Vivacious Lady

Starring: Ginger Rogers, James Stewart, James Ellison, Beulah Bondi, Charles Coburn, Frances Mercer, Phyllis Kennedy, Hattie McDaniel (uncredited)
Directed by: George Stevens
Rating: Approved
Genre: Comedy, Romance
1938

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A mild mannered college professor (James Stewart) impulsively marries a nightclub singer (Ginger Rogers). When he brings her back to his family, he finds it impossible to break the news to them.

Review:

Tim: I'm a big fan of James Stewart, so I was undoubtedly going to eventually track this movie down (it took me some time, it's the 50th Stewart film I've seen). This was a decent movie, but it's lacking some of the staying power of Stewart's better films. There's definitely some strengths to this film, but ultimately it felt a bit too forgettable for me.

The story is straightforward and a bit obvious. A college professor with a demanding father marries a New York City nightclub singer during a whirlwind romance in the Big Apple. When he brings her home to his small college town, he doesn't have the courage to tell his parents. Hilarity ensues. The story is decent, but it is fairly predictable- we all know exactly how the story will turn out. George Stevens is a good director, but this film felt beneath his usual level of effectiveness. Much of this is due to the script. The movie is really effective when our two leads meet and fall in love. It's humorous when the antics start and Stewart's character's inability to introduce his wife. After a certain point, though, it starts to feel repetitive. What starts out funny eventually becomes a bit tiresome. The middle of the movie is bogged down by this. At one point, I wanted to shout, "Just man up already!" The ending of the film feels a bit rushed and it's less satisfying than it could have been. For these reason, I'd call this film less than good.

That's not to say there aren't great moments throughout the film- there certainly are. The highlight of the movie for me involves the unexpected fight between Ginger Rogers and Frances Mercer. It's a pitch perfect sequence. The physicality of the fight, the performances of both women, it's one of the most fantastic sequences I've seen in a long time. I watched it twice, it was so good. It's just so funny. Stewart and Charles Coburn's reactions to it are excellent as well. It was truly a great scene.

Stewart and Rogers worked really well together. I thoroughly enjoyed both their performances. Stewart really perfected that everyman charm and it brings it to bear in this role. He might be bumbling and just a bit spineless, but he radiates goodwill. Rogers gives an incredibly charismatic performance. The energy she brings to the role, delivering snappy dialogue and taking up space on screen- it's a really strong performance. Perhaps most impressive about Stewart and Rogers is that they play these very different characters, but sell the fact that they fell in love. They have actual chemistry on screen and we believe these two together.

Charles Coburn delivers a strong supporting performance. Beulah Bondi managed to take a side character and infuse her with something special so that she mattered more to the story than you would have expected. She worked well with Rogers, too. James Ellison wasn't remarkable, but subtly added much to the film. It was great seeing Hattie McDaniel in an uncredited (and too small) role. The cast really was effective.

I feel a bit bad rating this movie as "decent". There were certainly a lot of things I enjoyed about the movie and it got awfully close to being good. The final straw for me was that the middle of the film feels like it drags out too long and the conclusion felt obvious and not as authentic as it needed to. This isn't a bad movie by any stretch- it has a lot of strengths and it was definitely an enjoyable watch.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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