Vivacious Lady (1938)

That was an excellent one.

Blistering performances.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

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.

...because your whirlwind courtship may not be the whole truth.The small university in the town where the Morgans live is practically a cottage industry for the family where Peter Morgan, Sr. (Charles Coburn) is university president, and his son Peter Jr. (James Stewart) is associate professor of botany being groomed to be president like his dad someday. Peter is sent to New York City by his dad to retrieve his cousin Keith who has taken up with a dance hall performer (Ginger Rogers as Francey). Keith sets up Peter to be embarrassed with a dirty trick that backfires and Francey and Pete hit it off and leave the dance hall to get to know each other.Pete and Francey spend the entire night walking the streets of New York, even bonding over corn on the cob in the park in the middle of the night. Not even Rudy Giuliani could ever dream of a New York this safe. They eat breakfast together and get married that morning. The chemistry between Rogers and Stewart is electric, and that may be because they had been an item in real life or maybe it was just because they were great actors, but it is palpable to anybody who can see. When they look into each others' eyes it is like they are mutually hypnotized.So Peter, Francey, and Keith come back on the train to New Sharon, and Pete plans to tell his parents right away...BUT...the train is met by Pete's dragon lady of a presumed fiancée, Helen (Frances Mercer), picked out by Pete's dad. In fact she is like Pete's dad in every way as far as being a dominating personality. Days drag on, and every time Pete plans to tell his parents something happens - usually some comic misunderstanding or it is just Pete Sr. talking over and walking on his son like he has done his entire life. The impression the family gets is that because Francey gets off the train and goes off with Keith is that she is the dance hall girl in question and Keith has dared to bring her back with him.Francey tries to be a good sport about all of the delays and misunderstandings but eventually she comes to the conclusion that the man she loves is a wimp who cannot stand up to his own father. It would be easy to just take her side and be mad at Peter for not being his own man, but Stewart plays the part very sympathetically. After all, he's been under dad's thumb for 26 years and only married for a few days.How will this all work out? Watch and find out. Beulah Bondi is endearing as Peter's mother who likes Francey from the beginning, as they share a split cigarette in the ladies' room, even before she knows who she is.

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.

A young professor (Jimmy Stewart) meets a nightclub singer (Ginger Rogers) and it's love at first sight. After a whirlwind courtship, the two marry. He takes her home to meet his conservative parents, but when he gets there he chickens out of telling them about their marriage. The rest of the movie is Jimmy trying to work up the nerve to tell them while everybody gets the wrong idea about Ginger.Ginger's great and she does have nice chemistry with Jimmy. The problem is Jimmy's character is so weak that it's hard to sympathize with him. As the movie progresses you find yourself thinking that Ginger could (and should) do better. It's still enjoyable, helped by a great cast. Love the catfight scene. But something is definitely missing. See it for Ginger because she's terrific in this.