jacobs-greenwood Produced and directed by George Stevens, with a screenplay by P.J. Wolfson and Ernest Pagano that was based on I.A.R. Wylie's story, this uneven romantic comedy features Ginger Rogers, in the title role, and James Stewart.Watching this film, I found myself both laughing out loud AND waiting for certain tired scenes to end (like the endless whistling at Rogers). Plus, I don't usually find the clichéd circumstance of a character deciding to get drunk (as Stewart's does), in order to solve a problem, amusing. Still, there are some absolutely hilarious, delightful scenes which make this one worth the 90 minutes it takes to watch it, despite the fact that there is little chemistry between its two leads (which may be the reason that this was their only film together). Like most films of this genre, "suspension of disbelief" is required to enjoy it at all.The cast also includes James Ellison, Beulah Bondi (whose scenes with Rogers are some of the best sequences), Charles Coburn, and little known Frances Mercer (in her first film; she made less than 10 films in the 1930's) in addition to several recognizable supporting actors: Franklin Pangborn, Grady Sutton as a befuddled teaching assistant, Jack Carson as a nightclub waiter (!), and Willie Best as an emoting train porter (in the slowest sequence near the end). Hattie McDaniel also appears uncredited as a maid. Cinematographer Robert De Grasse and Sound technician James Wilkinson earned their only Oscar nominations for their work on this film.While retrieving his cousin Keith (Ellison) from a drunken binge in New York, Peter Morgan Jr. (Stewart) falls in love and weds a nightclub singer named Francey (Rogers), who had been the object of Keith's obsession before Peter arrived. Their "meeting to marriage" happens within 24 hours. The three return home by train to the Morgans' small college town of Old Sharon, where Peter is a botany professor at the university; his staunch father is its president.Peter Morgan Sr.'s (Coburn) father had been president as well, and expects nothing less than his proper son to follow this tradition, in his footsteps. When Peter sees that his rather intimidating father is waiting at the station with Helen (Mercer), who was supposedly his fiancée, Peter tells Francey that he needs time to break the news of their nuptials to Helen, his conservative father, and his weak hearted mother (Bondi).Naturally, Keith jumps right in and volunteers to pretend that Francey is his girl, and they dash off - after Francey "checks out" Helen - leaving Peter wondering if he can trust his cousin. Initially, Francey even stays in Keith's flat until Peter insists that she move out, and into an all girls apartment (run by Pangborn, of course).The rest of the story from this point is sequence after sequence of interruptions and circumstances which prevent Peter from telling his parents that Francey is actually his wife AND keep the couple from consummating their marriage (one of the funniest scenes involve the two hoping a wall bed will fall into place).During this time, Keith, Peter, and Francey pretend that she is a new botany student at the university, and all the while she is caught in unflattering and improper incidents by Peter's uncompromising father, who still assumes she is one of Keith's trollops. One of these is at a prom, where Francey gets in a cat fight (more than just slapping) with the still unawares Helen; another is in her apartment, where stern Morgan Sr. catches her line dancing with Keith and Mrs. Morgan (his wife!), who'd earlier admitted to Francey that her weak heart was feigned. His disapproval causes Mrs. Morgan, who now knows that Francey is married to Peter Jr., to leave her husband, saying she's tired of 30 years of having to behave a certain way so as not to risk losing an endowment for the college, etc..Morgan Sr.'s brief but frank talk with Francey (e.g. she's not the right kind of girl for his son's future) causes her to leave Old Sharon. Francey and Mrs. Morgan, who had previously bonded, end up on the same train in adjoining berths and, after the aforementioned drunken sequence, Peters Jr. & Sr. realize what they've lost and chase after them ... so that the requisite happy ending can occur.

mmallon4 Sex! Now that I've got your attention, it's fascinating to see just how many references to the birds and the bees permeate the seemingly innocent veneer of Vivacious Lady. James Stewart and Ginger Rodgers where dating during the filming and it's certainly apparent on screen with the levels of sexual tension between the two with these stars never appearing more youthful than they do here. There are many code breaking moments in Vivacious Lady from the opening scene with the exotic dancers in the nightclub and their tail feathers being pushed in Stewart's face to Stewart breaking into a women's only apartment block after visiting hours.It's clear that the University in the fictional town of Old Sharon is full of students eager to get it on from every other male student wolf whistling Ginger to the large number of couples occupying the boathouse at night. I mean the President of University and Stewart's father played by Charles Coburn even comes right out and says it, "We are having the usual spring difficulties between our male and female students a little early this season. Too much fraternising in the lockers". - The Hays Code? What code?However on closer examination of Vivacious Lady something dawned on me - there's a very unusual incest thing going on between the main characters. Francey (Ginger Rogers) was going out with Peter's (James Stewart) brother Keith (James Ellison) before they met, however, Francey marries Peter shortly after they meet for the first time even though she was still going out with Keith at the time. Even when Keith finds out he is perfectly ok with this arrangement and himself and Francey continue to act in an overly intimate manner throughout the film for people who are cousins. Likewise just get look at this dialogue exchange: "I remember I married you" "Oh no, she married me" "So were cousins" "You and your cousins can use that drawing room now."Incest aside, unlike other screwball comedies Vivacious Lady is actually more grounded in reality with its use of more deadpan humour. There are no over the top misunderstandings or histrionics (not that there's anything wrong with that sort of thing) but rather the characters react in a manner in which people would in real life. Just look at the reaction of Peter's father whenever he tells him he got married, it's lifelike but manages to be no less funny. This was one of the four films in which Beulah Bondi played Jimmy Stewart's mother; I can't imagine a more convincing choice to be the mother of the on-screen, boy next door Jimmy Stewart persona. Likewise, is there a better choice to play an overly conservative father than Charles Coburn? I can speak for a friend of mine who couldn't believe just how much he related to Jimmy Stewart and the manner he acts towards Ginger Rogers such as Stewart's attempts to make advances but keeps backing away under nerves. The two of them really do feel like a bunch of young love-struck kids.

