L'extravagant M. Phillips

This film is a pleasant diversion that might be described as cute.

Eric Phillips (David Niven) is a neurotic pianist who lives life on a treadmill, surrounded by a retinue dedicated to keeping him on the concert circuit, earning money. When his financial manager invests some of his income in the purchase of an apartment building called the Cleopatra Arms, Eric gets a visit from a man named Horace Willoughby (Victor Moore) with news that will shake up his life.

Jane Wyman plays the part of Polly Haines, a comely model who lives in the Cleopatra. I'll admit that I have underestimated Ms. Wyman in the past, but this film has reminded me that she has talent and attractiveness. Polly is a somewhat simple part to portray, but Ms. Wyman elicits all of its facets with apparent ease.

Broderick Crawford does what he does so well: playing a pugnacious, ranting bully. He is meant to be part of the comedic relief, but his portrayal is not light-hearted enough, and better suited to a film like "Born Yesterday", which has serious issues to peddle.

Niven is the soul of light-hearted comedy, and he easily occupies the film's focal point.

David Niven is an isolated concert pianist who is swept into the lives of apartment house residents in "A Kiss in the Dark," also starring Jane Wyman. Niven is excellent as a man who knows no other world than that of the concert stage and the practice room, and his handlers like it that way. When an apartment manager visits him, Niven learns that one of his investments is The Cleopatra Apartments. One look at Jane Wyman in her shorts and Niven decides not to be an absentee landlord.

This is a very entertaining comedy, and I agree with previous posters that there are laugh out loud scenes. Some of the comedy is provided by, of all people, Broderick Crawford as a subletter who works at night and sleeps -- or tries to -- all day. It's a different role for Crawford, and he does it very well.

Wyman is very pretty and vivacious as an apartment dweller who falls for Niven, and the two have wonderful chemistry. Handsome Wayne Morris is her insurance salesman boyfriend. This isn't the most fabulous film you'll ever see, but it's a fun one.

I love it when snobbish Phillips (Niven) suddenly surveys the lovely Polly (Wyman) as she stands across from him in bare-legged short-shorts. Up to now the concert pianist has enclosed himself in a haughty world of the upper-class, too elevated to bother with either concerns of the flesh or those of everyday commoners. But now, oh my gosh, is that the sudden knock-knock of fleshy hormones on his closed door. Happily for me, his aren't the only male hormones the movie's activating.

Catch how snobbish Phillips is when he wants to evict the poor tenants from his newly acquired fancy hotel. Seems they don't measure up to his elite standards. But what does he care that neither kids nor adults have a place to go. Thus, enlarging his withered sense of humanity becomes a key plot thread amid a rather clogged screenplay. And guess who helps him.

Anyhow, the flick's much better at romance than comedy, the latter being clumsily overdone at best, Crawford shouting up an annoying storm, for one. Nonetheless, it's a good thing ace performers Wyman and Niven are on hand to salvage things, especially Wyman just coming off her Oscar winning deaf-mute in Johnny Belinda (1948). Together, the twosome make the gradual humanizing of the haughty Phillips believable, despite the contrived scheming going on behind their backs. That last part, I think, needed a rewrite.

All in all, it's a 90-minutes mainly for fans, or maybe even non-fans, of the two leads. Too bad Wyman and future President Reagan divorced in '49. She would have made a heckuva First Lady in short-shorts, and I surely would've voted Republican.

This isn't a good movie to watch if you are the type that is annoyed by plot holes or silly and contrived situations. The basic story is pretty hard to believe, but in spite of this, the film is a lot of fun to watch due to the wonderful acting of this ensemble cast. In other words, it's a great example of the sum total of the film being better than the individual parts. Taking JUST the plot, the film is pretty dumb and contrived. After all, David Niven plays a neurotic and persnickety concert pianist who has become an absentee landlord of a high-rise apartment complex. Okay,....but when he then agrees to leave his posh home and visit the complex and then gets pulled into the giant family-like atmosphere that exists there, the film throws believability out the window. BUT, I strongly advise you not to give up on the film. Sure, it's contrived but the bit characters and leading characters' parts are written and performed so well, you will likely quickly forget about how silly the film is and get sucked into the comedy-romance of the film.

David Niven is just wonderful as the pianist who ultimately falls for sweet and perky Jane Wyman. Both are excellent and the chemistry actually works--even though common sense might have you think "David Niven AND Jane Wyman,....NO WAY,...it'll never happen!".

As for the rest of the cast, they are a motley group of bit characters and supporting actors that give the film a nice, sweet homey atmosphere. In particular, Victor Moore as the sweet but daffy 'Mr. Willoughby' was a delight--so cute and nice--you just can't help but like him.

Special mention should also be given to the director, Delmer Daves. Considering how stupid the plot was, he got the absolute most out of the material and the cast.

So, my recommendation is that despite the score of 6 (it just didn't merit more due to the plot), it is well worth seeing--especially if you love old films and are a softy at heart. Enjoy.

In A Kiss In The Dark David Niven is cast as a concert pianist whose business manager Joseph Buloff handles his many diversified investments which among other things a brownstone apartment building called The Cleopatra Arms. Acting as superintendent of the place and also one of the tenants is Victor Moore. When Moore comes calling one day Niven finds out about his ownership and gets to meet some of the many tenants there including perky model Jane Wyman.

It isn't too long before Niven is involved throughly with the lives and fortunes of all the tenants there. Among others are Wyman's boyfriend Wayne Morris and an irascible Broderick Crawford who has a problem getting to sleep.

We're never told what his job is, but Crawford works a graveyard shift job and comes home and wants a little shut eye. The comedy around him centers on his irascibility due to sleep deprivation. I'm not sure how funny that is, I had sympathy for the guy. Nevertheless all the other tenants want him out and Niven finds a way to oblige.

With Victor Herbert's melody weaving in an out of the soundtrack and serving as title and theme for the film, A Kiss In The Dark is a slight but amusing comedy that in the hands of a director better suited for comedy might have worked better. Certainly David Niven has gotten worse material and managed to make it work.

A Kiss In The Dark was the farewell film of Maria Ouspenskaya who plays Niven's original piano teacher. Maria whose career went back to the Russian Art Theater was killed in a house fire the same year A Kiss In The Dark came out.

One hopes that David Niven held on to the Cleopatra Arms. What it would be worth today is incalculable. A lot more than the film.