Government Girl (1943) User Reviews (18)

One of the best DC location films ever shot

[tigger-100 · 7/10 · 14 July 2005]

I only saw this movie once on AMC (before they started showing recent "classics". I loved it. Sure, it is a war propaganda film, loaded with patriotism. Sure it is written to the largely female audiences of the time. Sure, it is a pale imitation of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "His Girl Friday". It is still a fun, witty, movie.

It is also possibly the best use of Washington, DC as a location. They get the geography right. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (one of my favorites) has people going in every direction. "Government Girl" keeps everything in its place. Also, it provides an historic look at wartime DC.

Tell me where I can find this movie, as I would love to see it again.

Working for the war effort

[dexter-10 · 5/10 · 17 April 2000]

This film describes the dollar-a-year workers who virtually volunteered their time and expertise to the war effort during World War Two. Ed Browne (played by Sonny Tufts) comes in conflict with the established manners and customs in Washington, D.C. Browne's method of operation is founded in the private sector of industry which clashes with the public functions of the government. Historically, many manufacturers had little choice but to take part in the the conversion to war production. Meager profits early in the war of cost plus four percent was little incentive for enthusiasm from all of industry. Even when the profit scheme went to cost plus eight percent, most industries could do much better in peacetime consumer goods. Many yielded to the threat of government sanctions and complied. This movie, however, points to the positive aspects of individuals working for the war effort, even at the cost of personal sacrifice. The most realistic character is "Smokey" (played by Olivia de Havilland. She is dynamic and forceful, but burning government records to support her boss (with whom she is in love) seems somewhat exaggerated. All in all, it is a fairly amusing film, with the bottom line echoed in a United States Senate hearing: "Thank you, government girl."

What can't de Havilland do?

[icblue02 · 6/10 · 13 January 2000]

For over a decade, I have been favorably impressed by the work of Olivia de Havilland. That said, I had no high hopes for this film; I wanted to watch this film just to say I had, and to see de Havilland in a comedic role. I was pleasantly surprised, and I found myself rather taken in by the humor. Having seen Miss de Havilland in her Academy Award winning performances and many other dramatic roles, I was impressed by her comedic timing, facial expressions, and sharp sarcasm, which is also very prominent in her portrayal of Amy Lind in THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE. I by no means consider this film one of Hollywood's best, but it isn't all that bad and is definitely worth a watch - particularly if you want to see de Havilland in a different kind of role.

Overacted, Silly Wartime Comedy Strains To Be Funny...

[Doylenf · 24 March 2001]

De Havilland found herself obligated to do GOVERNMENT GIRL when David O. Selznick borrowed her from Warner Bros. (he lent them Ingrid Bergman) and then sold her services to RKO for one picture. She didn't like the script and it looks as though she got her revenge by overacting the title role, which would have been okay if the material itself was funny. But this lame wartime comedy about overcrowded Washington never quite gets off the ground.

Sonny Tufts does what he can with a thankless role as a bungling, naive politician who has to learn the ropes from his pretty secretary. Agnes Moorehead gets in a couple of good quips as a snobbish Washington matron and Jess Barker is likable enough in a secondary romantic lead.

James Dunne and Ann Shirley tend to overplay their roles as a couple of lovestruck newlyweds eager to find lodgings. Despite its obvious flaws, the film was a moderate success for RKO at the box-office and wartime audiences seemed to go for it. De Havilland fans aren't likely to rate this among her best comedies.

Ed Browne goes to Washington

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 17 March 2005]

Dudley Nichols, the director of "Government Girl", working with Budd Schulberg on the script, gave us this look of America during the years of WWII. This is a move of how every department in Washington was taken over by thousands of women who descended on the capital to help with the war effort.

The housing problem of the times is clearly shown as we watch the opening sequence when Ed Browne arrives in Washington without a reservation for a hotel. Because his name is in the newspaper, he is given the honeymoon suite that young Sgt. Blake and May, were going to use for that purpose.

Smokey Allard comes to the rescue as she tries to give the couple a place where they can be together, but makes the mistake of taking them into the "only women" rooming house where she and May share a tiny apartment.

This comedy shows us a slice of life in Washington in those years. Even though there was a war going on, there is always optimism, as that conflict was a just one, in the minds of all Americans of that era. We are shown how Ed Browne is instrumental in setting up the factories that will produce the bombers that were key in winning the war in Europe and in the Pacific.

Olivia de Havilland makes a sunny "Smokey" Allard. Even when playing roles that didn't demand much of her acting abilities, this actress makes us like her because of the charisma she projected. Sunny Tufts is good as this unsophisticated Ed Browne who is mired in the bureaucracy he encounters in Washington. Ann Shirley, James Dunn, Paul Stewart, and Agnes Moorehead complete the excellent cast.

