Diana Barrymore stars with Kay Francis, John Boles, Robert Cummings, and Andy Devine in "Between Us Girls" from 1942.
This film is a curiosity because of the presence of Diana Barrymore. Watching her in this film, one realizes what she had and what she threw away due to alcohol.
An actress, Caroline (Barrymore) comes home to visit her mother Christine (Francis). She discovers her mom has a beau, Steven (Boles). When he calls Christine, she realizes he thinks her daughter is a child.
Christine finds it funny, but Caroline is afraid that when Steven sees her, he'll think -- well, who knows, that she's an old bag? Older than he thought? I guess. When he arrives, Caroline appears in childrens clothes and a childish hairstyle and bounces around as a young girl. When she tries to hide her publicity photo sitting on the piano, she claims it's Christine's drunken sister.
From what she says - and she's an actress, so she goes on and on -- Steven's friend Jimmy (Cummings) becomes concerned about her and calls on her again. This time, she's practicing a scene as Sadie Thompson in Rain. She pretends to be the aunt.
The movie is loud and frantic, overdone, and to my mind, not well directed. Barrymore appears in the film as an elderly Queen Victoria in a stage production, as a child, as her adult self, and in the end, as Joan of Arc.
I happen to think Barrymore was not only beautiful but a wonderful actress. This just isn't a very good movie. Andy Devine yelled every line. Kay Francis is beautiful but not given much to do. What she does is wonderful. Cummings and Boles were okay, though how neither of them realized the child was the aunt is beyond me. The film was exhausting to watch.
Barrymore appears in the film as an elderly Queen Victoria in a stage production, as a child, as her adult self, and in the end, as Joan of Arc. I don't agree with one poster who said that any ingenue could have played her role. Sadly, I think Barrymore was given opportunity after opportunity and drank them away.
If you have the energy, it's worth it to see her.
