MOTHER DIDN'T TELL ME

Dorothy McGuire and William Lundigan

MOTHER DIDN'T TELL ME (1950). Written and directed by Claude Binyon. 

Jane Morgan (Dorothy McGuire), who writes commercial jingles, sets her cap for the very handsome Dr. William Wright (William Lundigan) when she goes to him for a weird cough. Fortunately Bill is equally attracted to Jane, and it isn't long before they start dating. Jane refuses to believe that she will become a typical lonely doctor's wife, even when Bill's mother  (Jessie Royce Landis) tries to warn her off. But even if Jane can deal with Bill's frequent absences due to the demands of his patients, she may find stiffer competition from Bill's attractive new associate, Helen (Joyce MacKenzie of Destination Murder). 

Leif Erickson and June Havoc

Two very charming and adept lead performances are what put over this engaging comedy-drama (with an emphasis on comedy). The sensitive and talented McGuire proves that she is no slouch when it comes to comic roles and her co-star Lundigan proves he is more than just a good-lookin' fella. These two performers help gloss over some odd moments in the script. On the train during their honeymoon, the conductor tells Bill that a woman passenger is unconscious and may have had a heart attack. Instead of showing the slightest concern, Jane is only annoyed. "I can't ignore an unconscious woman," Bill says. "But you can ignore a conscious one?" his wife responds. If it weren't for McGuire's sympathetic playing, Jane would be completely unlikable. In fact, after this exchange you begin to think that the mother-in-law has the right idea. 

Gary Merrill and June Havoc are another  doctor and his wife, friends of Bill's, and Leif Erickson [Arabian Nights] really makes an amusing impression as a headshrinker who really knows how to pitch the woo to the ladies. Then there are those adorable twins! Lundigan made Pinky the previous year. Claude Binyon also wrote and directed The Saxon Charm. 

Verdict: Two imperfect people in an imperfect but engaging romance. ***. 

THE SWAN

THE SWAN (1956). Director: Charles Vidor.

"[Like a swan] be a bird but never fly. Know one song but never sing it, until the moment of her death. And so it must be for you, Alexandra. Head held high, cool indifference to the staring crowds among the banks, and the song, never."

"[Albert] spends more time with the tutor than he does with Alexandra."

Beatrix (Jessie Royce Landis) has spent her whole life preparing for the marriage of her daughter, Princess Alexandra (Grace Kelly), to her cousin, the Crown Prince Albert (Alec Guinness). When he shows up at their estate, however, Beatrix and her relatives are appalled by his behavior, and worse, he hardly pays the shy Alexandra any attention [some have theorized that Albert is gay]. Beatrix hits upon the idea of inviting her young sons' tutor, Nicholas (Louis Jourdan), to the ball, with the intention of making Albert jealous. This plan seems to backfire when Nicholas declares his true feelings for the princess ... The Swan, frankly, is a highly-imperfect film -- a bit slow, neither funny nor dramatic enough until the ending -- but the acting can not be faulted. Kelly [Rear Window] offers a lovely lead performance as the princess; Guinness scores as Albert, who is resigned to a life he seems not to aspire to; Landis and Estelle Winwood (as her mother) are fine as the elder ladies of the court; Brian Aherne [The Locket] is excellent as Landis' brother, who resigned from royal life to become a monk; and Agnes Moorehead [Dark Passage] makes her mark, as usual, as the termagant mother of Albert. Jourdan is good, but he, perhaps, underplays too much during some of his romantic sequences, and the movie, as a whole, takes much too long to create any real conflict. But then there's that wonderful, bittersweet -- in fact, downright depressing -- conclusion. It's ironic that Kelly made just one more movie before becoming a princess in real life, also with a bittersweet conclusion, as she wanted to make a comeback (with Hitchcock) but was not allowed to, and apparently found herself quite disillusioned with life in the palace.

Verdict: The acting makes the movie. ***.

TO CATCH A THIEF

Kelly and Grant in To Catch a Thief

TO CATCH A THIEF (1955). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

John Robie (Cary Grant), who used to be a thief known as the Cat before becoming a hero in the resistance, is suspected of a new series of burglaries on the Riviera, especially by his former comrades. Annoyed by the whole situation, he decides to track down the real culprit by getting close to potential victims, such as wealthy American Jessie Stevens (Jessie Royce Landis) and her beautiful daughter Frances (Grace Kelly), with whom he gets very close. While this may lack the intensity of other Hitchcock, movies, it is also smooth, well-made, and full of fine acting and wonderful dialogue [courtesy of John Michael Hayes]. Grant and Kelly are as wonderful as ever, as is Landis, and John Williams -- one of Hitch's favorites -- is as usual on the money as insurance man Hughson. Playing the daughter of one of Robie's old associates, Brigitte Auber may have been younger than Kelly but the latter pretty much blows the former out of the water. All this and a nifty car chase sequence, too.

Verdict: Hitchcock treading water maybe, but who treads water with more -- pun intended -- grace? ***