No Room for the Groom (1952)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Douglas Sirk

Writers:

Joseph Hoffman (writer)
Darwin L. Teilhet (novel)

Release Date:

17 July 1953 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Alvah, a young GI who happens to own a vineyard, elopes to Las Vegas with Lee, his housekeeper's daughter...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	Alvah Morrell
Piper Laurie	...	Lee Kingshead
Don DeFore	...	Herman Strouple
Spring Byington	...	Mama Kingshead
Lillian Bronson	...	Aunt Elsa
Paul McVey	...	Dr. Trotter
Alden 'Stephen' Chase	...	Mr. Taylor
Lee Aaker	...	Donovan
Jack Kelly	...	Will Stubbins
Frank Sully	...	Cousin Luke
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Janssen	...	Soldier (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

First on screen role of 'Fess Parker'.

Delightful and Thoughtful; Film Comedy at its Best

I first discovered this film when it was released in 1952. It has to rank as one of the most intelligent comedies of the period. It stars attractive young Tony Curtis, lovely Piper Laurie and has a script by Darwin Teilheit and Joseph Hoffman that manages to deal with ideas, characters and some hilarious goings-on without generating one boring second. SAnyone who can't relate to this plot may well be dead. The storyline is simple enough; it's the old one about the soldier who marries his girl and then can't consummate the marriage--measles being the culprit. She ends up living in his house, waiting for him to return; but by the time he arrives, ready to take up viniculture and run the Delicio winery and settle down, she has moved more than a dozen relatives into the house, headed by her mother. And the town of Siutterville--harking to Johann Sutter's being done out of the great gold strike of 1849--has become a war profiteering price-gouging Sutterville Squirrels--mink coats--as common as cloth ones. Ohers in the able cast include delightful Don Defore as Tony's rival, Spring Byington masterfully playing Piper's control-freak schemer of a mother, and other film stalwarts including Fess Parker, Lillian Brson and Frank Sully. Tony finds out what's going on from his friend, nice-guy Jack Kelley, and solves his problem satisfactorily making for one of the most deservedly popular comedies of the 1950s. Credit also needs to go to Frank Skinner for his music. I can't recommend this delightful and memorable little film too highly.