This is a clever sketch comedy movie about what happens when a half dozen couples discover that they are not legally married. All of the sketches are amusing and one or two are hilarious and it stars some of the best character and up and coming actor and actresses that Hollywood had to offer at the time (Ginger Rogers, Louis Calhern, Marilyn Monroe, David Wayne, Eddie Bracken, Paul Douglas, Eve Arden, one of the Gabor sisters and many more).
However, as an attorney, I cannot help but mention that the technical legal flaw that in the movie causes the invalidation of these marriages (the fact that the Justice of the Peace's term of office did not actually start until a few days after the marriages were celebrated) probably would not actually matter at all. The law of most states states that if a couple goes through the legal forms of marriage in good faith and then lives and present themselves to the world as a married couple for a substantial period of time, they ARE married in the eyes of the law despite any minor technical quibbles to the contrary. In fact, in many places a couple that does not even bother to go through with a marriage ceremony but lives together and acts like a married couple can be considered legally man and wife (this is sometimes known as a "common law marriage.")
So much as I enjoyed seeing the greedy Gabor sister stymied when she tries to take Louis Calhern to the cleaners in their divorce settlement, I am afraid that under the community property law of California he would still be obliged to pay up. And Eddie Bracken and Mitzi Gaynor's characters need not be concerned about the status of their unborn child, there is no question under the law that the little tyke would be regarded as legitimate.
However, as an attorney, I cannot help but mention that the technical legal flaw that in the movie causes the invalidation of these marriages (the fact that the Justice of the Peace's term of office did not actually start until a few days after the marriages were celebrated) probably would not actually matter at all. The law of most states states that if a couple goes through the legal forms of marriage in good faith and then lives and present themselves to the world as a married couple for a substantial period of time, they ARE married in the eyes of the law despite any minor technical quibbles to the contrary. In fact, in many places a couple that does not even bother to go through with a marriage ceremony but lives together and acts like a married couple can be considered legally man and wife (this is sometimes known as a "common law marriage.")
So much as I enjoyed seeing the greedy Gabor sister stymied when she tries to take Louis Calhern to the cleaners in their divorce settlement, I am afraid that under the community property law of California he would still be obliged to pay up. And Eddie Bracken and Mitzi Gaynor's characters need not be concerned about the status of their unborn child, there is no question under the law that the little tyke would be regarded as legitimate.