The Doughgirls (1944) User Reviews (24)

Very madcap and absurd at times...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 9 February 2019]

... but it was funny--a nice diversion. This film featured six couples who end up sharing the honeymoon suite during the WWII housing shortage. Jane Wyman and Jack Carson are one of the couples who are married by a Justice of the Peace and end up at the hotel. Ann Sheridan and husband John Ridgely are the married couple who are currently staying in the honeymoon suite and have a hard time leaving when Wyman and Carson show up. Later, Alexis Smith and (real-life) husband Craig Stevens show up as an engaged couple who want to marry before Stevens leaves for his next military assignment. Eve Arden is a Soviet solider who just shows up (and maybe is staying in the room too? I don't know. There were so many people in there). Charles Ruggles rounds out the cast as Carson's boss, but later ends up as Wyman's boss.

Carson, who is supposed to be on his honeymoon with Wyman, refuses to stay in the suite because of all the extra people. Wyman's character, is a complete dim-wit and doormat. Sheridan and Smith walk all over her. It seems that the three ladies are also acquainted with one another, which is most likely the main reason why Wyman won't kick them out. Wyman's character, in my opinion, is the only sour note in the film, because her character is so irritating. She brags about her haircut to multiple people in the film and it's terrible. She has that matronly poodle cut hair style that so many women during the 1940s-1950s adopted which instantly aged them 10-15 years. Sheridan and Smith, while definitely wearing 1940s hairstyles, look much more sleek and sophisticated. Sheridan, Smith and Arden were my favorite characters in the film.

This movie was so frantic and had so many different characters and situations that at times, it was hard to follow what was going on. However, overall, it was funny and a great way to spend an hour and a half. This type of film fulfills the exact role I want from my movies: escapism. When I watch a movie, I want to be able to forget about all the awful things I heard/read about on the news that day. Even if it's not an absurd movie like The Doughgirls, and is something more serious like a noir, I am still able to escape. Noir films are so stylized that you're swept up into their world.

Doors-slamming farce, a late entry in the screwball sweepstakes, benefits from enjoyable over-playing...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 28 January 2010]

Director James V. Kern also co-adapted this screen-translation of a once-popular play by Joseph Fields involving three would-be brides rooming together in the Honeymoon Suite of an overcrowded hotel in WWII-era Washington, D.C. They are joined by confused suitors, Eve Arden as a gregarious Russian guerrilla fighter, an amusingly out-of-it hotel staff, a blustery broadcaster, and the inimitable Charles Ruggles as the smitten boss of dotty Jane Wyman, whose heart belongs to flustered Jack Carson (who only wants to have his honeymoon!). Breathless farce came in on the tail-end of the screwball rage, but nevertheless contains several big laughs. The staginess of the material becomes overpowering before long, but the cast never runs out of energy. **1/2 from ****

If a kid could appreciate it, it must be good

[howardeisman · 6/10 · 28 January 2010]

I saw this when it came out. Although I was only around 7 or 8 years old, I found it a very funny movie. I expect that I didn't understand most of the jokes, but the situation and the constant frenetic action, characters coming and going, must have impressed me. I found Eve Arden's character particularly funny. Firing a rifle salute from a swanky hotel balcony...wow!

Looking at it now, it is clear that it was originally a stage play-characters coming and going on one set. Machine-gun rapid quips, jokes, reactions...if one joke doesn't get you, the next one will. Jane Wyman's dumb Dora character was a stock comedy character in those days (Gracie Allen). It might have been demeaning for her to play, but it made her a star before her later weepies.

The Washington no rooms to rent situation is long forgotten. Absurdist humor has gone out of fashion, perhaps because our society has become so absurd that absurdity is no longer funny. Thus, a lot of the humor of this film and its satire don't register today. Yet, it was quite good for its time, and it is still a hoot to watch today.

A wild and wacky romp

[adamj-4 · 21 February 2003]

This is about as wild and wacky as it gets. Eve Arden, who made a career of playing second banana, is wonderful as a Russian soldier. Jame Wyman, though not a blonde, delivers one "dumb blonde" line after another. Jack Carson is his usual blustery, pompous self. Charley Ruggles is a lecherous old man. Alan Mowbray is a Rush Limbaugh-type broadcaster, who "just got back from the front-the home front." The setting is a hotel room, and all these characters, and many more, create the most hectic, confusing and daffy atmosphere since the Marx Brothers. In fact, "The Doughgirls" is really a female Marx Brothers circus. If you like the characters mentioned above, you'll love this movie.