While the movie doesn't break new ground, it's pleasant enough for a few laughs and a nostalgic look at that period.

Comedy about cutting through Washington's red tap during War II

[kijii · 7/10 · 25 November 2016]

For those who could never imagine Olivia de Havilland in a totally madcap comedy but would like to, I would highly recommend this movie to you!!

The story is set in Washington, D.C. in the middle of WW II, when all the hotels in town are full of important people doing business, mostly to help support the war effort. In this way, this movie is highly similar to The More the Merrier (1943) which was made in the same time period with a similar theme.

However, this movie is more about getting things done quickly rather than taking shortcuts through the housing shortage. Here, de Havilland serves as sort of an activity coordinator, trying to guide people to the right place and keep the herd of visitors moving with the least possible disruption. However, she is not ready for the likes of Ed Brown (Sonny Tufts) who is knowledgeable about manufacturing the huge number of aircraft needed quickly for the war.

Ed will do anything to make airplanes and put them into service quickly. To do this, he takes shortcuts to get through the red tape of Washington, and Elizabeth Allard (Olivia de Havilland) can do nothing but go along with him on his wild ride through the bureaucracy, always about five steps in front of any roadblock that may get in his way.

De Havilland often plays the clown to Tufts character, but is soon brought on board his madhouse tactics when she sees hundreds of new warplanes being launched and deployed, thanks to him.

From Warner to Selznick to RKO

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 17 May 2012]

In the Citadel Film Series book on The Films of Olivia DeHavilland, her winding up in Government Girl was a great illustration of how the contract players were treated at the studios. Just like baseball players in those days before the reserved clause was abolished.

As we all know Olivia had worked with David O. Selznick before and she was excited when Jack Warner who just could not see her as anything but arm candy for Errol Flynn and other of his heroic leading men optioned her off to Selznick again. Maybe she would get a part as good as Melanie Hamilton.

But Selznick called off whatever film he was going to do with her and took his option and sent DeHavilland packing to RKO where she was put in this minor league comedy Government Girl. She did the film, hating every minute of it and resolved once and for all to challenge the studio system and its control of its players. Just like Curt Flood later challenging the reserved clause in baseball.

Although she overacts outrageously in a part that someone like Jean Arthur might have been better in, DeHavilland does well in this comedy about wartime Washington, DC. My aunt was such a Government Girl during those World War II and she met her husband who was a 4-F in those years because of a history of tuberculosis. I'd like to think they had such hijinks during those years.

America was truly mobilized then and people like Sonny Tufts who were business executives were called in and gladly served on the home-front, organizing the nation's industrial and agricultural might. He appropriates her hotel room using his big-shot status on a night when Olivia was helping friend and Anne Shirley try to get in some quality honeymooning with her bridegroom James Dunn. And then of course Olivia who knows the Washington power scene inside and out finds out she's going to be Tufts's secretary. But I don't think I need tell you more.

Oddly enough DeHavilland is romanced by Tufts, Jess Barker who later married Susan Hayward and Paul Stewart. Barker is a slimy young man on the make working for a Senate Investigating Committee having to do with keeping the graft at a minimum in the war effort. Senator Harry Davenport employs him for reasons not altogether clear. In real life I doubt Senator Harry Truman employed anyone like Barker.

Through his own naiveté Tufts winds up in a jackpot before the Davenport Committee. And it takes a Government Girl like Olivia DeHavilland to bail him out.

For her legion of fans this was not Olivia's finest hour and a half on screen.

bit of history

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 4 July 2010]

Olivia de Havilland is Smokey, a "Government Girl" in this 1943 look at wartime Washington. We clearly see the role of the working woman, the housing crisis, the problems getting a hotel room, and the bureaucracy. de Havilland plays a young woman with no plans to get married, because she has her career - a prevailing attitude in those days.

While at a wedding of her friend/roommate May (Ann Shirley) and her soon to be husband (James Dunn) in the lobby of a Washington hotel because their suite was given away, she encounters one Mr. Ed Browne (Sonny Tufts). He has the aforementioned suite, and Smokey can't get it away from him. Later she finds out that he's her new boss. As unpleasantly as their relationship started, she sees that he knows how to cut corners to get bombers built and get things done.

This is a forced comedy which proves that even the remarkable acting and presence of Olivia de Havilland can't save the sinking ship named Sonny Tufts. If it hadn't been for the war, this man would never have landed in front of a camera, but let's face it, Hollywood was desperate! And he's proof of it.

