BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Yazmin Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

JohnHowardReid Director: JAMES V. KERN. Screenplay: James V. Kern, Sam Hellman. Additional dialogue: Wilkie Mahoney. Based on the stage play by Joseph A. Fields. Photography: Ernest Haller. Film editor: Folmar Blangsted. Art director: Hugh Reticker. Set decorators: Clarence Steenson. Music: Adolph Deutsch. Music director: Leo F. Forbstein. Costumes designed by Milo Anderson. Make-up: Perc Westmore. Montages: James Leicester. Special effects director: William McGann. Technical adviser: Nicholas Kobliansky. Dialogue director: Jack Gage. Assistant director: Phil Quinn. Sound recording: Stanley Jones. Producer: Mark Hellinger.Copyright 23 November 1944 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Hollywood: 30 August 1944. U.S. release: 25 November 1944. U.K. release: 30 July 1945. Australian release: 14 March 1946. Sydney opening at the Empire (on a double bill with Rhythm Round Up). 9,279 feet. 103 minutes.COMMENT: In addition to its short running time, another signal that a movie is being sold by the studio as a "B" in a particular territory is that it has sat on the shelf for a considerable period. This one cluttered up the Warner warehouse in Australia for over 18 months before slotting in for a predetermined two-week engagement in an unfashionable theater at the very periphery of the borderline separating the city from its working-class suburbs. The trio of Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman and Jack Carson were advertised as the stars, but the movie drew less than average business. And no wonder! Here we are back in overcrowded wartime Washington, but this is no "More the Merrier". This time we are in for about a hundred minutes of boring verbosity, leavened with two or three minutes of mild humor. Neither the director nor the writers make more than a token attempt to disguise the film's stage origins. Just about the entire movie is set in the Hotel Grayson, and ninety-five per cent of the action unfolds in the one apartment. Characters enter and leave as if they were on a theater stage. Even the end-of-act curtain ensembles are left intact. And as if there wasn't a more than adequate supply of dialogue already, Mr. Wilkie Mahoney has supplied pages and pages of additional chatter. Jack Carson and Jane Wyman are forced to perform a continuous Burns and Allen act, but with even weaker comebacks! In fact, the Jane Wyman character is just too stupid for words! All the players attempt to conceal their weak material by mugging vigorously throughout. Only Charlie Ruggles succeeds. Eve Arden bears a particularly unfortunate accent burden, as she's atrociously miscast as a Russian freedom fighter. Kern's directorial style can only be described as actor-indulgent, audience-neglectful. Production values rate high, but who cares?

blanche-2 You can definitely tell that "The Doughgirls" was a play, as it's basically confined to a hotel suite and there is a lot of dialogue. In fact, it ran on Broadway for over 600 performances and was staged by no less than George Kaufman. The play featured Natalie Schaefer of Gilligan's Island and Arlene Francis, stage and film actress and What's My Line panelist.The film was made in 1944, and it has a nifty cast: Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, Ann Sheridan, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Charles Ruggles, and Alan Mowbray.Unfortunately the film (for me) goes on too long and isn't particularly well directed. The story concerns a dumb as a box of rocks showgirl, Vivian (Jane Wyman) and her fiancé (Jack Carson) getting married and taking a hotel suite in a Washington, D.C. hotel. However, the present resident, Edna (Ann Sheridan) refuses to leave - in fact, she's in the bathtub. When she exits, Vivian and Edna recognize one another, embrace, and Edna tells Vivian that she's about to be married. That is, until her husband's wife shows up.Meanwhile, Nan arrives to wait for her intended (Craig Stevens). She also knows Vivian and Edna. Jack Carson by this point has had a fight with his new wife and left. Then a Russian soldier named Natalia (Eve Arden) shows up.This film was funny and would have been a lot funnier fifteen minutes shorter and directed with a little more pace. Also, Jane Wyman was better than that - she plays this showgirl, and it's a totally external characterization. Knowing she was a fine actress, I blame the director for this. Ann Sheridan, as the no-nonsense Edna, comes off the best, and Eve Arden is terrific as Natalia.This is a story that was timely in 1944, when accommodations were impossible to come by. The premise of the story is very amusing and zany. If you set the play in the '40s, it could easily be done today with success.

MartinHafer "The Doughgirls" is one of many wartime American films that poked fun at the overcrowding in Washington, DC as a result of the many civilians and soldiers needed there to coordinate the war effort. Other similar themes are in such films as "The More the Merrier" and "Over 21". However, it's pretty easy to tell that "The Doughgirls" was originally a play, as a wider variety of folks keep walking on and off camera--like people going on and off stage. Plus, while "The More the Merrier" was a wonderful Oscar-winning film, "The Doughgirls" comes off as loud and anything but subtle. While funny in parts, too often it comes off as forced--like they are trying a bit too hard to be kooky.The film begins with Jack Carson and Jane Wyman stopping by a Justice of the Peace to be married on their way to Washington, as Carson has a job waiting for him there. Once they arrive at a hotel for their honeymoon, the craziness begins. Apparently, free rooms are as rare as hens' teeth and getting a free moment to themselves to consummate the marriage is next to impossible. A literal barrage of things occur one after the other to provide lots of fun(?). One of the prior occupants of the room (Ann Sheridan) refuses to leave (so why didn't the cops just toss her out?!)--then another old friend (Alexis Smith) shows up for practically no reason at all. Then an annoyingly stereotypical Russian sharpshooter arrives--again for practically no reason at all. Periodically other folks stop by the suite as well--wanting to know if they can stay. And, a few other characters are tossed into the mix for a wide variety of reasons. Then, toss in not one but TWO cases where the married couples learn they really AREN'T married! The overall effect is cacophonous--with each plot element trying to overwhelm the last! Plus, this literally is the only film I have seen where so many of the lines are delivered by shouting actors!! Heck, there is less yelling in war films!!! If you like LOUD and frenetic films with very broad writing, then perhaps you'll enjoy this movie. However, it was just terribly unfunny to me. This isn't because I hate fast-paced films (for example, I love "One, two, three" and it's much faster-paced then this film), but it just felt too forced and not particularly funny. It seems to try very hard--perhaps too hard. A nice collection of Warner Brothers actors in a comedy film whose humor just seemed flat.By the way, part-way through the film, Alexis Smith reveals that she's actually from Brooklyn and uses her 'real' accent. Real, it ain't and I think Miss Smith, though a lovely actress, sounded completely ridiculous during these scenes. And, speaking of very broad accents, get a load of the 'subtle' character played by Eve Arden. Her Russian lady is about as subtle as a 2x4 upside your head!!

howardeisman I saw this when it came out. Although I was only around 7 or 8 years old, I found it a very funny movie. I expect that I didn't understand most of the jokes, but the situation and the constant frenetic action, characters coming and going, must have impressed me. I found Eve Arden's character particularly funny. Firing a rifle salute from a swanky hotel balcony...wow! Looking at it now, it is clear that it was originally a stage play-characters coming and going on one set. Machine-gun rapid quips, jokes, reactions...if one joke doesn't get you, the next one will. Jane Wyman's dumb Dora character was a stock comedy character in those days (Gracie Allen). It might have been demeaning for her to play, but it made her a star before her later weepies.The Washington no rooms to rent situation is long forgotten. Absurdist humor has gone out of fashion, perhaps because our society has become so absurd that absurdity is no longer funny. Thus, a lot of the humor of this film and its satire don't register today. Yet, it was quite good for its time, and it is still a hoot to watch today.