mark.waltz Ginger Rogers was one tough cookie in the 1930's. Prior to "Kitty Foyle", most of her characters were hard-knock life women of the streets, not hookers, but just tough broads who knew how to survive without giving up their dignity, and they didn't take crap from anybody. When they met a man they liked, they didn't care what they had to do, they went after them. Certainly, these were single men. For the most part, Ginger didn't play home-wreckers, and here, she has no idea that the seemingly meek college professor that she meets in the Manhattan night club she works at is (against his will) engaged to a snooty goody-two-shoes who isn't above using her palms when she thinks she's losing her man to someone she considers beneath her.In this case, the uppity snob is Frances Mercer, promised to James Stewart by his college president father, Charles Coburn. They all think that Stewart's mild-mannered mother (Beulah Bondi) is suffering from a heart ailment. But all it takes is the presence of Ginger in the midst of this babbity community to raise her out of a sick bed, even if to ask for a cigarette. This is a battle of small town bigots against the worldly big city folk, and the big city folk are determined to prove that they are just as good as the others, even if it takes giving Mercer a licking she'll never forget and give her new husband a bit of moxie to stand up to his imperious father.Snappy from start to finish, this starts off with Stewart in New York simply to get fellow professor James Ellison away from the big, bad nightclubs and back into boring old small town U.S.A. Of course, it is at papa Coburn's orders, so when Rogers spots Stewart in the audience and sparks fly, the marriage bug is soon to hit. Stewart can't bring himself to break the news to his parents or the stuffy Mercer, so everybody around thinks that Rogers is trouble. Of course she is, especially if you slap her without provocation. Maybe she deserved it with Mercer, responding to her declaration of "Must I give you a piece of my mind" with "Oh, I couldn't take the last piece!". This leads to a great cat-fight, only topped in a few other instances, most notably in the following year's "The Women". This comedy teaches small town folk that the big city bad guys are just as noble as they are, but with perhaps maybe a bigger appetite for life.When Ellison and Rogers break down and start to do "The Big Apple", Beaulah Bondi gets one of her great moments to let loose on film, but not without consequences. Having played Stewart's mother on film (and later on T.V.) many times, Bondi remains one of the great "motherly" figures on screen, and here, she's a bit sly, too. There's a wonderful moment with Rogers and Bondi as they do indeed bond over half a cigarette, and later on, a wonderful moment on a train where porter Willie Best gets teary-eyed while waiting on both of them in different cars as they both try to hold back their own tears to no avail. Stewart has some great moments of comedy, including a wonderful drunk scene, and even when imperious, Coburn can't help but be lovable. Grady Sutton is also very funny as Stewart's assistant, while other favorites including Jack Carson and Hattie McDaniel, show up in small roles.Probably one of the most forgotten of the great screwball comedies, this remains totally enjoyable from start to finish. Every aspect of it is outstanding from its snappy screenplay to every single performance to its breathtaking art direction and truly fast-moving photography. Like "Stage Door" and "Bachelor Mother", this aided Ginger in moving past the Fred Astaire musicals into better parts, but once she went into mostly dramas, the world lost the opportunity to see one of its true great glamorous clowns at work. Only with "Tom, Dick and Harry", "The Major and the Minor" and "Roxie Hart" would she truly be at her meddle. For me, a snappy Ginger really makes the best cookie in the jar, and when she adds singing and dancing to it, no milk is needed.

blandiefam I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It was full of life and the premise worked out in an original way. I also liked the many speaking parts they gave to the Black actors of the time. They weren't stereotyped to the extent where it became offensive even for today. A simple story told in a sweet well written way makes you feel as if you were brighten by the whole story. I loved the contrast of New York and Old Sharon. Movies done in those times portrayed an innocence which we all lost in the big Hollywood productions of the past 30 years or so. Ginger Rogers didn't over act as she usually did and the plot didn't borrow from the popular "It happened One Night" as did other screw ball comedies of that time. I also loved the small dance scene and the trendy whistling the college students did. Get with your loved ones and put on an old movie from TCM and enjoy the types of movies which leave you feeling good.