Unexpected Uncle

Badly done romantic comedy. It's hard to say if it's badly directed or was butchered in the editing room. The 67-minute running time and choppy narrative point to the latter.

Charles Coburn is excellent as the mysterious "uncle" who breezes into the life of a shop girl (Anne Shirley) who's juts been fired. She's been saving up for a gown for a dance, so he buys the dress for her and off they go. They run into a runaway millionaire (James Craig) and his crowd at the dance. Shirley and Craig are immediately attracted to one another.

Eventually Craig has to go back home to run his business and he takes Shirley and Coburn with him. But he has no time for them. They movie into his mansion but never see him. After a few breakups and misunderstandings, every come out right.

The problem is that we never even know what his business is. This section seems to have been cut from the film. The censors may also have had something to say about the living arrangement of the unmarried couple. The bottom line is that neither Craig nor Shirley is very likable.

Coburn, on the other hand, plays the charming oldster (who has a passion for pitching horse shoes) with zest and humor. He also has a big secret. Co-stars include Ernest Truex as the man servant, Russell Gleason as the nerdy Tommy, Nora Cecil as the landlady as well as Astrid Allwyn, Jed Prouty, Jimmy Conlin, Renee Godfrey (who was married to the director), and Tom Dugan as the bus driver.

The film is notable for its overuse of rear projection (badly done) and incredibly cheesy outdoor sets in which most of the backgrounds are giant paintings.

Watch it for Coburn.