Listen, Darling (1938)
*** (out of 4)
Far-fetched but cute comedy/drama from MGM has a single mother (Mary Astor) struggling to make ends meet after her husband dies without any insurance. She's about to marry a man (Gene Lockhart) who she doesn't really love so her daughter (Judy Garland) and her friend (Freddie Bartholomew) decide to kidnap her and take her away. Once on the road they look for better husbands and think they might find on in Richard (Walter Pidgeon). There's certainly nothing Earth-shattering or Oscar-worthy here but this is pleasant enough of a film and it's terrific cast makes it well worth watching. I think if you're a fan of anyone in the cast then you're going to be drawn into the story no matter how silly it is. In fact, the characters are build up to be so "together" and "happy" that I'm surprised MGM didn't try to turn this into a longer running series. It certainly shares a lot in common with the Andy Hardy series but perhaps Garland just got too big with other projects (plus the upcoming THE WIZARD OF OZ) that everyone decided to just leave it at this one. Garland clearly steals the film with her tender performance as she manages to be cute but also touching in her more dramatic scenes worrying about her broke mother. She also gets some songs to sing including the charming Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart, Ten Pins in the Sky and On the Bumpy Road to Love, which also gets a second take at the end of the film with the entire cast singing along. Astor and Pidgeon are dependable as always and they come across with some nice chemistry that makes us believe they're really falling for one another. It seems Bartholomew has film buffs debating his merit whenever they discuss him but I thought he was fine here even though he's pretty much playing the same type of character he did in all of his movies. Lockhart is good in his few scenes as is Alan Hale. The film runs a short 75-minutes and for the most part there isn't any slow moments to be found. This is pretty much the type of family film you'd get from MGM as you get romance, comedy, a little drama and the typical family is the most important message. If you fans as Garland, Astor or Pidgeon it's worth sitting through.
