Tish

Letitia ‘TISH' Carberry enjoys nothing more than controlling the lives & romances of all around her, aided and abetted by her two dearest friends - Lizzie Wilkins and Aggie Pilkington.

The popular characters from the stories by Mary Roberts Rinehart come alive in this funny, nostalgic (and nearly forgotten) film. Helping immeasurably in the movie's success is the casting of a trio of Hollywood's finest comedic character actresses. Bossy & down-to-earth, Marjorie Main tackles the title role and wrestles it into submission, her ever-present Swear Box ready to accept the coins she must deposit whenever she unlooses one of her colorful, G-rated oaths. As sensible Lizzie, Aline MacMahon brings a patrician respectability to her part, although that doesn't keep her from sitting on a rowboat's leak at a crucial moment. ZaSu Pitts becomes vague, fluttery Aggie, who still writes a hilarious memorial poem on the anniversary of her sweetheart's death.

Guy Kibbee is very droll as the judge whose life is made a misery by the feminine triumvirate. Among the young persons in whose lives they interfere are pretty Susan Peters & Virginia Grey. Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Nora Cecil as one of the old ladies at the boarding house.

The film benefits from MGM's typically fine production values. The story becomes unexpectedly serious near the end, but by the closing moments hilarity reigns again as Tish once more starts to meddle.

With three fabulous actresses as Zasu Pitts, Aline MacMahon, and Marjorie Main, I figured this would be a fine little movie. It was not. Blame falls on the writing for this film. But with these wonderful ladies, who were nothing short of great in anything they were ever in, something occurred to me. Let's say this movie had never been made, good writers were obtained, and Aline played the lead, supported by Zasu and Marjorie, as three lady sleuths. They assess the suspects, get into a bit of mischief, have some close calls and finally solve the case. There could have been a series of six movies made along these lines. Zasu did some of this with her 'Hildegarde Withers' films with James Gleason, and Aline did some of the same with Guy Kibbee (they were both quite good in 'While the Patient Slept'). I would even consider signing Kibbee as the main cop in those films. That would have been a six-pack of movies I could go for!

The best thing about this movie is the three spinsters, played perfectly by the three leading ladies. They are all consummate actresses, not "just" comedians, and they know how to handle their often wonderful lines wonderfully. It's all very innocent fun, but really very clever at times.

The rest of the movie, even Guy Kibbe's character, is forgettable.

Definitely a movie to see when you need a pick-me-up.

It's nice to see the three great characters actresses, but they are given very little to work with. Marjorie Main's is the only developed character, and she seems miscast in it. Fine production values, to be sure, but this film is a mess from beginning to end. The script desperately needed many more re-writes, as you can't tell who's supposed to be in love with whom. People that you think are supposed to be good do cruel things, and then you're supposed to turn around and find them good again. Terribly tragic events are used as contrived plot devices, and passed over by the characters with little more than an "oh, too bad" by the characters. Then to compound the tragedy of this comedy is the back story: Susan Peters, so young and beautiful in this film married Richard Quine who played her love interest. She was paralyzed in a gun accident a few years later, and after trying to recover her career by working in a wheelchair, she fell into depression and decline and died. She had divorced Quine. He had a successful but largely forgotten career as a director, until he also fell into depression and committed suicide.

How a film with three hilarious ladies could miss the mark is beyond me. A few good lines but the plot is interspersed with serious romance and even a tragic subplot. The physical comedy situations don't work. They're just not funny.

A bitter disappointment for fans of these great comedienne.