This is a charming and surprising comedy well worthy of comparison with films like "My Man Godfrey," "Theodora Goes Wild," and "Ball of Fire." Deanna Durbin is delightful as Mary Peppertree, a former switchboard operator for the U. S. Supreme Court, who quits her job due to a bump in the road of her romance with a young lawyer (Jeffrey Lynn), and moves to a job as a switchboard operator at the White House.
Complications ensue when a goofy but lovable ichthyologist (Don Taylor) keeps calling the switchboard to speak to the President, and Mary gets involved in helping him. However, complexities redouble when she accidentally cuts the President's line in on a call she is taking about her inability to attend the birthday party of her old friend Justice Peabody (Harry Davenport, at his most twinkly judicial self). The president (who is never seen or heard throughout the entire film) tries to help Mary out by assigning her a Navy Lieutenant escort (Edmond O'Brien) to the party.
In short order all three men are courting her, and the President's personal secretary (Ray Collins, best known as Lt. Tragg in "Perry Mason") is enrolled to play cupid at the unseen Chief Executive's command.
Meanwhile a subplot revolves around a jovial immigrant restaurateur from Vienna (Hugo Haas) whom the Supreme Court Justices are coaching so that he can pass his American citizenship test.
The supporting cast is chock full of the best character actors of the 1940s and 1950s, including Louise Beavers ("Imitation of Life," "Beulah") as the cook in Haas's restaurant who fixes up the chopped chicken liver and marinated herring; and Morris Ankrum (a recurrent judge on "Perry Mason") as a Navy Admiral The small-part players work beautifully together as a warm-hearted ensemble cast.
Not only is this a romantic comedy, it is also a musical, with Deanna Durbin in fine voice and, for a couple of numbers. Accompanied by the assembled justices of the Supreme Court, who sing old, sweet songs in quartet harmony while Harry Davenport accompanies them on accordion.
The best musical number of all, however is Durbin's soprano rendition of "Largo al factotum" (a.k.a. "Figaro") from Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville" -- what a surprise! -- and just as surprising is how well it fits into the storyline, because like "The Barber of Seville," this is a comedy of missed connections and thwarted romance, in which those with access to the powerful can pull the strings to make everything come out exactly right in the end.
I loved this movie and am only sad that it took me until i was 76 years old to see it!
