Love and Learn

Jack Carson is teamed up with Robert Hutton in this Warners farce about two would-be songwriters. But while it looks good on paper, the two male leads lack any particular chemistry when together: it's Jack Carson who sings the songs while Hutton plays the piano.

This looks a great deal like one of the Carson-Morgan pairings of the era, but the substitution of Hutton for Morgan robs tremendous energy from the proceedings, as Carson plays a top banana with not much of a bunch -- although Janis Paige does a nice minor variation on the Jane Wyman comedy character -- Miss Wyman had turned into a serious actress at this point and was not available to be in entertaining vehicles -- or, alas, not so entertaining. It's movies like this that show how good Carson and Morgan were together.

In 1946, Jack Carson, Dennis Morgan, Martha Vickers and Janice Page all starred in "The Time, the Place and the Girl". In the following year, three of these four starred in "Love and Learn"...but Dennis Morgan was replaced by Robert Hutton. Oddly, Carson and Paige play essentially the same roles and are boyfriend and girlfriend...with Carson being none to eager to marry! I was not a big fan of "The Time, the Place and the Girl" and think "Love and Learn" is much more enjoyable...mostly because although it's about musicians, there aren't all the boring and overdone production numbers that bogged down the previous film. In other words, much more time was there for the actual story.

Bob (Hutton) is tired of trying to break into the music business, though his partner Jingles (Carson) isn't about to give up. So, Bob plans on returning home to his parents and taking up a new career. That means Jingles needs to keep him there if their partnership is to continue. At the same time, Barbara (Vickers) meets Bob and is captivated by him...and she, too, wants to keep him in town. But she is from a wealthy family and doesn't want her wealth to scare him away, so she pretends to just be a working class gal...and serious complications arise from her little ruse.

This film is a cute little romantic comedy...and it definitely improves as the film progresses. While Hutton's screen presence is pretty unimpressive, the writing is and the film is a nice little change of pace.

By the way, the definition Bob gives of schizophrenia is 100% wrong. Back in the day, folks often thought it meant someone with multiple personalities...but they are definitely NOT one in the same.

In 1946, Martha Vickers appeared as the thumb-sucking bad-girl sister in "The Big Sleep." A year later she is in this standard song-and-dance film. But there's nothing standard about her. Nor is there about the other leading lady, Janis Paige.

Holy smokes! And these girls are mad for Jack Carson (always likable, -- to a point) and Robert Hutton! (He's handsome but not too charismatic.) Otto Kruger is elegance itself as Vickers's millionaire father. There's something a little peculiar about the subplot in which he is mistaken for a paramour. He looks as if he indeed could be one.

Florence Bates is delightful as a dirty-minded, meddling landlady.

The movie is fun. Unfortunately, it's a musical. The music is the sort of crooning I associate with Dean Martin when I was a kid -- not to my taste. But the cast is game. And Vickers and Paige are tops!