It is a performances centric movie
... View MoreIt is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
... View MoreThis is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
... View MoreOne of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
... View MoreGlenn Ford is a "Young Man with Ideas" in this 1952 comedy directed by Mitchell Leisen and also starring Ruth Roman, Nina Foch, and Denise Darcel.Ford is attorney Max Webster, living in Montana. He does the grunt work for the law office where he works -- research, writes summaries, etc., all things that the partners take credit for. His wife Julie (Roman) pushes him to ask for a partnership. He is rejected, so he quits, and the family moves to Los Angeles. There he crams for the bar with an attractive fellow student (Foch), who also gets him a job at a collection agency, something he is ill-suited for. Not only can't he collect, but he ends up paying part of a singer's (Darcel) bill.But the Websters have much bigger problems than Max's failure at the collection agency. Their house was a gambling joint for bookies, and people keep calling and placing bets. Though they keep telling the callers that "Mike" has moved away and they have the wrong number, one day, Julie, in disgust, takes a $10 bet for Kimo, who comes in at 80 to 1. The caller on the other end wants his money.Amusing comedy that could have been uproarious, but Leisen, who did such great work in the '40s, was a fallen star by then. Glenn Ford was always a very charming and attractive actor, and while his comedy talent was limited, he still manages to be likable. Still, we have two stars who usually do dramatic roles -- three really, if you count Foch -- in a comedy. They probably had to make the film to fulfill their contracts.Cute but ultimately disappointing. The story had some fun things in it, including Glenn Ford trying to sing "Mother," and Mary Wickes having her son show off his acting expressions. It wouldn't have taken much to make this much better. but it needed a Leo McCarey or a Howard Hawks in the director's chair.
... View MoreHere, Glenn Ford plays a young, junior attorney in Montana. His wife urges him to be more assertive, which eventually leads the family to California where Ford studies to pass the Bar exam...with Nina Foch. Meanwhile, in their new modest home, Ford and wife (Ruth Roman) inadvertently get involved in a gambling scheme. So Ford spends his time worrying about tough guys coming to his home to demand money they feel they've won, studying with beautiful Nina Foch, temporarily becoming a bill collector, and trying to balance the many demands on his emotions.Okay, it's not Shakespeare, but it's a modestly entertaining comedy with some serious overtones. Ford pulls it off relatively well...although perhaps he just a bit too much of a nervous Nellie. Roman does nicely, although her character is not too likable. Nina Foch plays her part well, as well.Some of the better moments of the film include a very well designed fight segment. And, Sheldon Leonard in his gangster mode. But the movie wraps up poorly, though happily.Worth watching once, but not one for your DVD shelf!
... View MoreLeisen's best years were behind him when he made "young man" .First of all,Glenn Ford is no longer a young man (36) in 1952 and he is not really good at comedy.Ruth Roman isn't either but she manages quite well in the scene of the dinner with chic people.Except for this scene and the appearance of the horrible child showing off ,there are not many funny moments in "young man...",even in the would be original sequences in which Max plays both the convict and the lawyer .The screenplay is poor compared to those of the forties ("Remember the night" " Arise my love" ) and the cast (which includes also Nina Foch and French Denise Darcel who never made a movie in her native country ) cannot hold a candle to Leisen's former actors such as Claudette Colbert,Ray Milland ,Don Ameche ,etc
... View MoreYoung Man With Ideas has Glenn Ford as a young very junior attorney at a law firm in some small Montana town who's not the most forceful fellow around. With a wife and three kids, he can't afford to be. Wife Ruth Roman sees something more in him and convinces him to be more assertive. Ford decides to move the family to Los Angeles where he can work and study to pass the California bar.The rest of the film is the trials and tribulations they have in Los Angeles, some comic, some serious. Ford shakes off some of his inhibitions, not always in constructive ways.Glenn Ford is one of the easiest to take actors around and his films reflect that. He's got the art of underplaying down to a science. and Young Man With Ideas is a great example of that.Look for good supporting performances here, especially from Nina Foch, as a fellow aspiring lawyer, Denise Darcel as a nightclub entertainer, Rith Roman as the wife and Sheldon Leonard as a bookie.By the way Foch gets Ford a job in a collection agency she works for and some of the film's best moments are from the mild mannered Ford working there.
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