Ann Sheridan was good in anything

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 27 June 2020]

Ann Sheridan, who could play anything... in a wartime flick. INCREDIBLE cast... Sheridan, Eve Arden, Jane Wyman. The amazing Jack Carson, who was always second banana. Arthur and Vivian (Carson and Wyman) get married during WW II, and find people in the hotel room they had reserved. "Doughboy" was usually used for soldiers during WW i.... Charles Ruggles is here for comedic effect. and it turns out the new bride knows the ladies who won't get out of their room! the women are all old buddies from way back. the plot thickens! and the incredible Eve Arden is russian Sergaent Moskoroff. anything Arden is in has GOT to be good! Directed by James Kern; this was his FIRST film as director. and he moved into television pretty quickly, so i guess he wasn't so successful as a director. died young at 57 of a heart attack, and according to imdb, died at DesiLu Studios, in Culver City. pretty rare to have such a specific location. this story started as a play by Joe Fields, who also had a hand in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"! it's pretty good.

Familiar plot is entertaining because of its terrific cast

[jacobs-greenwood · 6/10 · 6 December 2016]

Directed by James V. Kern from the Joseph A. Fields play, adapted by Kern and Sam Hellman with additional material from Wilkie Mahoney, this wartime comedy features a terrific cast in yet another story about how the crowded living conditions in our nation's capital during World War II made strange bedfellows and played havoc with relationships.

It all starts when Jack Carson and Jane Wyman get married and try to begin their honeymoon in a Washington, D.C. hotel whose lobby is overrun with people needing a room. Despite their reservation, they discover that their room's bathtub is already occupied by Ann Sheridan's character, who happens to be ditzy Wyman's old chorus line pal. Naturally she's allowed to stay as is their other gal-pal Alexis Smith, who's married to a lieutenant (actress Smith's soon to be husband Craig Stevens).

Things really heat up when Sheridan's husband's (John Ridgely) ex- wife (Irene Manning) shows up, and a gun-toting female Russian army sergeant (Eve Arden) and Carson's lecherous boss (Charles Ruggles) join the mix, further delaying-frustrating Wyman-Carson's consummation.

Alan Mowbray appears as a radio correspondent. Donald MacBride, a judge and Regis Toomey, an FBI man also appear.

wacky antics in Washington D.C.

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 30 October 2012]

You can definitely tell that "The Doughgirls" was a play, as it's basically confined to a hotel suite and there is a lot of dialogue. In fact, it ran on Broadway for over 600 performances and was staged by no less than George Kaufman. The play featured Natalie Schaefer of Gilligan's Island and Arlene Francis, stage and film actress and What's My Line panelist.

The film was made in 1944, and it has a nifty cast: Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, Ann Sheridan, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Charles Ruggles, and Alan Mowbray.

Unfortunately the film (for me) goes on too long and isn't particularly well directed. The story concerns a dumb as a box of rocks showgirl, Vivian (Jane Wyman) and her fiancé (Jack Carson) getting married and taking a hotel suite in a Washington, D.C. hotel. However, the present resident, Edna (Ann Sheridan) refuses to leave - in fact, she's in the bathtub. When she exits, Vivian and Edna recognize one another, embrace, and Edna tells Vivian that she's about to be married. That is, until her husband's wife shows up.

Meanwhile, Nan arrives to wait for her intended (Craig Stevens). She also knows Vivian and Edna. Jack Carson by this point has had a fight with his new wife and left. Then a Russian soldier named Natalia (Eve Arden) shows up.

This film was funny and would have been a lot funnier fifteen minutes shorter and directed with a little more pace. Also, Jane Wyman was better than that - she plays this showgirl, and it's a totally external characterization. Knowing she was a fine actress, I blame the director for this. Ann Sheridan, as the no-nonsense Edna, comes off the best, and Eve Arden is terrific as Natalia.

This is a story that was timely in 1944, when accommodations were impossible to come by. The premise of the story is very amusing and zany. If you set the play in the '40s, it could easily be done today with success.

