John Loves Mary

source: John Loves Mary

Trailer—John Loves Mary

John Loves Mary

This play ran on Broadway for a very long time and the chemistry between the young actors was palpable, according to contemporaneous reviews. Warner's B-movie company put together this movie, casting a forty-something Ronald Reagan, with limited acting skills, and a newly-minted Patricia Neal, with almost no acting skills at all. The cast had almost no chemistry and was substantially older than the returning GIs and postwar brides of the play. All of this made a difference. The play was unmistakably good, having sold out its theatre for years. John Loves Mary, the movie, fell flat from the beginning, mainly because when you're dealing with a farce like a Norman Krasna play, you'd better get all your other soldiers in a row. A troupe of older actors, not used to doing this as a play, and not experiencing any chemistry or camaraderie between them, cannot easily force this on their audience. A Krasna play had to be done with precision and care. The play carried if off. The movie did not.

Overall, a good cast. This was obviously a much better play as the dialogue suffers from the restrictive censorship code of the time. Patricia Neal's debut demonstrates why she was never known for light comedy. The most curious thing is that the budget is listed as $1.3 million. How is that possible? Similar movies of the day weren't even close to that budget.

Ronald Reagan (he's John) loves Patricia Neal (she's Mary), but he's married to his best friend's girl. There is a very good reason: best friend Jack Carson saved Mr. Reagan's life during World War II and Reagan married Lily to help his buddy out - you see, Lily needs an American husband to obtain passage to the USA. Meanwhile, Mr. Carson has married another woman Even for the time, the comedy dialog in "John Loves Mary" must have sounded remarkably unsophisticated; listen, for example, to the scene when Reagan explains how he dealt with "loneliness" during his four years of service. The performances match the low average nature of the proceedings. Most notable as Patricia Neal's inauspicious movie debut. She's good. *** John Loves Mary (2/4/49) David Butler ~ Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Jack Carson

I really like this movie. It is just one of those that is fun to watch . . . and re-watch. Ronald Reagan and Jack Carson are hilarious together. They both are on the edge of a nervous breakdown throughout the story because of all of the trouble they've gotten themselves into. One lie leads to another and their troubles get bigger and bigger. I think that Patricia Neal does a good job in this role. I think that she was a great actress but I'm not sure that this was the best role for her. The movie was originally planned for Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan together but when the Reagans split up, the part of Mary was given to Patricia Neal. When I come across people who have not seen any of Ronald Reagan's movies, I think of this one. He does a great job with this comedy. I hope that everyone enjoys it as much as I do.