I've only seen a few of Shirley Temple's post '38 films. She was now quite a cute young woman, who was often cast as an ingénue, having trouble with her romantic life, which sometimes included a much older man, as in this film. Often, she didn't get to sing or tap dance, which had often much added to the interest of her classic child films of the 30s. In this film, she does get to sing one good romantic ballad, in a Mexican setting : "Ven Aqui"(come to me), as well as an all too brief "I love Geraniums": more the style of her '30s songs. She sounds quite good. However, I can't be sure she wasn't dubbed. Given the title, J.E. Howard's vaudevillian "Honeymoon", sung in 'I Wonder who's Kissing Her Now" would have been appropriate, except that there's no time for a honeymoon in this film!
At age 18-19, in this film and in the much better received "The Bachelor and the Bobby -Soxer",also released in '47, she develops a crush on a handsome available middle-aged man, who keeps trying to brush her off, as an embarrassment. Both are essentially screwball romantic comedies. In this film, suave Franchot Tone plays this man, after he tries to help her with her various problems, trying to find her fiancé and get married in a huge rush in Mexico City. In the latter film, it's the much better known Cary Grant in Tone's place. Thus, instead of her frequent childhood roles in helping fix the personal relationships of the adults, she often needs her own romantic life fixed in these late teen roles.
I had seen Tone in a similar role in Universal's previous "That Night with You", costarring singing sensation Suzanne Foster, in her last Hollywood film. In both films, the young woman develops a crush on middle -aged playboy Tone, while simultaneously having a young boyfriend. In both films, clearly, the implied message is that this is developing into a 'sick' relationship, best left as a father/daughter type relationship. Never mind that plenty of other films in this era featured an aging male icon and a decades younger romantic interest as perfectly OK. The present film more emphasizes comedy, especially concerning Tone, whereas Suzanne's periodic singing, often in imaginative situations, more permeates the interest of the earlier film.
Lina Romay, who play's Tone's Mexican girlfriend, often served as a singer and light dancer for '40s bands, especially that of Xavier Cugat. She's seen in the occasional '40s film, either as a specialty singer/dancer, or in a straight dramatic role, or both, as in the present film....Guy Madison(as Phil), in one of his earliest film roles, is Shirley's handsome soldier fiancé ,who seems more eager to marry her than she him, especially since he has only a few days leave.
Much of the screenplay depends on a series of contrived coincidences that keep Tone's character, who is the US consul to Mexico, dealing with the continuing troubles of the young couple. First, they can't find a doctor to certify their physical health. Then, it's discovered that Shirley is underage for marriage without parental consent, and that she claimed to be already married, in order to qualify for a Mexican tourist visa! Then, she gets mad at Phil and wants to call the wedding off. We get the impression these 2 people barely know each other!
In mimicry of her reported introduction to Phil, she dives off a pool spring board and lands on Tone, swimming in the pool. After regaining consciousness in Tone's apt., it's clear this collision has scrambled her brain a bit, causing her to chase Tone around the room, as her new love. Tone tries to talk her into renewing her marriage plans with Phil, but she's not receptive. He threatens to spank her, but instead, she throws him to the floor(hilarious). This is followed by the entrance of Phil, who carries her to the pool, throws her off the diving board, then jumps on top of her, to symbolically displace Tone, as her again boyfriend. Yes, this running gag is quite silly....Finally, some highly contrived political maneuvering quickly solves the legal problems relating to their marriage. The film ends with them saying "I do", while Tone and Romay seem to have patched things up, though we don't know if Tone will squirm out of a marriage.
Of course, in mimicry of the screen play, Shirley had married a serviceman when she was 17. But, unlike the screenplay, she was more enthusiastic about marriage than her husband: John Agar, who turned out to be psychologically ill-equipped at this time to deal with her celebrity nor with only one romantic partner. Hence, she was still in this rocky marriage while making this film.
This film is presently viewable at You Tube. If you like this sort of zany comedy, I can recommend it as moderately entertaining nonsense. It bombed at the box office. Tone may not be as famous nor quite as talented a comedian as Grant, but he does a good job in this comedy.
This film somewhat reminds me of "The Clock", released at the end of WWII, in which Judy Garland's character is talked into a whirlwind marriage by a soldier on a short leave in NYC. They go through a rather similar hectic time of trying to circumvent all the bureaucratic delays in getting a marriage license in very short notice. However, there's no love triangle and no singing. Overall, it's a more serious film.
7 out of 7 found this helpful