Janie Gets Married

This is a sweet, fun movie with some depth added to place above the many other films in the genre. I don't know why we have a different actress playing Janie but Joan Leslie is a pleasure to watch. The movie does an excellent job of showing the overwhelming challenge of veterans returning only to be faced with the challenge of fitting in with the very families, friends, and communities they fought to protect. Many found it nearly impossible to put their experiences behind them and be the same boys they were when they went away. In response to the review by Poster MKilmer, to compare it to William Wyler's Best Years of Our Lives is akin to comparing Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Ben Hur! Enjoy all three of the movies. Each has entertainment value and redeeming messages. If you want to understand what returning GIs faced at the end of WWII, Wyler's film is the quintessential movie.

Joan Leslie is appealing as the tile character. Robert Hutton is likable is her fiancé and then husband. Complications develop when a buddy from the service turns up. The buddy happens to have been a WAAC. She is played by that beautiful, wily second-level star Dorothy Malone.

Janie's parents are the always appealing Edward Arnold and Ann Harding. I am no fan of Harding in her peak days: She was a pale, hand-wring women's-picture heroine in the 1930s. Her return in the forties was most auspicious. She and Arnold worked together in one of his excellent movies about the guide dog-using blind detective.

I'm not familiar with the actress who plays Hutton's mother, but she is good. No less than the great Robert Benchley plays his father.

Margaret Hamilton is also very funny as an inept yet dictatorial cleaning woman. And the versatile Donald Meek puts in an appearance as an out-of-towner who's interested in buying Janie's father's newspaper.

The plot veers toward silliness, with such grave issues as whose parents' draperies to hang in the couple's new apartment. But it's a nice study of young married life and a better cast could scarcely have been found.

American soldier Dick Lawrence (Robert Hutton) returns home to his small town and marries sweetheart Janie Conway (Joan Leslie). He starts working at his father-in-law's newspaper and she's struggling behind the scene. His war buddy makes a surprise visit. Only, his war buddy turns out to be gal pal Sgt. Spud Lee (Dorothy Malone).

It's an old fashion comedy with all the old fashion family values and dynamics. It's fun. It is all about the chaos rolling around Janie. I wish that Dick isn't as clueless and more considerate to Janie. It wouldn't be as funny or old fashion as it is. Apparently, this is a sequel to Janie (1944) although I haven't seen that. This is similar to a TV sitcom in modern terms.

First things first, "Janie Gets Married" is something of a madcap comedy, but it has a important point. Janie Conway's (Joan Hutton) parents prepare their daughter to marry returning WW II soldier, Dick Lawrence (Robert Hutton). Janie's old boyfriend, a vacationing soldier called "Scooper" (Dick Erdman), comes back and threatens to complicate things. Janie sets up her marriage so that at the end of each month, the couple can elect to take up the option to stay married or to dissolve the thing. It's playful.

Dick is given a job at Janie's father's newspaper despite his having no journalistic training or experience. His old army girlfriend, Sgt. Spud Lee (Dorothy Malone) arrives and she and Dick being working on a project. Janie becomes suspicious. Her parents and his parents each want to run their lives in their own way, and the pressure builds.

It finally explodes when Janie is throwing a dinner party for the man who wants to purchase her father's newspaper. Dick is drinking with his old army buddies in the house, as well, and there is the future husband of one of Janie's friends sleeping in another bedroom, and… the scene is wild for a few minutes.

I'm not going to give any spoilers. Robert Benchley is great as John Van Brunt, kind of the father figure to Dick, who seems to be the only person in this movie who understands everything, albeit in his laid-back way.

The important point, the underlying theme, was that the veterans returning from World War II might have been young and inexperienced in day-to-day Stateside commerce, but they were grown men who had to do things which required an adult mind and heart. Coddling them was foolish and unnecessary.

Throughout this movie, young Dick Lawrence, Jane's husband, seemed the naïve, young putz. When all is said and done, we understand what he really is.

Second and final episode of what was to be a lively comedy series, produced by Warner Brothers, and how the heck could you lose with this cast!

Original star Joyce Reynolds had recently gotten married and briefly retired, the studio bringing in twenty year old Joan Leslie, who had won audiences over with her appearances in SERGEANT YORK and YANKEE DOODLE DANDY. Joan was a great fit for the title role, jumping into a story likely inspired by Reynold's marriage.

Sure enough, Dick (Robert Hutton) returns from the war, settling down and marrying Janie. They are are cautious couple though, Jane drawing up a "monthly contract," where both can back out if things don't jive. Really? Comes the test, and this is interesting, when Dick's Army pal Spud comes to visit. By the way, Spud turns out to be a young lady(!), marvelously played by future Oscar winner Dorothy Malone. Where do we go from here? Wait and see.

Returning (and they had to) is Edward Arnold and Ann Harding as Janie's concerned mom and dad, also comedian Robert Benchley (Van Brunt). Sadly, his final film, passing later that year, which could also been a factor in the decision not to continue the series. Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel returned as April. Special guest stars Donald Meek (Harley) and ever famous Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Angles. Like I said, how could you lose with this bunch?

Sit back and enjoy the romantic re-adjustment, a prelude of sorts to THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. Vincent Sherman (who had previously directed Bette Davis in MR. SKEFFINGTON), took over for Michael Curtiz, and doing an admirable job.

Thanks TCM for the memories. Remastered on dvd, WB Archives. Shop the store on line for blu ray updates.