THAT BRENNAN GIRL

Mona Freeman

THAT BRENNAN GIRL (1946). Produced and directed by Alfred Santell.

"Who you calling as cold as an igloo? You're not exactly a heatwave yourself!"

Ziggy (Mona Freeman of Angel Face) is an attractive if somewhat hard-boiled young woman  whose mother, Natalie (June Duprez), pretends to be her older sister. Ziggy gets in with a con artist named Denny (James Dunn of It's a Great Life) who has her working for him, but falls for a handsome sailor, Martin (William Marshall of Belle of the Yukon), whom she marries. Martin's wartime death leaves Ziggy with a baby girl and little life of her own, while Denny goes off to jail. Will these two highly imperfect individuals find their way back to each other, and will Ziggy get to keep her baby? 

Freeman with William Marshall

That Brennan Girl is an interesting study of two not entirely admirable or even likable people who turn out to have qualities that ultimately redeem them. Freeman gives a strong lead performance, and she gets excellent support from the pleasant and competent Dunn -- who makes his character more palatable than he could have been -- and a very charming and adept Marshall. June Duprez makes her mark as the mother who set her daughter on the wrong course right from the start, and Dorothy Vaughan is lovely as Denny's very loving Irish mother. Duprez, who reminds one a bit of Linda Darnell, was in everything from The Thief of Bagdad  to the serial Don Winslow of the Coast Guard and had many other credits as well. Watch for the cute sequence when a little baby boy slowly climbs backwards down the staircase!

Verdict: An oddball romance with very good performances. ***. 

IT'S A GREAT LIFE

IT'S A GREAT LIFE. 1954 TV series. Shown on American Life TV.

Before she was Aunt Bee of Mayberry, Frances Bavier was the mainstay (although supposedly a supporting character) of this lively and often amusing -- and virtually forgotten -- sitcom that has been exhumed by American Life TV. Bavier plays Amy Morgan, a widow who lives with her no-account, generally unemployed brother, Earl (James Dunn). Amy takes in two boarders, girl-crazy ex-servicemen named Denny (Michael O'Shea) and Steve (William Bishop) -- who also seem to lose more jobs than they even get hired for. Barbara Bates, who played the young fan of Eve Harrington at the end of All About Eve, played Amy's daughter Cathy for about a third of the episodes. Good-natured and enthusiastically played, It's a Great Life could be silly but there were several funny episodes, particularly one in which the gang buys a tea house, unaware that it's been used as an illegal gambling den. Bavier has a lot of fun squaring off against the tough lady leader of the gang. In the naive fifties, Denny and Steve sleep together in one bed. Michael O'Shea was married to Virginia Mayo and there are occasional in-jokes relating to the sexy actress.

Verdict: Not a terrible time passer. **1/2.