I've been discovering (and rediscovering) the wonderful career of Judy Holliday, but this is the first film out of 5 of hers I've seen so far that left me feeling disappointed and underwhelmed. It feels like a "slight', pleasant film at best, despite addressing some fairly taboo and/or moral issues with modern (for the time) sensibilities clashing with old world customary beliefs, and old world's more or less winning out. The film tries to straddle both viewpoints and ends up with a confusing conclusion that simply doesn't work. Watching with today's eyes, much of it's sensibilities come across either dated or hypocritical (i.e. Heavy drinking/drunkenness throughout and encouraging a pregnant woman to do so, marriage viewed as, "worthless" unless consummated in a Catholic church, etc). And while there are moments, the comedy, drama, and "moral" messages never seem to come to any solid fruition. Judy is fine here, but the real scene stealer of the film is Salvatore Baccaloni, who plays a character so over the top in a broad, comedic, stereotypical sense, that everyone around him looks flat or miscast by comparison. Richard Conte's the biggest culprit, IMO, conveying zero comedic sensibility, and his straight up dramatic approach feels incongruous and leaves the viewer confused as to what exactly it is they're watching.
It's a film that, while I was watching it, I couldn't help feeling that it could have been much more enjoyable and successful in it's intent had it been rewritten for Lucy and Desi.
It's a film that, while I was watching it, I couldn't help feeling that it could have been much more enjoyable and successful in it's intent had it been rewritten for Lucy and Desi.