Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore

When Simone Simon rents an apartment from William Terry, she thinks everything will be properly respectable. After all, he's a soldier with his marching orders, and she'll have the place all to herself for weeks. The only trouble is, William forgot to tell her, he also lent out a few copies of his apartment key to his fellow soldiers. . .

It sounds silly, and parts of it are, but Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore is hilarious! It's a cross between The Apartment and Young and Willing, with fast-paced quips and even faster situational comedy. Whenever you're in the mood for a cute black-and-white comedy about a situation of errs, rent this one. It's so funny, and even though Simone's accent is a little thick, she keeps up with the banter. "I'm Mike," James Ellison says. "I'm Jack," Chick Chandler says. "I'm going!" Simone answers.

Chester Clute and Minna Gombell, the married couple who own the apartment complex, are treated to quite a show as several uniformed gentlemen are seen coming and going from Simone's apartment-and in 1944, that just wasn't okay! Every time there's a new visitor looking for the old tenant, Simone informs then, "Johnny doesn't live here anymore!" and no matter how many times she keeps repeating the title, it never stops being funny. Plus, an extra funny side plot is that three of the visiting soldiers fall in love with her, and each think she's exclusive-imagine their surprise when they finally see other men coming and going from the front door!

If you need any more incentive to rent Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore, it features a young, insanely adorable and handsome Robert Mitchum. He plays a soldier named Jeff Daniels who's desperate to use the apartment because his wife's coming into town to help him enjoy his 48-hour leave. Described as looking "like a movie actor", he takes full advantage of every minute of screen time he's given; it's no wonder this was the last year before he started getting first billing!

"Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any More" is a bad film...so bad that I really had to struggle to keep watching it. I noticed that most of the reviews were reasonably good with scores mostly in the 4-6 out of 10 range...but I truly hated the movie and would never watch it again even if I was paid to do so!

The film is a VERY quirky comedy and this soon becomes obvious when a gremlin (a very popular character created during WWII) appears periodically throughout the film. This mischievous jerk (voiced by Mel Blanc...would would explain why it sounds just like Bugs Bunny) decides to mess with Kathie (Simone Simon). It arranges it so she moves into an apartment that some jerk used before her--and he apparently gave out copies of his keys to EVERYONE...neighbors, guys, women and strangers. This causes problems for Kathie...though if she'd just replaced the lock all this would have become moot.

The film's problem is the writing. Most of it is simply not funny and too often the film creates quirky situations and characters instead of just making them interesting of truly creative. The gremlin gag wears VERY thin very quickly....but so do most of the funny plot twists. It's a shame, as some odd but interesting character actors appeared in this one and I wanted to enjoy it. Imagine...Rondo Hatton and Froggy from the "Our Gang" shorts in the same movie!

This film is simply a chore to watch and became tiresome...very quickly.

On a train, a "Gremlin" (the unmistakable voice of Mel Blanc) portends bad luck for sleepy defense worker Simone Simon (as Kathie Aumont). Arriving in Washington, DC, she discovers her intended roommate has married. Needing a place to stay, Ms. Simon sublets an apartment from passerby William Terry (as Johnny Moore), a Marine leaving for duty. Simon isn't alone in the apartment for long as Mr. Terry gave out keys to several of friends. The men are stricken with Simon's beauty, especially sailor James Ellison (as Mike Burke), who stops by for a bath. Future star Robert Mitchum also pays a visit. Director Joe May gets Simon into several sexy positions and they really arouse interest in this whimsical farce.

****** Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (7/8/44) Joe May ~ Simone Simon, James Ellison, William Terry, Chick Chandler

When Kathie (french born Simone Simon) takes an apartment.... she realizes she's not the only one with a key to the joint. Johnny let Kathie sublet it, but forgot to tell her about his many friends wtih keys! Some fun special appearances; right at the beginning, Mel Blanc does the voice for the gremlin when Kathie spills the salt. And watch for the awesome Grady Sutton as George, the new, henpecked husband a few minutes later. Froggy Laughlin from Our Gang is the punk kid who comes in to use the bathroom. The landlord on the front porch is Chester Clute... he had minor roles in SO many things a parade of characters comes marching through... some are nice. Some aren't so nice. Johnny the marine is played by Bill Terry.... died young at 48. No cause of death given. We were still in the dark days of the hays film code, but they really pushed it to the limits... maybe they cut Monogram Pictures some slack, since it was a war-time flick, highlighting the housing issue at the time. When Kathie starts to fall for some of John's friends, it could be a problem! Kind of a light hearted war time bit. Directed by Joe May. Similar to Rafter Romance, from 1933, and Walk Don't Run from 1966.

I adore Simone Simon. She's just as cute as a button isn't she? Obviously she's most remembered today for Cat People and (maybe) The Devil and Daniel Webster, but this is a rare starring role for her in a wartime romantic comedy. She plays a superstitious girl from Quebec who comes to Washington, DC to work at a defense plant. When her roommate gets married, she's left without a place to stay. She lucks out when she meets a Marine about to ship out. He gives her the key to his apartment to stay there while he's away. But what he fails to tell her is that he's also given keys to some of his friends so they have a place to crash when they are in town. This leads to several comedic situations where the men show up unannounced and the nosy neighbor lady gets all the wrong ideas. Then it's just a wait to see which lucky guy Simone winds up with in the end. You will NOT guess, let me assure you of that!

Simone is absolutely charming in this and funny, too. Her thick accent may make her hard to understand at times but who cares -- she's irresistible! James Ellison and William Terry play the main two guys who fall for her. Both seem kind of plain and uninteresting, which hurts the movie overall. Robert Mitchum appears in a small role that's been overstated in publicity due to his becoming a big star years after this. Horror movie staple Rondo Hatton has a 'blink and you'll miss him' bit as an undertaker. In a sad piece of trivia, this is the last screen appearance of Billy Laughlin, who played Froggy in the Our Gang shorts. Laughlin retired from movies after this and, four years later, was killed when a truck hit him while riding a motor scooter with a friend.

It's a flimsy story but it's helped greatly by Simone's sparkling screen presence and a great twist ending. Love the little bits of business involving the gremlin Rumpelstilzken, voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc. The lack of a strong male actor who had good chemistry with Simone is the film's biggest flaw. Still, if you're a fan of hers or just a fan of light comedies from the '40s, you will probably enjoy this one.