She Loves Me Not

I thought this movie was going to be really cute, given the synopsis. Miriam Hopkins is a witness to a murder, so in order to hide herself from the mafia, she dresses in drag at a college fraternity. Looking back, maybe my synopsis-judgment skills weren't working very well.

She Loves Me Not isn't the cutest movie in the world, and it wasn't half as cute as I thought it was going to be. It's always fun to see Miriam Hopkins early in her career, prancing around in her underwear, but most of the plot and gags rely on the audience being too stunned by her near-nudity to pay attention to anything else. For example, she sits Bing Crosby down and gives him a 1934 version of a lap dance, and all he does is scold her and run out of the room. The screenwriters could have given him so many funny jokes during that scene!

Also, Miriam's character is very clearly written to be a nightclub floozie who has no shot at getting the guy. Bing serenades Kitty Carlisle with "Love in Bloom" and never really looks twice at Miriam; therefore, there's no tension in the plot. So, unless you want to see Miriam Hopkins in her underwear, you don't have to watch this one. There are plenty of other movies where you can catch her in her skivvies, or less.