The Skipper Surprised His Wife

If you are familiar with the dozens of Joe McDoakes shorts of the 1940's and 50's, you've seen just about all the comedy in this movie already. But where as Joe was just a bumbling "everyman", in this movie, Robert Walker plays William J. Lattimer, Navy Commander and Annapolis graduate.

When Lattimer's wife Daphne, played by Joan Leslie, breaks her ankle, the good Commander must take over the household chores. It's a bit of a stretch to see how incompetent he is at it. Mistaking bubble bath for dish soap, opening the cupboard and being hit in the head with the ironing board, etc..

It gets a bit more interesting once they burn off some slapstick, but this movie never goes beyond average. It doesn't bore you, but it doesn't excite you either. The large number of users rating this movie a 10 is a mystery to me. US users rate this 5.5, which seems about right. Non-US users rate this 8.6. I have no clue why. Maybe lots of French voters? They really seem to love their non-verbal humor.