The Lady Pays Off

For Linda Darnell fans, of which I am one, this little comedy from Universal studios is a refreshing surprise. One of the 1940's most consistently underrated screen brunettes, due to her phenomenal beauty she was frequently placed in roles subordinate to the leading male star she was appearing with (some of the best: Henry Fonda, Rex Harrison, Richard Widmark, Tyrone Power, George Sanders, Robert Mitchum, to name a few). Yet in all these she was always far more than merely adequate, in fact, consistently good. At the time of this movie's release Miss Darnell was at the peak of her success, having just scored two back-to-back triumphs at her home studio Twentieth-Century-Fox: A Letter to Three Wives and No Way Out. Here in this film she plays an independent professional woman at a crossroads in her life who is forced by chance to reevaluate and prioritize. Miss Darnell exudes poise and self-confidence in the role, and is clearly having fun letting the true Linda shine through. It is a shame she was not given the opportunities to do more vehicles like this one, where she was absolutely front-and-center in the storyline. Catch this hard-to-find gem, and enjoy one of the cinema's loveliest ladies truly letting her hair down and having a ball!