rikumovie

Rudy Vallee, Loretta Young and Van Johnson

MOTHER IS A FRESHMAN (1949). Director: Lloyd Bacon.

Since her trust fund can't be accessed for several months, Abigail Fortitude Abbott (Loretta Young), a widow with a college-age daughter, has to figure out how to pay her bills. Most people would get a job, but instead Abigail decides to take advantage of a bizarre clause in her grandmother's will which allows anyone with her exact name to get a scholarship to her alma mater. So Abigail goes to classes at the same school as her daughter, Susan (Betty Lynn of Cheaper By the Dozen), but the two keep their relationship a secret. Wouldn't you know that both mother and daughter fall for the same handsome and charming Professor Michaels (Van Johnson)? Mother is a Freshman is highly-contrived but cute, with excellent performances, but it doesn't quite sustain the fun, although it's consistently pleasant. Barbara Lawrence [Kronos] plays another co-ed, and Rudy Vallee, once a singing idol, is again cast in middle-age as a stuffy unattractive-to-women type, in this case Abigail's lawyer, as he was in Unfaithfully Yours and other movies.

Verdict: Perky Loretta and dreamy Van make a good combo. **1/2.

Madelaine Carroll and Fred MacMurray

DON'T TRUST YOUR HUSBAND (aka An Innocent Affair/1948). Director: Lloyd Bacon.

Advertising man Vincent Doane (Fred MacMurray) is trying to land an account which happens to be controlled by his still-amorous ex-fiancee, Margot Fraser (Louise Allbritton of Fired Wife). Vincent's wife, Paula (Madeleine Carroll), thinks he's spending all his evenings with a Mr. Fraser, but she suspects something's up. Vincent's sister, Eve (Rita Johnson of The Naughty Nineties), comes up with the dubious idea of testing her brother's love for her sister-in-law by seeing how jealous he gets if a paid actor pays too much attention to Paula on their anniversary. Clued in to the scheme, Vincent invites the man into his home and even asks him to take out his wife the next night! What nobody realizes is that the man in question is not the paid actor, but rather wealthy cigarette man Claude Kimball (Charles "Buddy" Rogers), who thinks the Doanes have a wonderfully carefree attitude. This all sounds rather cute, but it's almost by the numbers, with not enough real laughs -- although there are certainly amusing bits -- to make it stand out from the crowd. MacMurray is terrific, as you would expect, and the ladies are all good if not on his level. Alan Mowbray offers his customary fine performance as a man who pretends to be Margot's husband, and Anne Nagel has a small role as a receptionist. Rogers gets by on charm. Bacon also directed Crooner and many others.

Verdict: Cute, if formula, comedy. **1/2.