IslandGuru Who payed the critics

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

mark.waltz Long before they were referred to as "secretaries", "girl Friday's", "administrative assistants" or even "typists", those who worked on those new fangled writing machines were simply called "typewriters". Graduating from a New York typewriters school, valedictorian Betty Grable is sent to Boston where she is informed by her new boss that he (Dick Haymes) expected a man. Fortunately, he has a suffragette aunt (Anne Revere) who has controlling interest in the firm, and that gets Grable the job. Now if she can just get her boss's respect, prevent office manager Gene Reynolds from sneering at her, and find a suitable place to live where a "typewriter" who happens to be a woman isn't confused for being a Jezebel, she'll make it just fine.And fine she does make it. She moves in to the boarding house of a bunch of self-acknowledged outcasts, run by rebellious Boston socialite Elizabeth Patterson who was ostracized for her unconventional ways. When Haymes attends a suffragette meeting with her, the stage is set for a romance between the two, even though that is against "rule #6". Grable expects his socialite mother (Elisabeth Risdon) to be a judgmental snob and prepares a series of society aimed insults for her with amusing results. Miss Pilgrim is an instant Boston celebrity, loathed by some and loved by others, and when the line-up of suffragettes and their few male supporters are revealed, the visual result is hysterical, featuring a few whom in 1894 were obviously of the "love that not reveal its name" category. (Films after the production code came in rarely showed obviously gay or lesbian characters, and this is one of the few).I wish there was less of the romance (featuring some unknown George Gershwin music that his brother Ira wrote new lyrics for) and more of the office setting and suffragette plot. That is more interesting, although the "scissors"/"knives" reference is truly hysterical and gives the impression that even if these two do get together, there will be no "pants wearing" in this family: it will be a marriage of equality-or else!I felt sorry for Gene Reynolds here, typecast in his usual prickly fat man role of a chauvinist fool. But for Revere and Risdon, I really wanted to see more of them. As sisters-in-law in the film, they never even appear together, a loss for the script. Patterson and her band of delightful eccentrics add some needed comedy which includes a transaction between three of the tenants simply to feed their egos. A woman resident of Patterson's house who has been working on re-writing the dictionary wouldn't be out of place in this new rhetoric world where the English language has all but disappeared together.

Neil Doyle THE SHOCKING MISS PILGRIM was one of the few BETTY GRABLE movies that did not bring them in at the box-office, probably because her famous legs are not in display in this story about women in the work force, circa 1870s. Instead, the usually bubbly Miss Grable is seen in demure costumes, although her blonde hair is a rather garish touch considering the era.She's paired with the rather weak DICK HAYMES, although his baritone voice lends itself nicely to a couple of Gershwin songs--notably "Aren't You Glad We Did?" and "For You, For Me, For Evermore".As with all of Fox's Grable films, it's nicely photographed in Technicolor and there are supporting players like ANN REVERE and GENE LOCKHART to add a genial touch to the proceedings. The story itself concerns itself with the proper place for women at a time when they were new to the work force and found it hard to be accepted in the all male society of the office, even if they did graduate from secretarial schools. The film deals neatly with these aspects and has a certain nostalgic charm.Not one of Grable's box-office hits, probably because she was too covered up to be the glamorous Fox star of previous musicals, but modestly entertaining for fans of the genre.

katweber This is a film intriguing for many reasons. It has an uneasy postwar relationship with women in the workplace. It stars Bety Grable in an uncharacteristic role, and reveals Dick Haymes to be possessed of such a rich voice that he really missed the career boat as a vocalist. There is also a fascinating uncredited early appearance by Marilyn Monroe, and a star-studded list of contributors, including choreographer Hermes Pan. But what makes this film especially notable is the Gershwin music. Kay Swift's work with Ira Gershwin, from notebooks and unfinished sketches for various projects left by George Gershwin at his death in 1937, produced a complete posthumous score, the first for a motion picture.

Richard-23 This film is a post-war notice to women (who had been 'minding the store' while all the guys were over- seas)--that they just might have some choices. Not a strong statement to be sure--but surprising in its way. Not surprising is that Hollywood chose Betty Grable to represent the modern woman in this period picture. Betty was (in 1947) the highest salaried woman in the United States--and a box office champion (at a time when women really pretty much dictated what movies we were going out to see). So it is not Betty Grable the famous pin-up you are seeing (though she is also present, but under more wraps than usual)--it is Betty Grable the successful woman--who was a role model for women at that time in a way. They cared that she was glamorous, married, had children and a career--and was a hell of an entertainer. This film is charming and presents a slightly softened Betty--but a resourceful and independent Betty. As is so often the case, the resolution of the film is not a true triumph--but we are talking about the 1940's--so they took the ball as far as they felt they could. I like this film. I hope that you will, too. Betty and a great bunch of character actors will give you a really pleasant ninety minutes or so.