CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Kirpianuscus a romantic comedy. maybe, a perfect one. because it has all expected ingredients. and, sure, the right actors . it is amusing and touching and courageous. and James Stewart gives his the best in a role who, at the first sigh, reminds many others. because it is so simple. a dysfunctional family, a seductive young woman, a secret and the glamour of Ginger Rogers. all as part of a so contemporary film, ironic, great and real lovely.

Martin Bradley The brightest comedienne of the 1930's and the greatest actor who ever worked in any genre working together at the top of their game in a film directed by one of Hollywood's finest directors, at least until he started to take himself seriously as 'an artist'. Yes it's Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart in George Steven's comedy "Vivacious Lady". It should be a classic but actually it's not that well-known, more's the pity. He's the professor and she's the showgirl he marries after just meeting her, (the way they do in the movies). The fun starts when he brings her home to the small college town where he works, all the while finding himself unable to tell his folks they're married. Beulah Bondi is the mother, Charles Coburn is the father and James Ellison is the cousin whose girl she was until she married Stewart. If it's not quite great screwball it is still very funny and is ripe for rediscovery. Check this one out.

writers_reign I freely admit to a penchant for the light and even 'screwball' comedies of the 30s/40s and so never having seen or even heard of Vivacious Lady I snapped it up when I found it on a budget CD, on the strength of the two leads and the director. Viewing it for the first time in 2016 I found it somewhat pedestrian and predictable and, given the talent listed above, something of a disappointment and I attributed this to the third key element in any movie, i.e. the writing. Rogers was served much better by Billy Wilder in The Major And The Minor, and had more chemistry with David Niven in Bachelor Mother. This is not to say that Vivacious Lady is a total dog or even unwatchable; it is certainly watchable - once.

mmallon4 Sex! Now that I've got your attention, it's fascinating to see just how many references to the birds and the bees permeate the seemingly innocent veneer of Vivacious Lady. James Stewart and Ginger Rodgers where dating during the filming and it's certainly apparent on screen with the levels of sexual tension between the two with these stars never appearing more youthful than they do here. There are many code breaking moments in Vivacious Lady from the opening scene with the exotic dancers in the nightclub and their tail feathers being pushed in Stewart's face to Stewart breaking into a women's only apartment block after visiting hours.It's clear that the University in the fictional town of Old Sharon is full of students eager to get it on from every other male student wolf whistling Ginger to the large number of couples occupying the boathouse at night. I mean the President of University and Stewart's father played by Charles Coburn even comes right out and says it, "We are having the usual spring difficulties between our male and female students a little early this season. Too much fraternising in the lockers". - The Hays Code? What code?However on closer examination of Vivacious Lady something dawned on me - there's a very unusual incest thing going on between the main characters. Francey (Ginger Rogers) was going out with Peter's (James Stewart) brother Keith (James Ellison) before they met, however, Francey marries Peter shortly after they meet for the first time even though she was still going out with Keith at the time. Even when Keith finds out he is perfectly ok with this arrangement and himself and Francey continue to act in an overly intimate manner throughout the film for people who are cousins. Likewise just get look at this dialogue exchange: "I remember I married you" "Oh no, she married me" "So were cousins" "You and your cousins can use that drawing room now."Incest aside, unlike other screwball comedies Vivacious Lady is actually more grounded in reality with its use of more deadpan humour. There are no over the top misunderstandings or histrionics (not that there's anything wrong with that sort of thing) but rather the characters react in a manner in which people would in real life. Just look at the reaction of Peter's father whenever he tells him he got married, it's lifelike but manages to be no less funny. This was one of the four films in which Beulah Bondi played Jimmy Stewart's mother; I can't imagine a more convincing choice to be the mother of the on-screen, boy next door Jimmy Stewart persona. Likewise, is there a better choice to play an overly conservative father than Charles Coburn? I can speak for a friend of mine who couldn't believe just how much he related to Jimmy Stewart and the manner he acts towards Ginger Rogers such as Stewart's attempts to make advances but keeps backing away under nerves. The two of them really do feel like a bunch of young love-struck kids.