(3 of 3)
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (Paramount) is the same gentle comedy of youthful emotions and embarrassments that made Cornelia Otis Skinner's and Emily Kimbrough's book a best-seller two years ago. With just enough plot to keep it going, the story of Cornelia's and Emily's unchaperoned trip to Europe in quest of sophistication (one primary objective: to meet "other men, older men, maybe even Frenchmen") packs as much nostalgic charm as a high-school yearbook—and to the tune of such oldtime favorite songs as Whispering and Somebody Stole My Gal.
As Cornelia, Gail Russell looks and acts precisely as all nice Bryn Mawr girls looked and acted in 1923. But the picture, like the book, belongs to Emily, played by dimpling Diana Lynn. Their trip is a succession of situations, invariably contrived by exuberant Emily, whose dauntless spirit is sometimes damped but seldom quenched. Even in her most embarrassing moment Emily has a triumph of a kind: when asked to come into the ship's pool (the lottery on the day's run), she rushes below to put on her bathing suit, rushes back on deck for a lifeboat drill and receives the captain's commendation for dressing so appropriately.
A few days in London provide the girls with the fun of getting lost in the maze of Hampton Court, and with the better fun of making a dazzling entrance into the Savoy dining room while peering haughtily from the midst of two cloudlike white rabbit evening wraps. Then, at last, they get to Paris. "Frenchmen!" murmurs Emily ecstatically. In addition, they see the sights and, of course, get into more jams. One of the best results from Emily's taking one last "snap" with her Brownie, thereby getting them locked out on the bell tower of Notre Dame. In a frantic effort to attract attention from the street below, the girls strip to their camisoles. It draws no crowd, no rescuers. Next morning, when they finally arrive at their hotel clad in horse blankets, Cornelia's parents are waiting and the trip is over.
CURRENT & CHOICE
Battle for the Marianas (U.S. Marine Corps; TIME, Oct. 2).
Casanova Brown (Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Frank Morgan, Patricia Collings; TIME, Sept. 18).
Arsenic and Old Lace (Gary Grant, Priscilla Lane; TIME, Sept. 11).
Hail the Conquering Hero (Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, William Demarest; TIME, Aug. 21).
Wilson (Alexander Knox, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Thomas Mitchell, Charles Coburn; TIME, Aug. 7).
*The jettisoning was largely due to censor trouble, caused by the Hays office and by Government worries over Latin American relations.