in question, "Apartment for Peggy," which was first released in October 1948, just three months before one of Crain's most accomplished films, the classic piece of Americana "A Letter to Three Wives." Filmed at 20th Century Fox for $2 million, "Peggy" was a barely moderate success at the box office - I believe it was something like the 43rd-highest grosser for that year - but is a film that surely should have done better. Filmed in gorgeous, supersaturated Technicolor, highlighting a warm and moving story, and showcasing Jeanne Crain at her loveliest, the film is one that does deserve to be remembered today, old-fashioned and, admittedly, somewhat dated as it might be.
The film introduces the viewer to Henry Barnes (Edmund Gwenn, who had just made a memorable impression on audiences playing Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34th Street" the year before, and who, six years later, would wow sci-fi fans by playing Dr. Harold Medford in "Them!"), a widower who has lost his only son in WW2 combat. Barnes is a retired professor of philosophy at a Midwest college, and has come to the calmly deliberated conclusion that on March 1st, right after he has finished writing his book, he will commit suicide, thus ridding the world of his then useless presence. While sitting on a bench near the college's ice-skating rink, Barnes meets a pretty woman named Peggy Taylor (or perhaps I should say mind-bogglingly gorgeous, since she is played by Jeanne Crain), a scatterbrained chatterbox who informs him that she and her newlywed husband are currently looking for a place to live, their tiny trailer not being suitable for the two, as well as the baby that she will soon be having. (Speaking for myself, the thought of living in a tiny space with a woman who looks like Peggy strikes me as being a small slice of heaven, but that's just me!) When Peggy finds out that the professor has an empty attic in his home, she wheedles and charms her way into it, and before long, has turned that dusty attic into a really lovely apartment. Her husband Jason (William Holden, whose film "Rachel and the Stranger" had just come out the month before) is studying to become a chemistry teacher on the GI Bill but is not doing very well at it, and the couple is having serious cash flow problems as well. And yet more problems arise when Jason decides to chuck his teaching aspirations and go to Chicago to become a used-car salesman and thus make more money, when the professor's determination to do himself in intensifies, and when Peggy loses her baby in a miscarriage. Can a happy ending ever be brought about for these three unhappy people? What would you think?
To its great credit, "Apartment for Peggy" resists the temptation to get sappily maudlin and overly sentimental, and while the film surely has its heartwarming moments, it never overwhelms the viewer with overbearing or manipulative emotion. It is reminiscent of, and a more touching rendition of, the great 1943 comedy "The More the Merrier," in which Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and the much older Charles Coburn are forced to share an apartment, although nowhere near the caliber of greatness of that earlier film. But once again, the three leads are just marvelous, especially Gwenn, who steals the film with his wonderful portrayal; such a shame that he could not have been nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar for his work here, although Walter Huston surely deserved his statue that year for his incredible performance in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." The film looks just gorgeous in high-def Technicolor, and the outdoor scenes, filmed at the University of Nevada at Reno, have a lovely wintery splendor. Director George Seaton (who had also helmed "Miracle on 34th Street") does a fine job at keeping his film intimate and touching, and his script, based on Faith Baldwin's novelette "An Apartment for Jenny" (why the name change?), contains many lines and passages of great wisdom and depth. As for David Raksin's score for the film, it is a nice one, indeed, although nowhere near as memorable as his classic theme for the Gene Tierney film "Laura," four years earlier. "Apartment for Peggy" offers the viewer any number of memorable scenes, including the one in which the professor teaches a class in philosophy to the wives of the GIs, only to be taught a lesson in philosophy himself; the sight of the professor and Jason trying to put together a Tyny Tot Tub, perhaps the funniest scene in the film; the scene is which Barnes goes to Chicago to try to convince Jason to go back to school; Barnes' confession to Peggy while visiting her in the hospital; and Jason's chemistry test, during which he and his stern professor (played by the ubiquitous character actor Charles Lane) come to a sort of understanding with each other.
And then, of course, there is Peggy herself, as played by our Jeanne, who is absolutely wonderful here. She makes Peggy 90% adorable and 10% annoying, personalitywise, and of course 100% delicious in the looks department. Peggy is a nonstop, high-speed talker (the viewer might actually have some initial trouble assimilating all her rapid chatter) who really is a bit of an oddball. No wonder her husband, at one point, tells her, "Come to think of it, you're completely crazy!" Peggy has a knack for thinking up phony statistics to help her win arguments; "alternative facts," as we would call them today. When backed into a corner about this unfortunate habit, she replies "Of course I make them up. Somebody's always making up statistics. It might as well be me. You'd be surprised how many arguments I win with my statistics. If I get in a spot, I just say '36%' or '400 million.' Nobody ever bothers to check up. They just say 'My, I never realized it was that much.' And when I walk away they think I'm very smart...." Peggy is something of a force of life, who tells Jason at one point that she ultimately wants to have nine kids (forcibly reminding the viewer that, in real life, Crain herself would go on to have seven). She is also very sweet at heart, naturally, and turns out to be just what the suicidal professor needs in his life at that moment, although he takes a while before realizing it. Crain is ideally cast here, and her great charm and remarkable looks make Peggy Taylor a creature very hard not to love, despite her annoying ways.
It is difficult to assign "Apartment for Peggy" into any one film category. It is surely not a comedy, although it does have any number of funny lines and amusing situations, and Peggy herself is like a character straight out of a screwball comedy of the 1930s. It is not a drama, although it does have several scenes of emotional weight. It is not a tearjerker, although one surely does initially expect the film to be heading in that direction. And it is certainly not a lightweight, empty-headed film, filled as it is with serious discussions, philosophical ruminations, and moments of great insight about life. I suppose that it is a well-mixed combination of all those elements; a curious stew that might prove very tasty indeed to the modern-day viewer, now almost three-quarters of a century later. Fans of the three leads here will surely eat this film right up, as all three of them are at their appealing best and get many moments in which to shine. This is the kind of film that has seemingly gone out of fashion today; one that depends not on flash and special FX, or action, or raunchy comedy, or even showy performances by lead actors trying to boost their Oscar chances. Rather, it is a small, quiet film, perfect for family viewing; a life-affirming movie that stresses what matters most in this world: helping others. It is kind of a pity that the characters spotlighted here could not have been revisited in a follow-up picture, as it would have been interesting to see what their household might have looked like after the Taylors had their baby (or nine babies), with Prof. Barnes serving as the genial uncle figure over the nest. But at least we have this enduring film, and it is one that most viewers will be very happy to discover. I know I was....
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