THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE (1958)

While Philip Barry’s cynical reporter in PHILADELPHIA STORY could ironically note ‘the prettiest sight in this fine pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges,’ old-school British playwright William Douglas Home took him at his word. And here his play, a trifle about an American girl finding a match as she runs the Debutante gauntlet of British Society, is so expertly handled by Vincente Minnelli directing Rex Harrison & Kay Kendall in a masterclass of heightened comic underplaying, it’s a featherweight delight. Sandra Dee, before she became a teen icon, is charming, and staving off ‘the cutes,’ as Harrison’s Stateside daughter from a first marriage, forced onto an uppercrust treadmill of balls, fancy dress & dinner party dates. While John Saxon, as her seemingly inappropriate beau, and Angela Lansbury as a gossipy busybody with her own child playing the debutante circuit for spousal material, have style to spare. But it’s the married team of Harrison (right between his legendary B'way & London runs in MY FAIR LADY) and Kendall who blast into some sort of cosmic comedy heaven, turning Douglas Home’s modest mots into consistent laugh bombs. You’ve got to go back to Carole Lombard to find a natural comedienne with equal style, clothes-sense, timing & drop-dead gorgeousness. And to Lucille Ball for the physical skills. Watch near the end as Kendall collapses into a heap as she navigates a half-flight of stairs.* And Harrison, disproving the idea that married couples fail to spark on screen, matches her note for note when he’s not beaming with pride.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *You’d never know Kendall was in remission from the leukemia that would kill her the following year, only 33. Her final film, Stanley Donen’s ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING/’60, doesn’t really come off, but she was spectacularly funny for George Cukor in LES GIRLS/’57 the year before.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Harrison made a graceful tv film of Douglas-Home’s THE KINGFISHER/’83 (see below). He’d done it on B’way with Claudette Colbert, but Wendy Hiller did the screen version.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/kingfisher-1982.html

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Blame producer Pandro Berman for the film’s one goof up, using only M-G-M owned music material for all the balls. A dance arrangement of ‘The Boy Next Door’ at a formal British ‘coming out’ reception? Other ‘pop’ selections only slightly less obtuse.