The Doughgirls

Director James V. Kern also co-adapted this screen-translation of a once-popular play by Joseph Fields involving three would-be brides rooming together in the Honeymoon Suite of an overcrowded hotel in WWII-era Washington, D.C. They are joined by confused suitors, Eve Arden as a gregarious Russian guerrilla fighter, an amusingly out-of-it hotel staff, a blustery broadcaster, and the inimitable Charles Ruggles as the smitten boss of dotty Jane Wyman, whose heart belongs to flustered Jack Carson (who only wants to have his honeymoon!). Breathless farce came in on the tail-end of the screwball rage, but nevertheless contains several big laughs. The staginess of the material becomes overpowering before long, but the cast never runs out of energy. **1/2 from ****