Wow! Such a good movie.

Better Late Then Never

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Silly comedy, especially its dream sequences, that will make you wonder how Ginger Rogers earned a Best Actress Oscar (in her film that directly preceded this one, Kitty Foyle (1940)). Bo Derek must have watched this film to learn how to "act" (e.g. demurely chewing a pinkie finger in her mouth to show that her character's "thinking"). Thank goodness Rogers redeemed herself the following year in Billy Wilder's directorial debut The Major and the Minor (1942).Garson Kanin directed this fluff about an air-headed telephone operator (whose vocabulary consists of "swell & golly") that gets engaged to the three titled men simultaneously:high achieving, almost workaholic, and unromantic car salesman Tom (George Murphy)the millionaire son of a prominent father Dick (Alan Marshal)and the only one in her class - auto mechanic Harry (Burgess Meredith), to whom she's "sexually" attracted (bells ring when they kiss).During the dream sequences, Janie (Rogers) imagines what it would be like to be married to each of the men. One wonders how Paul Jarrico received his only Best Writing - Original Screenplay Oscar nomination; his story's conclusion is both predictable and unsatisfying despite its "twist".Thirty year old Phil Silvers (already bald and looking much like he did more than 20 years later on television) appears twice as an annoying ice cream vendor at "Inspiration Point"; Joe Cunningham, as Janie's Pop, is the only other actor appearing that had much of a career.One of Leonard Maltin's few misses (he gives it 3 ½ stars!), it's so dated that it will likely offend most women. Remade as a Mitchell Leisen directed Musical, The Girl Most Likely (1957), with Jane Powell and Cliff Robertson, among others.

Although the film begins with some cute opening credits, after a while I really grew to dislike this film. It's actually pretty amazing that Ginger Rogers was cast in this lightweight film, as during the production she won the Best Actress Oscar for "Kitty Foyle"--and frankly, "Tom, Dick and Harry" just isn't in the same league as the wonderful "Kitty Foyle". The reasons I disliked the movie is that it tried too hard and it had a main character that just seemed selfish, stupid and annoying.When the film begins, Ginger is dating the very conservative and reliable Tom (George Murphy). There isn't a lot of excitement in this relationship and oddly Ginger still agrees to marry him when he asks. Soon, she meets Harry (Burgess Meredith) and agrees to go out with him only because she thinks he's rich--though he's not. So, she's already engaged to one guy and then chases another just for money....what a jerk. Then, when she really meets a rich guy, Dick (Alan Marshall), she throws herself at him--and destroys his relationship with another woman just so she can have a chance at him. In the end, she's engaged to all three--and yet all three stand by and wait for her to decide which one to marry. I say all three should have dumped the and conniving Rogers--but sadly the film did not end that way. If it had, I really would have enjoyed it much more. But, As Rogers' character was so selfish and often talked like a child, I just wanted her to shut up and go away. Although well made, the writing and Rogers' acting made this acceptable entertainment and nothing more.By the way, some might like the film's often cartoony look--such as the dream sequences. I wasn't that impressed. Take my advice--see "Kitty Foyle" instead--it's a dandy movie and proved Ginger COULD act.

In the mood for a fun romantic comedy? I recommend "Tom, Dick, and Harry", a golden oldie released by RKO back in 1941.Janie, a blue-collar chick played by Ginger Rogers, can't decide which guy she wants to marry. And in the course of the story, she has "an understanding" with each of the three title characters. Tom is an ambitious white-collar car salesman (George Murphy); Dick is a millionaire playboy (Alan Marshal); and Harry is a bohemian mechanic (Burgess Meredith).In amusing dream sequences, Janie imagines what it would be like to be married to each of them. And in one envelope-pushing scene that must have just barely gotten past the censors, she imagines what it would be like to be married to all of them! If this storyline turned up in a romantic film or novel nowadays, the heroine would obviously have to end up with Dick. But this movie was made in the 1940s. Therefore none of her three suitors is her inevitable choice. And the film demonstrates wonderfully how the heart knows best, even if it can be full of surprises.

Tom, Dick and Harry (Garson Kanin, 1941) is an incisive examination of the American Dream, masquerading as a fun romantic comedy. Ginger Rogers could really screw up a up a comic romp if she was given free rein (see Howard Hawks' Monkey Business, or probably don't bother), but working in tandem with director Garson Kanin - a famed screenwriter - she gives a nuanced, likable, often very funny performance. Rogers plays a scatty, indecisive young woman who becomes engaged to three very different men: go-get-'em salesman George Murphy, brooding ambition-vacuum Burgess Meredith (one of my favourite actors) and charming, slightly aloof moustachioed millionaire Alan Marshal. Murphy epitomises the American Dream and Marshal the Hollywood ideal, but it's the cynical, down-to-earth Meredith who has the purest ideas about love, and sets Ginger's bell a-ringing. The story keeps you guessing, while Kanin includes three bizarre, subversive dream sequences showing the pitfalls of married life with these three vividly-etched archetypes. Phil Silvers also has a funny bit as an intrusive ice-cream salesman who's "a little obnoxious". From the jumbly credits to the neat surprise ending, this is a wildly entertaining comedy with a latent satirical bite.