As daffy as any Marx Brothers comedy--a farce about crowded Washington, D.C. in wartime...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 30 April 2009]

I was so busy watching ANN SHERIDAN looking so great that I had a hard time keeping track of the zany plot. She really had a flair for comedy, even this kind of absurd farce, that it's a shame she was never given better scripts. JANE WYMAN plays the sort of dumb blonde that made Marilyn famous (only she's a brunette here)--but she too is saddled with overly dumb remarks that even JACK Carson has a hard time swallowing. And ALEXIS SMITH proves that behind that frozen puss she has a real sense of humor. Catch the scene where she stoops to telling a tale of woe in a Brooklyn accent! Incidentally, her boyfriend in the film is the man she eventually married in real life--CRAIG REYNOLDS.

I don't fault the actors. CHARLES RUGGLES is actually quite good as a businessman attracted to Wyman. And character actor JOHN RIDGELY gets to play a prominent supporting role as Sheridan's fiancé with a good deal of amiable charm and skill. For these reasons alone, the film is worth watching despite the over-baked ham.

But beware of most of the farce, which is directed with the finesse of a sledgehammer bearing down on all the lines, emphasized by big close-ups of the cast in wide-eyed reaction shots in case we don't get the point.

It's another in a number of wartime films (WWII) emphasizing the overcrowded hotel conditions in Washington, D.C. from the very opening shot--similar to "The More the Merrier" and "Government Girl."

Terribly overdone, downright hammy performances from everyone including EVE ARDEN as "a Russian Sergeant York" who shoots her rifle from the terrace. Jane Wyman's character gets annoying after the first few remarks and from then on I kept my eyes on Sheridan. Her reactions are priceless, if a bit over-the-top.

Trivia note: MARK STEVENS has only a couple of lines to say during one of the crowded hotel scenes as Reynolds' Army friend and NATALIE SCHAEFER has no lines at all as a woman holding a baby.

Four great actresses for the price of one

[jjnxn-1 · 9/10 · 5 January 2012]

Frenzied comedy with a dated situation, the housing shortage during WWII in DC, but an amazing cast of brilliant actresses. The golden era of Hollywood had a wonderful surplus of female stars but rarely were so many teamed in one film. The film has many funny lines and they are expertly delivered by the ladies.

It's no surprise that Ann Sheridan is wonderful she was always an outstanding comedienne, skillful with a quip or a withering look.

Alexis Smith gets shortchanged somewhat with the best lines but has a very cute scene on a pretend witness stand and is up to whatever good lines come her way plus she and Ann are ultra glamorous, as befits stars of the period no matter what time it is in the movie day or night or their economic situation they are dressed to the nines and dripping in eye popping jewelry.

Jane Wyman manages to make her character, who can only be described as a borderline idiot, sweet and endearing rather than annoying or irritating which would have been easy from a less talented actress. The role is not something that was alien to her at the time, a feather headed dame, but considering her later work and persona which was much more sober if you only are familiar with that phase of her career this comes as a pleasant surprise.

Even as funny and strong as this trio is they don't stand a chance whenever Eve Arden swoops in as a Russian commando and steals her scenes without breaking a sweat. With undisguised glee she tears into her character with abandon and wipes everybody out of the picture.

On top of all that there's still Charlie Ruggles and Alan Mowbray adding fun touches in support.

A delightful way to spend a couple of hours that this is so obscure is a head scratcher. Sadly it's never been released on any format, hopefully one day it will at least see the light of day on the Warners on demand website.

Talk about talk, talk, talk!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 13 November 2017]

Director: JAMES V. KERN. Screenplay: James V. Kern, Sam Hellman. Additional dialogue: Wilkie Mahoney. Based on the stage play by Joseph A. Fields. Photography: Ernest Haller. Film editor: Folmar Blangsted. Art director: Hugh Reticker. Set decorators: Clarence Steenson. Music: Adolph Deutsch. Music director: Leo F. Forbstein. Costumes designed by Milo Anderson. Make-up: Perc Westmore. Montages: James Leicester. Special effects director: William McGann. Technical adviser: Nicholas Kobliansky. Dialogue director: Jack Gage. Assistant director: Phil Quinn. Sound recording: Stanley Jones. Producer: Mark Hellinger.

