Let's Live a Little

Two of Hollywood's most beautiful women get to pursue Robert Cummings in Let's Live A Little. Cummings who plays a harried advertising man is involved with one client already and it would dearly like to get out of it. Cosmetics queen Anna Sten is still in love with Cummings, but he made the big mistake getting involved with her as she is rather possessive.

Wouldn't you know it he gets involved with another women. Psychiatrist Hedy Lamarr has written one of those Dr. Phil type books and Cummings is assigned to publicize the book and her. Before long he's both in love and in need of Lamarr's professional services.

That is one thing I don't get. How could that woman practice that profession with drooling men lying on the coach confessing all their issues. She would be a distraction no doubt.

And here's Cummings caught between the two of them. Got to Love That Bob.

Robert Shayne is on hand as a surgeon in the same medical group as Lamarr. I guess they had those back in the day as well. His part is similar to one he did the before in Welcome Stranger.

Let's Live A Little is kind of cute more than funny. The players have to work hard and get very little in return due to a deficient script.

The situation has potential. A stressed-out ad man meets a beautiful shrink. Object: psychiatric humour. And maybe a little romance.

Unfortunately, the result could best be described as innocuous, like some sort of benign medical condition.

Bob Cummings plays his usual amiable self. But the real reason anyone would watch this film is, of course, Hedy Lamarr. She looks the way one would expect Hedy Lamarr to look in 1948. Fantastic. She is forced to wear an off-the-shoulder gown at one point to better show off her ... scintillating jewellery. The real conundrum is how Hedy avoided being the top pin-up of World War II. Maybe it was the saltpetre they put in the army chow.

Hedy's real-life role as a torpedo guidance system designer -- apparently that story about her is absolutely on the level -- is easier to accept now after seeing her as a no-nonsense, supercilious psychiatrist, sort of an early prototype for Dr. Lilith Sternin Crane.

The two Roberts -- Cummings and Shayne -- compete for the attention of Hedy. This gets a little childish with Shayne trying to pump himself up physically at one point. Also, characters often gaze at one another, then see the other person transformed inside a shimmering aura into the object of their true desire. Funny, but both these plot elements -- childish male competitiveness, and idealized shimmering figures -- appeared in a far superior film, "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer", the previous year, 1947. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.

The film has some silly "psychological" dream sequences which are played for laughs, and which for contemporary audiences may have been a mild spoof on Hitchcock's "Spellbound" from 1945.

Anyway, it's too bad that all this seems to add up to so little in the end. Bob Cummings co-produced this film. It's a pity he couldn't have hired a script doctor.

This B-feature has several strengths that give it potential, as the three main characters are all well cast and acted, and the subject matter is just as topical now as it was then. It also makes numerous efforts to be creative in the use of double exposures and other such techniques. Though it does not capitalize on all of its opportunities, it's a solid movie that's worth seeing.

The story focuses on the ways that romantic attentions, both wanted and unwanted, can get tangled up with workplace and professional responsibilities. It sets up a lot of possibilities, though much of the time the script settles for light humor rather than trying to get more out of a given scene. It does work well enough as a light romantic comedy, and indeed many other movies over the years have had the same options and have made the same choices.

Hedy Lamarr gives the best performance, as a psychiatrist/author whose professional and personal feelings become intertwined. Her character is interesting, and it's a little unfortunate that her dialogue was not written more carefully. But she does quite well with what she has to work with. Anna Sten works well as an amorous cosmetics tycoon. Robert Cummings is believable and likable as an advertising executive, although he sometimes portrays his character as a bit too much of a bungler. Robert Shayne is adequate, though often rather dull, as the fourth of the major characters.

Overall, "Let's Live a Little" is a decent movie to watch as light entertainment when you don't want to think too much. Its low-budget look and its general avoidance of the more interesting possibilities keep it from being much more, but a movie like this can be worth watching if your expectations aren't too high.

A simply average comedy most notable for bringing Anna Sten out of Hollywood flopland--at least box office flopland. She shows a real flair for comedy as a spoiled rotten cosmetics queen with an eye on Robert Cummings,who is masterminding her advertising campaigns.

But Cummings is Overworked to the 200th degree and suddenly realizes he's falling in love with the female psychiatrist he's been seeing(Lamarr),who doesn't want to upset the doctor-patient relationship. And Lamarr's officemate Shayne has deep feelings for Lamarr.(This is Shayne's biggest part before he was demoted to TV character actor).

If you think you recognize Cummings's male officemate,you do. He played "Mr. Macy" in MIRACLE ON 34th STREET.

Wilbur Mack is the patient Cummings encounters in Lamarr's office--"You're crazy! The only difference between us is--I KNOW IT!" This is the sort of picture that's neither good NOR bad---just an actor's pet project.

Even after three viewings, I still think this movie is terrible. Its a comedy, but I haven't laughed yet. Robert Cummings is miscast, and I keep wanting to slap this character as I wonder why in the world the casting director chose him (wouldn't Jimmy Stewart be much better?). Hedy as a psychiatrist is intriguing as a concept, but this script falls very short. As a consequence, she looks mostly flat, absurd and misplaced. Unlike a number of her other films, her beauty can't save this movie. Nevermind the fact that Hollywood was slack with boundaries in its portrayal of psychiatrists.

I hope future viewers find enjoyable qualities in this movie.