Confidentially Connie

On a bad day in a bad week it made me smile a lot. It was far from perfect but in today's world of nasty being the default for just about everything and everyone it did it's job at least for me.

Sorry. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever the real life Janet Leigh lived on 900 calories a day, IF THAT, and black coffee, cigarettes, and lettuce leaves till someone took her out for what dinner she could get down. She craved lots of meat? (back then, I heard it's shunned now.) A dumb early movie of hers, like a black and white forgotten sitcom. She did better later.

Van johnson, janet leigh. Gene AND kathleen lockhart! Joe and connie are expecting a baby. He's a teacher, not making so much, but that's okay with connie. But now that there's a baby on the way, she suddenly decides joe should go back and work on the family farm, for the money. Apparently, in those days, there was good money in farming! Will joe's dad help him get a promotion at the school, or will he sabotage joe's chances, just to get him to come work on the ranch? It's okay.... directed by ed buzzell. Had made two films with the marx brothers! And two with van johnson. An early-ish role for leigh, eight years before psycho.

Connie Bedloe (Janet Leigh) is pregnant, and her husband Joe (Van Johnson) has low-paying college teaching job. He fails utterly to suck up to the Dean. His father Opie (Louis Calhern) comes for a visit. He's a big Texas cattleman and he's trying to recruit Joe back to the family ranch. Connie agrees with him until he claims that teaching is woman's work. Brought to you by the teachers union and the meat lobby. This is a bit of fun but also a bit weird. These people will need to eat some salads or else. As long as one does not take this seriously, it's okay sitcom silliness.

The dated "Confidentially Connie" represents the era when people viewed meat as one of the healthiest foods, and also portrays a nuclear family (husband's the breadwinner, wife stays home and cooks). I think that the movie wants to see itself as a satire on the desire for success at any cost, but it comes across as a "Leave It to Beaver"-style story. True, the price war was funny, but now that we know that red meat causes heart disease and colon cancer (from which the carnivorous John Wayne probably would have died had he not smoked himself to death). Basically, it's a hokey movie. And personally, having been to Texas but never Maine, I can say that I'd never trade Maine for Texas. PS: Hayden Rorke, who played Simmonds, is best known as Dr. Bellows on "I Dream of Jeannie".

I don't care for the leads but I am a fan of each of the supporting cast. I figured they would at least have a few good scenes. Not at all. It is the same tired whine about teachers wanting more money. The twist is Janet Leigh is obsessed with meat to the point of it being vulgar. Personally, I think she was sublimating. I almost always watch a film to the end but I had to turn this one off halfway through.

This picture had some great stuff going for it, based on a story by Max Shulman and Herman Wouk and a screenplay by Shulman and a load of great character actors as backup. Sadly it fails because of bad casting. This is a vehicle that was made for wisecracking actors like Jack Carson and Eve Arden. With the Shulman one liners coming a mile a minute Van Johnson and Janet Leigh just seem to dodge out of the way rather than play into the witty remarks. The lazy direction by Edward Buzzell doesn't help either. And it's not like there's anything the matter with the performances, just the use of the wrong talent on material better suited to actors with a Powell/Loy characterization. Come to think of it, this was in 53 and Powell and Loy were still under contract to MGM. That might have been a fitting farewell to the Nick and Nora team.