Copyright 23 November 1944 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Hollywood: 30 August 1944. U.S. release: 25 November 1944. U.K. release: 30 July 1945. Australian release: 14 March 1946. Sydney opening at the Empire (on a double bill with Rhythm Round Up). 9,279 feet. 103 minutes.

COMMENT: In addition to its short running time, another signal that a movie is being sold by the studio as a "B" in a particular territory is that it has sat on the shelf for a considerable period. This one cluttered up the Warner warehouse in Australia for over 18 months before slotting in for a predetermined two-week engagement in an unfashionable theater at the very periphery of the borderline separating the city from its working-class suburbs.

The trio of Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman and Jack Carson were advertised as the stars, but the movie drew less than average business. And no wonder! Here we are back in overcrowded wartime Washington, but this is no "More the Merrier". This time we are in for about a hundred minutes of boring verbosity, leavened with two or three minutes of mild humor.

Neither the director nor the writers make more than a token attempt to disguise the film's stage origins. Just about the entire movie is set in the Hotel Grayson, and ninety-five per cent of the action unfolds in the one apartment. Characters enter and leave as if they were on a theater stage. Even the end-of-act curtain ensembles are left intact. And as if there wasn't a more than adequate supply of dialogue already, Mr. Wilkie Mahoney has supplied pages and pages of additional chatter.

Jack Carson and Jane Wyman are forced to perform a continuous Burns and Allen act, but with even weaker comebacks! In fact, the Jane Wyman character is just too stupid for words! All the players attempt to conceal their weak material by mugging vigorously throughout. Only Charlie Ruggles succeeds.

Eve Arden bears a particularly unfortunate accent burden, as she's atrociously miscast as a Russian freedom fighter.

Kern's directorial style can only be described as actor-indulgent, audience-neglectful. Production values rate high, but who cares?

Three Wives & A Russian

[willrams · 5/10 · 22 February 2003]

I never saw this film until today on TCM TV; Three wild crazy females all wanting to get married to men in government in a Washington D.C. hotel, and lots of crazy antics going on. My favorite Eve Arden really steals the show as the Russian countess; she is fantastically funny! The three actresses are Alexis Smith, Ann Sheridan, and Jane Wyman and they finally get their men; one of them is Jack Carson. Also of note were Alan Mowbray and Charles Ruggles, my favorite brainteasers. If you want to be jolly entertained, see this but be ready for some really stupid antics

This movie is just plain fun, and funny.

[ricmarc2001 · 9/10 · 12 August 2005]

Amazing what you can do with the lowly soybean. Not only can you make gasoline out of it but you can make eight year old scotch, caviar, and horseradish. Just think of how many horses that could save.

This movie is a little gem. Jane Wyman is a hoot. After seeing her in nothing but fifties weepies and Falcon Crest her turn as a scatterbrain newlywed bride having her honeymoon interrupted by two of her best friends and then all and sundry shows her as an adept comedian.

Alexis Smith and Ann Sheridan as the girlfriends, Jack Carson (always a pleasure to see) and Eve Arden as the Russian soldier (Cyd Charise had to have watched this movie over and over because her Ninotchka accent is a dead on mimic of Eve Arden but with a more serious tone) round out the perfect cast for this screwball comedy.

This movie is just plain funny. It has fast and sassy snappy patter and just breezes along.

Check out those hairstyles! The clothes! How well photographed it is!

This film might seem odd to modern sensibilities, but let yourself go back to a simpler time where the motion picture code ruled and there was a censor right around every corner. I was rather surprised by a scene involving a bottle of scotch, the bell boy and the room he is told to take the bottle into.

The Doughgirls is fast, fun and funny. Just go along for the ride and you won't be disappointed. Let the hilarity ensue!

A Madhouse

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 10 June 2023]

It's chaos as everybody is looking for a room at an overcrowded DC hotel. It's a comedy based on a play. It's a lot of characters and I start losing track of them. It's chaos. I'm not following all these characters and their stories. It does have plenty of energy and that can feel like fun. I can't decide if it feels like fun or is actual fun. The ladies are doing their utmost best. They look like they could be in a doo-wop group. All except Eve Arden who is doing a Russian babushka and keeps carrying around her rifle. It's weird for a comedy and I keep wondering when it's going to go off. They finally nail it on the head when one of them proclaim this "A Madhouse".