The rest of the cast is very good, and "Government Girl" certainly gives us an interesting look of the U.S. in wartime. De Havilland works hard, perhaps too hard, overcoming the deficiencies in the production. Or perhaps I should say, the deficiency.

"Killing me..."

[swilson-796-744633 · 4/10 · 1 July 2020]

Been TRYING to sit through it this morning...but it's killing me! Too screwbally - Not Olivia's forte. Her character's constant bellowing & gnashing is torture. Oh well. It made a million bucks- that was a consolation to a few lucky souls.

Wartime comedy tries hard but never gains momentum

[csteidler · 6/10 · 30 June 2017]

Sonny Tufts, high energy but unorthodox management type, has just arrived in Washington to step up airplane production. Olivia de Havilland, the "government girl" assigned to assist him, quickly realizes that the biggest part of her job is showing Tufts just how D.C. works.

The plot isn't much but it's the kind of material that ought to make a great comedy—part satire, part romance, lots of patriotism and snappy dialog....Unfortunately, this picture mixes in bits of all of those elements but never quite manages to put any of them over the top.

Olivia de Havilland is fine as the title character and it's fun to watch her play broad comedy. There's a great shot of her sitting behind her desk, shoes off, feet up, smoking a cigarette and reading a book. She looks good and it's fun seeing her in modern dress. (Sure, she made plenty of "modern" movies but many of her most famous roles were period pieces. Here she dresses like neither Melanie Wilkes nor Maid Marian, and she looks comfortable.)

However, it just seems like there isn't enough for her actually to do: one of the recurring gags in the film is de Havilland racing across the office then racing back to her desk, having forgotten to put on her shoes. That's kind of funny but no matter how cutely performed it's just not hilarious.

Ann Shirley is rather lively as de Havilland's friend. Shirley and soldier James Dunn are just married, but they can't seem to find a place to live, or even get a little privacy before Dunn's leave is over. They exchange some corny dialog (Shirley: Oh, wouldn't it be awful if ya got killed before our honeymoon? Dunn: For me it'd be just as bad after!) and are generally cute if silly.

Overall, this is of those well-meaning pictures that's pleasant enough but just a bit dull.

Forgettable Wartime Comedy

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 3 August 2015]

Olivia deHavilland plays a wacky woman with good intentions. The foundation of this comedy has to do with people that don't listen to one another. If things had been allowed to calm down for a moment, there wouldn't be all this trouble. They also make speeches, ignoring the situation. It is filled with sight gags and lost documents and deadlines missed and rooms unavailable. Of course, we know that those who become the most combative are bound to eventually hook up. But the path to this is filled with pratfalls and silly dialogue that isn't particular funny. DeHavilland does lots of screeching and accusing and everything is totally predictable. I suppose in 1943, a vacuous comedy would have been met positively. Not horrible but nothing to write home about.

This movie is like a 90-minute love letter to . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 10 April 2021]

. . . the city of Detroit. When U. S. war hero President FDR realizes that America has no chance of winning World War Two without its Motor City taking a leading role, he summons Detroit auto plant veteran Ed Brown to Washington, DC, to put the entire U. S. War Effort on a Detroit footing. As Eminem later sang in EIGHT MILE's "Lose Your Elf" ballad, Detroiters know how to seize the moment, no matter who tries to get in their way. From Ambrose Bierce to Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa, anyone itching to become a fly in America's ointment soon "disappeared" in a foundation truss for another sudden Tiger Stadium expansion. As Mr. Brown builds airplane factories all across our USA homeland during GOVERNMENT GIRL, you can bet that tons of Fat Cat One Per Center Axis Fifth Column Collaborator-Traitors are going "missing" among the cement floors, walls and columns during this unprecedented time of growth for the old ball park. After all, that's the Detroit Way.

Simply awful...and Sonny Tufts has LESS charisma than a log!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 13 July 2010]

Uggghhh! This film simply irritated me, as the wonderful and Oscar-winning Olivia de Havilland was forced to appear in this movie that was simply beneath her talents. And, considering that she battled the big-wigs at Warner Brothers for better roles, this loan-out to RKO is ample evidence that she was right to sue to be released from her contract! Quite simply, this is a poorly written film where Miss de Havilland was paired with a lumbering 'actor' who had all the charisma and charm of a log!

