Bedtime Story (1941)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Alexander Hall

Writers:

Horace Jackson (story) &
Grant Garett (story) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

Playwright tries to stop his wife from retiring so he can star her in his next play.

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Playwright | Desk Clerk | Waiter | Conventioneer

Cast

Fredric March	...	Lucius 'Luke' Drake
Loretta Young	...	Jane Drake
Robert Benchley	...	Eddie Turner
Allyn Joslyn	...	William Dudley, Jr.
Eve Arden	...	Virginia Cole
Helen Westley	...	Emma Harper
Joyce Compton	...	Beulah
Tim Ryan	...	Mac, the Policeman
Olaf Hytten	...	Alfred, the Butler
Dorothy Adams	...	Betsy, the Maid
Clarence Kolb	...	Collins, the Actor
Andrew Tombes	...	Billy Wheeler aka Pierce

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7344) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

B.P. Schulberg Productions

Quotes:

[last lines, at the end of the play's premiere]
Luke Drake: It's a smash hit, Eddie -- it'll run five years!
Jane Drake: Ladies and gentlemen! This will have the shortest run of any of Mr. Drake's plays...
[gasps from audience]
Luke Drake: No, no, no. Five years!
Jane Drake: It will be closed in the early spring by an act of God. And I'm sure Mr. Drake hopes it will be... a boy.
[Luke faints]

Nodding Off In A Moving Vehicle

Some wonderful actors are a lot of fun in a curiously unengaging screwball comedy. The cast is a great one: Fredric March and Loretta Young in the leads, with Robert Benchley, Eve Arden, the unfortunately forgotten Allyn Joslyn and Helen Westley as a blonde bimbo. It has some wonderful comedic moments -- the one where Young orders Westley to sit down and play the piano is priceless. However, the whole thing never quite gels.

Perhaps it is because of the theatrical background of the story: March gives one of his few miscalculated performances. It is impossible to tell when his character is being sincere and when his character is trying to manipulate the other characters. When he is in full blown theatrical mode, as in THE ROYAL FAMILY OF Broadway, he is hilarious. When he he plays a small-time chiseler, as in NOTHING SACRED, he is hilarious. Perhaps it is because there seems to be no chemistry between him and Young. It is appropriate to their characters' relationship in the movie, but it is not, very interesting. And that pretty well describes this movie. Watch it for the moments, but not for the movie.