Less funny than it thinks it is

[marcslope · 5/10 · 19 June 2018]

A hit Broadway farce, by the estimable playwright Joseph Fields, gets annoyingly Hollywood-ized in this Warners product, unsubtly written and loudly directed by James V. Kern. Its stage origins are obvious, as it's nearly all set in a Washington bridal suite, where doors slam. Boy, do they slam. Ann Sheridan (the disagreeable one), Alexis Smith (the glamorous one), and Jane Wyman (the stupid one--no one is particularly well cast) all find out they're not really married to their bridegrooms, while Eve Arden, who's pretty funny given substandard material, totes a rifle and a Russian accent. The men have less to do, but you get early glimpses of Craig Stevens and Jack Carson, and Charlie Ruggles does what he can with the unappetizing part of a lecherous old bureaucrat. Irene Manning, Alan Mowbray, and Regis Toomey are on the sidelines, and a cast like this is worth watching. But gosh, this one is shrill.

Could Have Been A Lot Better

[Handlinghandel · 5/10 · 19 August 2005]

Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, and Ann Sheridan start this with good chemistry among themselves. It seems to be "The Women," with a few men and some genuine kind feelings among the participants. Some of the men could be done without but Charlie Ruggles is always a joy.

They continue to work together but things bog down. It's hard to believe that Wyman is as dumb as she's meant to be. And talk about wastes: What in the world made anyone cast Eve Arden as a Russian military officer, uniform, dark wig and all? Her sparklingly dry humor would have fit in perfectly with the situation but she is hidden under layers of camouflage. The Russian she's given is pretty questionable, too.

Irene Manning is fun as a viperous ex-wife of one of the three leads' husband and/or husband-to-be.

Wartime Washington was crowded but so is this movie. Too much going on sinks this vessel. Give us"The More The Merrier"?

You either get it or you don't

[WarnersBrother · 8/10 · 7 October 2012]

Many of the reviews here seem to be posted by people who have no clue as to the time period of history which this film is set in. When you watch an older contemporary film you need to be able to watch it with the mindset of a viewer seeing it in a theater at it's release. If you can't relate to 1944, you don't get this film. If you do it's a true gem.

Warner's threw it's best female leads at this, Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman and Alexis Smith (sans Bette Davis), capped off with Eve Arden in a memorable role, added Jack Carson and the reliable John Ridgely, stirred in Charlie Ruggles, Alan Mowbry and Regis Toomey in brief support and a supporting cast rated A+ It is a manic comedy, but if you don't get the political and historic tongue in cheek it falls flat. If you do, sublime!

About as subtle as a 2x4 upside your head--and also a lot more painful!!!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 20 April 2010]

"The Doughgirls" is one of many wartime American films that poked fun at the overcrowding in Washington, DC as a result of the many civilians and soldiers needed there to coordinate the war effort. Other similar themes are in such films as "The More the Merrier" and "Over 21". However, it's pretty easy to tell that "The Doughgirls" was originally a play, as a wider variety of folks keep walking on and off camera--like people going on and off stage. Plus, while "The More the Merrier" was a wonderful Oscar-winning film, "The Doughgirls" comes off as loud and anything but subtle. While funny in parts, too often it comes off as forced--like they are trying a bit too hard to be kooky.

The film begins with Jack Carson and Jane Wyman stopping by a Justice of the Peace to be married on their way to Washington, as Carson has a job waiting for him there. Once they arrive at a hotel for their honeymoon, the craziness begins. Apparently, free rooms are as rare as hens' teeth and getting a free moment to themselves to consummate the marriage is next to impossible. A literal barrage of things occur one after the other to provide lots of fun(?). One of the prior occupants of the room (Ann Sheridan) refuses to leave (so why didn't the cops just toss her out?!)--then another old friend (Alexis Smith) shows up for practically no reason at all. Then an annoyingly stereotypical Russian sharpshooter arrives--again for practically no reason at all. Periodically other folks stop by the suite as well--wanting to know if they can stay. And, a few other characters are tossed into the mix for a wide variety of reasons. Then, toss in not one but TWO cases where the married couples learn they really AREN'T married! The overall effect is cacophonous--with each plot element trying to overwhelm the last! Plus, this literally is the only film I have seen where so many of the lines are delivered by shouting actors!! Heck, there is less yelling in war films!!! If you like LOUD and frenetic films with very broad writing, then perhaps you'll enjoy this movie. However, it was just terribly unfunny to me. This isn't because I hate fast-paced films (for example, I love "One, two, three" and it's much faster-paced then this film), but it just felt too forced and not particularly funny. It seems to try very hard--perhaps too hard. A nice collection of Warner Brothers actors in a comedy film whose humor just seemed flat.

