Marriage Is a Private Affair

As the somewhat Margaret Dumont-ish title would indicate this is a classic chick flic with acting and dialogue pitched squarely at the lady's magazine crowd; you know, lots of gasps, raised eyebrows, meaningful gazes and lines like "If you lie to me about the maple leaf, Tom, then..." However, if you can get past the foregoing, as well as the Hays Office BS (Double beds on a friggin HONEYMOON?) and Robert Z Leonard's rather placid direction, then there are some pleasures to be had. Not the least among them (gee, I'm starting to write like this film!) is Lana Turner's better than expected performance in the lead, especially in the scenes with her wayward, matrimony loving mom, played to comedic perfection by Natalie Schaefer about twenty years before her three hour cruise (By the way, RIP Dawn Welles. That leaves only Tina Louise on the island) and one of the more well staged disastrous dinner parties you'll see on celluloid. Give it a C plus. PS...It took about three days to get Bronislau Kaper's voluble, intrusive score outa my head.