HENRY ALDRICH PLAYS CUPID

HENRY ALDRICH PLAYS CUPID (1944). Director:Hugh Bennett.

Henry (Jimmy Lydon) is in dutch with Principal Bradley (Vaughan Glaser) and figures he might become an old softie if he only had a wife. [Apparently Henry and everyone else forgot that confirmed old bachelor Bradley actually had a wife who appeared in Henry and Dizzy and was played by Maude Ebern, who ironically has a small bit in this picture.] Suspecting that the principal's stern countenance might work against him, Henry encloses a photo of a man he thinks is his uncle when he [unknown to the principal] places a lonely hearts ad for Bradley. Alas, the photo is actually of Senator Caldicott (Paul Harvey), a hated rival of Henry's father (John Litel), and when strange women come rushing up to the married man thinking he's their dreamboat, he's convinced Mr. Aldrich put them up to it. Uh oh. It's Henry who's up to it -- and how! Pretty funny entry in this long-running series, which only had one more picture to go. Vera Vague is one of the women who answers the ad. Charles Smith and Diana Lynn are on hand as Dizzy and Phyllis.

Verdict: More Aldrich fun. ***.