You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Absolutely the worst movie.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This movie is certainly not a deep or memorable movie. In fact, I just saw it again for the second time and I had forgotten so much of it--even though I saw if for the first time only a couple years ago.Jimmy Stewart is the owner of a very tiny freight airline. During a stopover, he is accidentally united with Joan Fontaine who is running from a brand new marriage she hasn't yet consummated to a man she didn't love. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that sooner or later, Stewart and Fontaine will be a couple, though the rest of the movie consists of a series of wacky adventures until the ultimate conclusion.So why give the movie only an 8? Well, first, Fontaine's character is rather annoying and highly reminiscent of Julie Roberts' character in RUNAWAY BRIDE. Someone that ditsy and self-centered, for me, is a little hard to really care about and you aren't really pulling for the leading man to take this shallow woman. Secondly, and more importantly, the movie has way too many contrived and "wacky" subplots--a guy running off with his company's funds, the chimpanzee who loved Fontaine and smokes cigars, the Southern-fried humor supplied by the young couple from Georgia, etc. It just seemed REALLY, REALLY contrived. Plus, the dialog itself was rather forced.So, overall it's just an adequate film--best enjoyed by old movie and Jimmy Stewart buffs.

You Gotta Stay Happy was produced by William Dozier who at the time was married to Joan Fontaine. I think Fontaine was trying to lighten her image a bit and decided to try this throwback comedy involving a missing runaway heiress. Very familiar territory from the Thirties, postwar audiences wanted a little more realism. Anyway she was able to land James Stewart as her leading man and he even accepted second billing here. Well, in affect she was the boss on this set. And they got a good cast of familiar faces from past screwball comedies to help this along.Watching this, I couldn't help thinking that Joan Fontaine was going into territory Jean Arthur knew by heart. If Arthur was the heiress, this thing might have been a classic. This picture would have been so right for Jean Arthur.I particularly enjoyed Percy Kilbride playing Pa Kettle under a different name. He's a farmer with a tribe of kids in Oklahoma where pilot James Stewart and his animal, human, and vegetable cargo have landed. Eddie Albert as Stewart's co-pilot and sidekick is also just fine.It's an enjoyable comedy, but it will never be in the first rank of films of either Fontaine or Stewart.

Well, this wasn't "It Happened One Night" but, the plot line was similar. Rich girl (Joan Fontaine) secretly hops aboard a transport plane to escape a loveless marriage. Jimmy Stewart, the pilot, finds her and is annoyed to have a pretty girl hiding on board. In Hollywood guys always get mad finding a pretty stowaway, yeah, right. Anyhow, after a plane crash and lots of hanging around, nature takes over ... and you know... Actually, I enjoyed it. A little escapist comedy, that managed to entertain. Eddie Albert is good too, as Stewart's side-kick. I'd rank it a respectable 6 1/2. Also, Fontaine is as always, very feminine.

This is probably James Stewart's worst film. His co-star is Joan Fontaine, who never was adept at doing light comedy, she and Stewart have no chemistry together whatsoever. They get no help by the pale script and the pacing of the film is very slow. A dud.