By the way, part-way through the film, Alexis Smith reveals that she's actually from Brooklyn and uses her 'real' accent. Real, it ain't and I think Miss Smith, though a lovely actress, sounded completely ridiculous during these scenes. And, speaking of very broad accents, get a load of the 'subtle' character played by Eve Arden. Her Russian lady is about as subtle as a 2x4 upside your head!!

Wild and Wacky Washington Women Wage War

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 29 December 2009]

Two love birds are cooing and romancing each other as chatty ditz Jane Wyman and irritable Jack Carson go to a justice of the peace to get married. When they come out as bride and groom, the love birds are now biting at each other. "Yaa taa taa, yaa taa taa", Carson screeches at his new wife, making talking motions with his hands. A snarky man peaks out and the viewers know that all is not what it appears to be. The loving couple arrive in overcrowded wartime Washington D.C. where the hotel lobby is overrun with people desperate for a room. Another newlywed Ann Sheridan is busy taking a bath in the room they check into and refuses to budge. This means war! Take the catty humor of "The Women", throw in war time politics and a few dozen men, and you have "The Doughgirls", the film version of the hit Broadway play of a couple of seasons before.

This is not the Jane Wyman audiences know from "Johnny Belinda" or the powerful matriarch of "Falcon Crest". She is a cheery dumbbell who doesn't do dictation verbatim-she does it word for word! And when she finds out that the woman in the tub is her old pal from the chorus, she begins her marriage with more trouble than a dozen mother-in-laws could cause! Next in is another old pal, Alexis Smith, Carson's lecherous boss Charlie Ruggles ("The Parent Trap's" loving grandfather), and a hysterical Natasha-like (of Boris/Rocky/Bullwinkle fame) Eve Arden, dressed out in a military uniform, always carping "I would like a fish". "Live?", Wyman asks. "No, dead.", she says, intoning a deadpan voice that Virginia O'Brien would envy. Then, there is Irene Manning, the cold-blooded ex-wife of Sheridan's husband, who comes in as someone changes the wedding march to the funeral march upon spotting her. These are a wacky group of people of all kinds. The situation isn't at all believable, but oh, what fun it is! World War II audiences needed laughs like this, and Warner Brothers gave it to em' good here. Everybody gets a chance to shine.

There's humorous bits by the society matron who uses the women to watch factory women's babies, the perplexed hotel manager ("People who don't pay their bills shouldn't shoot guns out the window"), the beleaguered spouses of Anne Sheridan and Alexis Smith (neither legal as well), and the Lou Costello like man who keeps creeping into the room trying to get some sleep. Arden steals the film from the moment she appears, and relishes it much like Dianne Wiest in "Bullets Over Broadway". She is hysterical leading the hotel maids in a brief song of the items she is exchanging at a pawn shop. Unfortunately, comedy was mostly overlooked by the Oscars in the 40's, as Arden's lack of a Supporting nomination is a true Hollywood crime.

I'd like to also pay tribute to Warner Brothers' sound system, which is unlike any of its era. The crispy clear audio was as notable to Warner Brothers as the Technicolor of 20th Century Fox and the art deco looks at MGM. This is just a hysterically funny, funny film that I've shared with half a dozen friends long before Turner Classic Movies was around, and could watch at least once a year without not laughing.

It's just an incessant noise

[AAdaSC · 3/10 · 2 February 2011]

Newly-weds Viv (Jane Wyman) and Arthur (Jack Carson) arrive at the bridal suite in a hotel. However, they are not alone. Newly-weds Edna (Anne Sheridan) and Julian (John Ridgely) are already in the room and they end up sharing the apartment. Enter newly-wed Nan (Alexix Smith) who also ends up staying. Then comes Russian Natalia (Eve Arden) .... guess what ... she stays too. During the proceedings, several other men appear. It turns out that none of the women are actually legally married for various reasons and the film takes us to the conclusion where everyone is happy.

