Love Nest

June Haver and William Lundigan star as a married couple who have invested in a small apartment complex to live and manage. At least, June did, while Bill was off serving his country. When he comes home, he finds what she did with their small savings. To say he was disappointed would be an understatement. The place needs repairs and he, with his profession as a writer, needs to get busy to make money. Frank Fay plays an older gentleman who (the viewer sees) goes from one lodgings to another and is preying on ladies' loneliness, finding here another victim. Then, of course, there's Marilyn Monroe who was a "war buddy" of Bill's, and he promised her a room. Jack Paar, a friend of June's, comes around, but Bill, with good reason doesn't like him, but then Jack becomes attached to Marilyn. This is a very enjoyable little film with plenty of activity going on courtesy of its eccentric characters. While it may not seem like much to the hard-to-please, the film is helped by the leads' charm and chemistry, with June Haver providing the foundation and heart of the film. Sit back for a spell and reside in this love nest. The ending may even surprise you!

Written by I.A.L. Diamond, the future writing partner of the great Billy Wilder, the script has hints at some of their future collaborations ("The Apartment," Some Like it Hot," "The Fortune Cookie," etc), but is nowhere as good any of those films. This story is about a GI returning home to find his wife has bought a broken-down NYC brownstone as an investment for them to rent out to tenants. What ends up happening is they find themselves caught up in the lives of their various renters, most notably of which is a GI buddy of the husband, "Bobby" short for Roberta, played by a before-she-was-famous Marilyn Monroe. When she made this film, Monroe has just had her memorable small role in "All About Eve" and studio boss Darrly Zanuck took it upon himself to begin shaping her image with a key supporting part in this film. Monroe is quite good in the picture, but is only of the several tenants the film follows. If the film had more prominently featured Monroe or made more out the perceived love triangle between husband, wife, and Monroe, it may have made for a fun farcical door slamming sesx comedy along the lines of "Kiss Me, Stupid." Instead, it's merely a pleasant, but forgettable comedy that's now only of note as an early work by Monroe and Diamond before they went on to bigger and better films; Monroe with "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "The Seven Year Itch" and Diamond co-writing "Love in the Afternoon" and "Monkey Business" (the Hawks comedy, not the Marx Bros. film) before their paths crossing again nine years later in the undeniable American film classic "Some Like it Hot." Overall, if you watch "Love Nest" don't expect anything the caliber of Monroe or Diamond's later work, but instead simply expect a modestly entertaining comedy.

This is a cute typical comedy from 20th Century-Fox in the early 1950's. This movie is famous because it has an early, very good, normal supporting performance by Marilyn Monroe. The movie stars June Haver (wife of Fred MacMurray) and Willam Lundigan, a minor leading man of the period.

The cool thing is this film has supporting performances from three unusual actors: Jack Paar, in one of his few acting roles, Frank Fay, once married to Barbara Stanwyck, who was the most popular comedian and master-of-ceremonies of the entire Vaudeville era (he also the star of the original Broadway hit, "Harvey"), and Leatrice Joy, a famous silent actress in one of her final film roles.

For those performances alone, it's worth watching.

William Lundigan plays a veteran coming home from the service. He finds that his wife, June Haver, has bought a tenement--a dilapidated one. The place is a bit of a money pit and the young couple struggles to keep the place afloat. However, when they learn that the place is about to be condemned, they seem at the end of their ropes.

In this apartment complex are many interesting characters and stories. The most interesting is Charley (Frank Fay)--an older man who seems to have made a career out of romancing women. And, since he's so charming, it's easy to see why women adore him. There's also Lundigan's old army buddy--played by Marilyn Monroe. The wife is NOT thrilled to see who her husband palled around with while in the army--and she's not excited to see her move in to the vacant apartment! It's interesting to see her being wooed by Jack Paar in one of his few roles before striking it big on "The Tonight Show" on television.

Overall, the film is a light and fun film. While it's not especially deep, it is enjoyable throughout--with a cute script and nice acting.

Likable but decidedly lightweight early 50s situation comedy with an effective extended cameo from Monroe, who doesn't put a foot wrong. Apparently there was such a fuss over the bathing costume Monroe wears that there had to be a closed set for the shooting of those scenes. This just shows how difficult it is for us now to see how scurrilous this seeming innocuous move must have seemed at the time. Soldiers are returning from the war and things will not be the same again. Women are not going to give up the new positions they have been thrust into by the conflict, even if the likes of Frank Fay's aged womaniser do try and get things back for the men. Some extraordinary one liners, not all funny, but certainly pointed help to keep this afloat.