The film is set in DC during the Second World War. De Havilland is secretary to a guy who comes off as an idiot. Perhaps it was the writing or perhaps this was the best Sonny Tufts could do, but he seemed to be ill-at-ease in his role as a manufacturing expert brought to the Capital to increase production. However, the plot really involves Tufts and de Havilland eventually falling in love--interspersed with some 'kooky' adventures--and kooky really seemed to poorly suit the sophisticated de Havilland. Of particular note was the ultra-kooky motorcycle scene--which came off as something you might expect from an Abbott & Costello or Three Stooges film! Poorly rear-projected and zany, I cringed during this entire unnecessary sequence. And, as far as cringing goes, this early scene was just one of many that just irritated me (another awful one was the crying scene where I just wanted de Havilland to shut up!). The film was just poorly written and dumb. This is clearly among the actress' worst films and, sadly, probably among the best performances by Tufts! Simply awful and clearly a B-movie in every way--despite an A-level star in the title role. I think I'm gonna throw up! To think the star from "The Heiress", "To Each His Own" and "The Snake Pit" was put into this drivel!!

It isn't as bad as the first commentators rating!!

[moviegal-10 · 22 September 1999]

I must disagree with the person who first commented on the rating of this movie. I've seen this movie many times. True, it has some scripts that could have been better written, particularly for such a wonderfully and already famous actress Olivia De Havilland, but I don't think it was a bomb. It's really not such a bad movie--not the greatest in the world, but--worth watching if you're an avid fan of De Havilland! :o)

Revealing but not very Amusing

[dougdoepke · 18 May 2012]

If you're looking for laughs, this comedy may disappoint. Surprisingly, the usually restrained De Havilland over-acts egregiously, just about chewing up the scenery in the process. As Smokey, the government girl, it's like she's trying much too hard. On the other hand, the much derided Sonny Tufts comes off best in a slyly bemused performance as the can-do industrialist. At a comedy level, the movie's uneven, at best.

As a glimpse of wartime Washington, however, the movie delivers in revealing ways. Note the unusually crowded scenes in the early part. Newly arriving office workers mix with service men and women, all flocking to staff the explosion of paper work. Naturally, the sudden influx creates a room shortage, which the movie amusingly illustrates with the frustrated newly-weds. There's also the gossipy intrigue of the high-class salons and drawing rooms, where careers can be made or broken. Then there's Brown's (Tufts) tussle with red tape, while trying to get his bomber production up and running. And, of course, the year being 1943, it all ends with a patriotic flyover presaging the Allied victory to come.

Not many wartime films deal with the administrative phase of the war effort. This, I believe, is one of the few, and from that standpoint the movie remains an interesting, if rather frantic, curiosity.

A movie fan of movies made 1939-1949 and beyond

[maureenseftchick · 22 May 2004]

Have watched Government Girl and enjoyed the interaction between the two stars. Although Sonny Tufts career was short lived, he is fun to watch. As an actor who was 6'4" he at times seems to fill the room he is in. His costar shines. Having seen her in To Each His Own,it is fun to see her in a lot of funny situations. The scenes in the bedroom and the lobby of the hotel really show her comedic talent. The part about the different initials of the different departments is really funny. Even funnier to that many of the departments really did exist during the war. A lot of bright and fluffy movies were made to lighten the days during the war and this was one of them.

The script is lame, but the acting is hysterical!

[otter · 20 July 1999]

I used to think that Olivia DeHavilland could do no wrong. I'd only seen her in good films, where she was usually perfect. Remember her incredible performances in "Gone With The Wind", "Robin Hood", "The Heiress", "Captain Blood", and even in "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"?

Little did I know the kind of scenery-chewing she's capable of when left without a script or a leading man!

This could never have been anything but a formulaic yawner, a didactically patriotic wartime comedy about a dynamic Young Bureaucrat and His Girl Friday would have been deadly even if they had cast Tracy and Hepburn. But in the hands this bad it becomes almost worth watching!

Uneven mix of comedy and patriotism

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 15 April 2017]

Looking at other user reviews on the IMDb I realize people seem fairly divided-- they either consider GOVERNMENT GIRL a lot of fun and rate it highly, or else they find it pretty awful and rate it low. I think the film has merit but is very problematic on many levels. I'm giving it a score of 7, which is above the current average.

My primary issue with it is how the story goes in several directions. It was like Dudley Nichols couldn't decide whether it should be a screwball comedy or if it should be a patriotic endorsement of bombers. I'm uncomfortable with the main message of GOVERNMENT GIRL, but it obviously had an impact in its day because it was a big hit for RKO.

As for how GOVERNMENT GIRL relates to the subject of women during wartime, it's very uneven. Anne Shirley's character is rather juvenile (sort of like Anne of Green Gables getting married to a much older man then leaving Matthew and Aunt Marilla behind for Washington). Olivia's character has her moments of strength and intelligence, but she overplays it in a highly exaggerated farcical manner which seems to undercut the role and any values it might represent. I don't think women viewers would have found Olivia or Anne to be playing types they would like to emulate. The most interesting woman in the picture is Agnes Moorehead's society matron, but she doesn't have a lot of screen time.