I found one line of repeated dialogue funny. It comes from Eve Arden's character when she says "I wooold like a feesh". Apart from that one line, there is no humour in this noisy, unfunny film. Here is an example of what you can expect: ...The doorbell rings and people shout at each other, then the phone rings followed by more shouting, then someone appears and starts shouting, then everyone talks at the same time...oh no, now we've got a comedy character coming in with comedy music....back to the shouting and screeching at each other. This basically goes on for 1 hour and 40 minutes. If this is your kind of humour, then you will enjoy the film. I didn't.

The film contains very irritating characters and I gave up caring about what was going on. One of the film's final punchlines comes when Tom (Craig Stevens) is recounting his tale of soldier heroism which culminates in a situation in which he had to call out the name of his friend "Harry Kerry" and the Japanese perceived this as an order to commit "Hari Kiri"....Groan.... You may want to commit "hara-kiri" yourself after sitting through this.

Not as good as I suspect the play was

[richard-1787 · 5/10 · 29 October 2017]

As the poster for this movie reveals, it was based on a very successful Broadway comedy. And that comedy must have been a door- slamming farce of the French variety played around a hotel room, such as you find in many of Feydeau's comedies. It doesn't have a farce's face pace, though, and that's a real problem.

There is lots of talent here, so that's not the problem. It's just that it is sometimes misused, or underused. Having Jane Wyman play stupid, for example, seems like a real waste, and not a particularly successful one. I suspect the real problem was the direction. If this worked on Broadway, and evidently it did, it must have moved faster and been funnier. This was James V. Kern's first shot at directing a movie, and he evidently didn't know how to bring off a farce on the screen.

There are other problems as well.

I don't know who thought to put Alexis Smith and Ann Sheridan, who look fairly alike anyway, in this movie and then coif them with the same sort of hairdos, but it was not a great idea.

Alan Mowbray preparing his radio talk in the middle of the mayhem is a flat steal from Sheridan Whiteside in *The Man Who Came to Dinner*, and the comparison doesn't do this movie any favors.

There's nothing wrong with this movie. It's just not memorable.

planktonrules and fails

[lcalabraro · 8/10 · 23 April 2010]

planktonrules makes some points that may or may NOT be valid. The one in particular concerns Eve Arden's portrayal of a Russian soldier. plankton defines it as NOT subtle. Please tell me why any portrayal of female Russian soldier would be anything remotely subtle. I watched this movie as a young child and was LOL. My favorite part was Eve. I would point out that this was a Major breakthrough for her in movies, radio and TV. She perfected and honed the part of a wisecracking female hell bent on getting a man but failing miserably as no man could hold a candle to her, except on rare occasions. If you do not like this film two things will occur. One: You will get your money back. Two: You will prove that anything old and funny and in black & white is not your cup of tea. Stick with Sean Penn and Will Ferrell. They will suit you to a nub.

Now this one really was a stinker!

[dougandwin · 2/10 · 12 August 2004]

When I saw "The Doughgirls" was coming on TV, I re-read the comments of the critics, and somehow could not believe that they could find anything comical or clever about it. Let me start with the dialogue, without a shadow of a doubt, it had to be the worst heard in any , supposedly, A movie for years.

For stars such as Ann Sheridan and Alexis Smith to have to utter the crap served up to them must have been repulsive to them - while Ann overacts as she has never done before or after. Everything Jane Wyman said was typical of the kind of roles that Warners served up to her in many movies for years, and Jack Carson was his usual goof. As for the role played by one of my Favourites, Eve Arden - I felt embarrassed watching it. Truly, most of the cast deserved so much better. This film was a stinkeroo of the worst kind!

A very loud, but very fun, if not quite perfect, comedy

[xan-the-crawford-fan · 8/10 · 22 September 2021]

If you don't like films that rely on loud, wisecracking comedy, you will probably not like this one. Likewise, if you do not understand the main joke of the film (there was a housing shortage in Washington where this film is set, in the WW11 era), or some of the references, the film will probably fall flat. But if you want a fun comedy with scenes reminiscent of the housing troubles Ruth and Eileen Sherwood (Rosalind Russell and Janet Blair) had in the film My Sister Eileen, you will inevitably love this film.

