Obliging Young Lady (1942)

Director: RICHARD WALLACE. Screenplay: Frank Ryan and Bert Granet. Original screen story Arthur T. Horman and Jerry Cady. Photography: Nicholas Musuraca. Film editor: Henry Berman. Art directors: Albert S. D'Agostino, Carroll Clark. Set decorator: Darrell Silvera. Costumes: Renie. Music composed by Roy Webb, directed by Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Assistant director: Sam Ruman. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell Jr. RCA Sound System. Producer: Howard Benedict. Copyright 8 September 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 12 February 1942. U.S. release: 30 January 1942. Australian release: 5 March 1942. 7,338 feet. 81 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A young girl finds herself the center of a custody battle. COMMENT: An unexpected find. A gem. Why isn't this movie better-known? I agree entirely with a previous breezy reviewer. Not only is this a well-produced and absolutely hilarious comedy, but the fun gets crazier and daffier at every turn of the chucklesome plot. It's beautifully acted by a fine cast. In addition to the talented principals and other gifted comics like Eve Arden who are along for the ride, some of our favorite character players are spotted here and there, including Ralph Sanford as Pudgy, George Lloyd as another court attendant, Jimmy Conlin as the man hit with the pot, Hal K. Dawson as a train Romeo, George Chandler as Skip, Emory Parnell as the first motorcycle cop, and Joseph Crehan as the newspaper editor. Superbly photographed - in black-and-white of course - by Nicholas Musuraca and inventively directed at a really smart pace by Richard Wallace, An Obliging Young Lady is one of the greatest comedies RKO ever made.

Cute little antic comedy from very early in Edmond O'Brien's career. If you only know him from his later character work you'll be surprised how lean and attractive he is here. He also shows himself adept at the knockabout comedy the script calls for.Joan Carroll, more well known as Agnes Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis and Patsy the troubled young girl in The Bells of St. Mary's, is winsome as the mischievous child who causes the plot to be set in motion. Ruth Warrick, famous from years as Phoebe Tyler in All My Children, is pretty and properly exasperated as the object of O'Brien's ardor.Filmed at a breakneck pace and stocked with a bunch of reliable character actors, chief among them the great Eve Arden, this is a breezy minor comedy that is more enjoyable than you'd expect from a quickie feature obviously meant for the lower half of a double bill.

From the opening of this minor screwball comedy from RKO, the silly tone is set for an enjoyable romp.Joan Carroll plays a girl abandoned by her silly squabbling parents to the lawyer's secretary--Ruth Warrick, who is being chased by a crazy reporter--Edmond O'Brien. They all end up at Lake Mohawk in the off season.The opening motif of repeating Heinie Manusch to the sounds of the clattering train wheels is very funny and starts the film off on a perfect note. Manusch was a famous baseball player. Warrick has a stuffy boy friend (Robert Smith) and the voracious lady reporter (Eve Arden) is after the story of the little girl.At the lodge, Carroll and Warrick pose as sisters until O'Brien shows up and says he's the kid's father. The hotel staff gets intrigued especially when Smith shows up and says he "Mama's" boy friend.Lots of fun and made funnier my a sterling supporting cast: George Cleveland, Ceorge Chandler, Almira Sessions and Fortunio Bonanova are the hotel staff. Charles Lane is the detective. Luis Alberni is the deranged composer. Franklin Pangborn heads the birding party. Marjorie Gateston and John Miljan are the parents. Pierre Watkin is the lawyer. Andrew Tombes is the train conductor. George Watts is the judge who wants chicken.Warrick and O'Brien are attractive leads. Carroll isn't too sticky and is funny as she puts tacks on everyone's chairs.and always remember: HEINIE MANUSCH!

This film had great potential, however, the screenplay left a lot to be desired. Young Miss Carroll is actually the better performer of all the folks who appear in it. Franklin Panghorn isn't that bad either. After these two forget it, which is a ashame. Eve Arden is wasted, such a talent deserved more than the tripe she was given in this one. Edmund O'Brian makes one ill just watching him handle his lines. I cannot bear to discuss the other parts. Joan Carroll had a lot of potential, but she like Ann Carter and Sharyn Moffet never were consistent child performers thanks to much of the inane scripts they were given. Carroll was the most talented of the three RKO child Starlets, but Moffet at least had a few pictures that were all her own. Obliging Young Lady shows Carroll was star material, this just wasn't a vehicle in which she was able to shine, still whatever redeeming value it has is carried by her.