Frieda Inescort and Ian Hunter lead a solid cast in this minor but pleasant comedy about a London family's dreams and adventures over the course of a single day.
A pair of spirited daughters have some good scenes; Olivia de Havilland is obsessed with married painter Walter Woolf King, for whom she is modelling, while 14-year-old Bonita Granville is in love with the poetry and paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Their brother Peter Willes, meanwhile, is planning to run away from home—until he meets new neighbor girl Anita Louise. These young people are all attractive and funny, but their stories pop into the picture sporadically then disappear for long stretches, with the result that we kind of forget about them.
Roland Young is fine as an old bachelor who initially mistakes Inescort for his blind date and then, even after he discovers that she is married, insists that he loves her and attempts to romance her. Meanwhile, Inescort's accountant husband Hunter is pursued by slinky actress Marcia Ralston, who invites him to come up and see her sometime—not, it turns out, to work on her taxes.
The plot is inoffensive if not particularly inspired; the performances are all quite good and the characters too are likable. Still, there's something missing, and it's not just the fact that the whole thing is pretty dated. Possibly there are too many main characters for a 90-minute movie....we just don't get to know any of them well enough. (I would be interested to see sometime if this works better as a play—apparently it had a nice run on the stage.)
Ian Hunter is fine as the male lead but Frieda Inescort has the film's best role....as mother and wife she is alternately bemused, exasperated, challenged, and charmed. She comes closest to being a character we really care about.
A pair of spirited daughters have some good scenes; Olivia de Havilland is obsessed with married painter Walter Woolf King, for whom she is modelling, while 14-year-old Bonita Granville is in love with the poetry and paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Their brother Peter Willes, meanwhile, is planning to run away from home—until he meets new neighbor girl Anita Louise. These young people are all attractive and funny, but their stories pop into the picture sporadically then disappear for long stretches, with the result that we kind of forget about them.
Roland Young is fine as an old bachelor who initially mistakes Inescort for his blind date and then, even after he discovers that she is married, insists that he loves her and attempts to romance her. Meanwhile, Inescort's accountant husband Hunter is pursued by slinky actress Marcia Ralston, who invites him to come up and see her sometime—not, it turns out, to work on her taxes.
The plot is inoffensive if not particularly inspired; the performances are all quite good and the characters too are likable. Still, there's something missing, and it's not just the fact that the whole thing is pretty dated. Possibly there are too many main characters for a 90-minute movie....we just don't get to know any of them well enough. (I would be interested to see sometime if this works better as a play—apparently it had a nice run on the stage.)
Ian Hunter is fine as the male lead but Frieda Inescort has the film's best role....as mother and wife she is alternately bemused, exasperated, challenged, and charmed. She comes closest to being a character we really care about.