There's a cast of characters- have fun spotting actors you may know. Jane Wyman, who I've never thought of as being capable of comedy, plays the dimwitted Vivian, who isn't blonde but has dumb blonde wisecracks flying out of her mouth like spit. Quite a few of them are funny, too. Character actor (or just character) Jack Carson is her somewhat hot-tempered husband Arthur. They arrive at a hotel in Washington for their honeymoon, but the suite they want to rent is being occupied by another married couple- who, after a lot of bickering between the two women, are revealed to be Vivian's old friend Edna (Ann Sheridan, the oomph girl) and her husband Julian (John Ridgely).

Then another friend of Viv and Edna shows up, Nan (Alexis Smith), who's going to get married to a soldier named Tom (Craig Stevens). However, it soon turns out that none of the women who think they're married aren't really married at all, thanks to Julian's soon-to-be but not really wanting to be ex-wife Sylvia (the deliciously b*tchy Irene Manning). Visitors come and go, including the hotel manager after the bill (Francis Pierlot), an man who just wants to take a nap, and Jack Carson's boss Stanley Slade (Charles Ruggles) who eventually falls for Jane Wyman, but another one that decides to stay is the Russian sergeant Natalia (Eve Arden).

Arden's Russian sergeant is clearly a send-up of Garbo-does-Ninotchka, complete with bobbed hair, rifles galore, and a deliberately exaggerated accent, and it's hilarious. Ann Sheridan and Alexis Smith (I honestly couldn't tell which was which for a while) are good as the smarter friends of Viv, but they also seem to be deliberately overexaggerating their gestures and reactions as well. The fashion is very, very forties- the hair, the clothes, shoulder pads everywhere (Joan Crawford would be proud), but that just makes it even more fun, even if it does show that the film is a product of its time (I mean that in a good way 🙂)

Most of the humor is those kind of jokes that you either have to have been around in the time or know about the time to get, but if you do get them, they're very funny. The film was based off of a stage play, and it shows, but I'm not the sort of person to complain about that 😏. Perhaps it is a bit long, but it's a welcome sort of long. You feel like you're really in the hotel with these women. Does it end well for all of them? Watch the film.

All I all, recommended, but only if you like loud comedy. There's a lot of shouting, and a lot of noise, all of which is used for comedic purposes. If you liked the original My Sister Eileen, you'll like this one.

Talky, But With Humorous Cast

[dougdoepke · 28 August 2021]

Gird your loins because that opening scene threatens to crush viewers under a mob of stampeding hotel room seekers. Looks like hotel rooms were really hard to find during the war years, and that scary scene almost put me under the bed. Anyhow, it's not really a scary movie, rather, a romance comedy where three couples try to figure out who's married to whom or if they're even married at all. And if they don't work it out, guess what- they lose the room and get to spend their honeymoons on city streets. Now, there's one to tell the kids about.

Aside from the opening scene, the production has its work cut out. After all, it's an adaptation of a stage play that has basically only one set to work with, and 90-some minutes to fill. So how to keep audience eyes glued even when the snappy dialogue keeps ears entertained. Looks like Warner Bros brought in about all their comedic supporting players, from Mowbray and Carson (in a rare leading man role), to Eve Arden, who'll make you wonder how the Russians could possibly have lost WWII. Then there're the two statuesque goddesses Sheridan and Smith, decked out in the fashion period's finest, but looking more like ice queens with snappily humorous lines. And how about Jane Wyman in the lead, a long way from her usual dramatic roles. Here, she's never been more cute or cuddlesome, even if on the dumb side, and close to Jack Benny's description as Hollywood's embodiment of Minnie Mouse. And lastly, catch the two uniformed Army officers- that's Craig Stevens (later, TV's Peter Gunn), and Mark Stevens (later, a leading man in his own right). Thus, the studio's overall remedy for stage adaptation is to keep the character focus shifting quickly even when the single backdrop scene doesn't.

All in all, the flick's a little too talky, crowded, and over-extended to rate a top side rank. Still, it's an colorful cast with a number of chuckles, so check it out, though I'm still trying to figure out the title.