User Reviews

A Mitchell Leisen Production. Copyright 14 December 1944 by Paramount Pictures Inc. New York opening at the Paramount: 28 March 1945 (sic). U.S. release not recorded. U.K. release: 12 March 1945. Australian release: 16 August 1945 (sic). Sydney opening at the Prince Edward: 10 August 1945 (ran 6 weeks). 8,124 feet. 80 minutes. (No current DVD).

SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Dan Bellamy sinks a Japanese carrier in the South Pacific by crash diving his fighter plane into the vessel and by releasing two bombs he carries. His last words are picked up by naval monitor and later relayed to the world. The momentous message says he would like to be home at his old desk at Meglin's Typewriter Company and to walk through Central Park with Peggy.

However, Dan does not die and he did not say Peggy, but Piggy his canine terrier. Later, when it is learned that Dan is alive and he is returning to the States on furlough, Peggy Martin, the "girl" of the message, is besieged by newsreels, radio, and newspapers. Peggy meets Dan at the airport, accompanied by her boss, Marvin P. Meglin. Dan permits himself to be dragged to the Meglin household as a house guest, with Peggy accompanying him.

When Peggy discovers that she is not the object of Dan's publicized dreams, she informs him that it's just as well since her love belongs to Albert Beagell, manager of Meglin's accounts receivable department. Both Peggy and Dan soon decide that they must keep up the pretense, at least while he is in New York, but Dan insists that her "boyfriend" Albert must come along on each and every one of their outings.

COMMENT: Norman Krasna's script commences very promisingly but alas fizzles out. A very protracted, unfunny scene with a photographer is the absolute end. However, sets and photography are particularly attractive. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, who is on top of his material for the first couple of reels. Great support cast includes Gil Lamb, Cecil Kellaway and Robert Benchley.

This World War II comedy romance starts off on a great note with bomber pilot Fred MacMurray supposedly diving to his death to take out a Japanese air craft carrier. His last words make mention of the company he worked for and someone who kissed him on the nose, and as his recorded message is played for the world to hear, the bosses at that company seem to assume that the nose kisser was Claudette Colbert, somebody he barely knew. It is quickly revealed after Colbert begins making public speeches (simply for the good of the war and not wanting to shatter any illusions of the war hero) that MacMurray somehow managed to survive (ridiculously planted into the plot through newsreel footage someone took on another American bomber) and now Colbert has a lot of explaining to do, as both her and MacMurray are tied together as a romantic pair in the public eye. But she has another man in her life (Gil Lamb), and with the press promoting them as the great American love story, MacMurray and Colbert have no choice but to stick together, along with the real nose kisser, a cute terrier whose name is similar to Colbert's.

There is one very funny scene involving the pranksterish pooch who unintentionally opens up a life raft that MacMurray has in his luggage as they stand on a crowded bus. Other than that, this is probably the most forgettable of all Colbert and MacMurray pairings, and even one of their most forgettable films individually. I can see why they were interested in doing this; The writer was Norman Krasna and the director was Mitchell Leisen, creators of some of the great comedies of the 1930's, 40's and 50's. But it is one of those films that the writer and director did not sit down and discuss for realism, and because of that, a first rate cast (which also includes Cecil Kellaway and Robert Benchley) suffers. It becomes way too talky, fails to hold any sustained interest, and even the leads play characters that are either unlikable, too old to be going through such nonsense, and involved in the most absurd of situations. With real war heroes out there dying every day, this did no good for the war effort, which indicates as to why this is basically forgotten today. MacMurray may have gotten his target as far as the Japanese air craft carrier, but the bomb that is the script ends up being a complete dud.

PRACTICALLY YOURS was the fifth of seven collaborations for Claudette Colbert and frequent leading man Fred MacMurray. It was the last one they made together at Paramount; subsequent pairings were at Universal. Perhaps more importantly, this was Miss Colbert's final film at Paramount Pictures, where she'd been under contract since 1929 and had appeared in 35 motion pictures...a long and successful run by anyone's standards.

Not only did Colbert make 35 films at Paramount during a 15-year period, she appeared in ten loan outs. She averaged three films per year, nearly all of them hits. When she left Paramount in 1945, she freelanced at Universal, RKO, MGM and 20th Century Fox. She never played supporting roles in any of these productions. She didn't have children, so without maternity leaves and without any breaks during the war years, she remained a busy and influential Hollywood star for several decades.

Because PRACTICALLY YOURS is Colbert's swan song at her home studio, it's a film worth examining. Contemporary critic James Agee was a huge fan of this unusual wartime love story. Like THE BRIDE CAME HOME, it's somewhat experimental. Not only are the leads older than the typical twenty-somethings we might find in this type of situation, scenes contain absurd humor that is meant to keep us on our toes.

Indeed, much of it seems designed to have us consider the absurdity of war and how people soldier on at home and abroad during times of international uncertainty. It's a subversive tale wrapped up in a wholesome Colbert-MacMurray package.

Particularly cheeky is the sardonic view that romance has gone to the dogs. Colbert's character is mistaken for the canine companion of a heroic pilot (MacMurray). Their names are similar, and he calls out her name while crashing into a Japanese ship. Everyone back home thinks he's dead at first. When he turns out to be very much alive a short time later, he is reunited with his beloved Peggy who functions as a stand-in for his beloved Piggy. It's absurd, right? Even a name like Piggy for a dog is absurd.

Meanwhile, there is another fellow at the company where Colbert works who is called Beagell (Gil Lamb). Obviously, the name is a play on the word beagle. Colbert becomes "engaged" to that mutt, when she and MacMurray don't seem to hit it off and she needs a convenient out.

Colbert underplays her role with a cool detachment. She and MacMurray have been thrown together by happenstance and a series of coincidences. A lovely sequence in which they provide comfort to a recent war widow (Rosemary DeCamp) in a time of grief, underscores how real the relationship can be if they work as a unit, not apart at cross-purposes.

MacMurray is a bit more subdued than usual. However, he is still playing another testosterone-fueled jerk, the kind of role that Paramount often assigned to him. His character reflects the male chauvinism of the era. He's most effective, though, when he is allowed to be tender with his pooch Piggy, which is later repeated with Peggy.

I'm a fan of the character actors that appear in so many of these classic Paramount pictures. Here we have Cecil Kellaway as the benevolent employer, who offers our two main characters a place to stay while dealing with a media blitz and tremendous public attention.

Robert Benchley is also on hand as a relative of Kellaway's. He has a very nice bedtime exchange with MacMurray about what it means to return stateside and be so highly esteemed by others.

Most wartime flicks are meant to help the audience appreciate the efforts of men who have been fighting overseas. Decades before Vietnam, this story subverts the standard trope of war hero worship. What we have is the use of romantic comedy elements in a sly anti-war film. Like Preston Sturges' HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, Mitch Leisen's PRACTICALLY YOURS makes a mockery of the veterans' homecoming.