Pleasant little romance between an orphan girl and her unlikely ward starts like DADDY LONG LEGS before settling down as SABRINA, with Jean Simmons going from wide-eyed gamine to sophisticated minx under the protective gaze of high society gambling proprietor Stewart Granger.* Made about year before they married, and had their Hollywood debuts, their sixteen year age difference plays right into the storyline. So too the mutual admiration! If only it were a bit more polished and glamorous. Maybe like DADDY LONG LEGS/’55 (Fred Astaire; Leslie Caron) or SABRINA/’54 (Humphrey Bogart/Audrey Hepburn). It’s a case where a bit of cash flaunting Hollywood posh would have helped. Points to director Harold French for a brisk pace and not too much forced silliness & dopey misunderstandings; debits for a brusque/flat ending. But in general, a fun, sensible romance.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The Stateside release nipped a couple of reels off the running time (from 92 to 70 minutes) and used the eccentric spelling EVALINE. Those wild & crazy advertizing execs!
DOUBLE-BILL: *A good excuse to revisit Mary Pickford’s wonderful 1919 version of DADDY LONG LEGS, with witty touches from director Marshall Neilan (dig those Cupids), strong Dickensian flavor in the orphanage section, and the usual stickiness in having a ‘benefactor’ take a romantic interest in his ‘child.’
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