Watch The Doughgirls For Free

Purely Joyful Movie!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Directed by James V. Kern from the Joseph A. Fields play, adapted by Kern and Sam Hellman with additional material from Wilkie Mahoney, this wartime comedy features a terrific cast in yet another story about how the crowded living conditions in our nation's capital during World War II made strange bedfellows and played havoc with relationships.It all starts when Jack Carson and Jane Wyman get married and try to begin their honeymoon in a Washington, D.C. hotel whose lobby is overrun with people needing a room. Despite their reservation, they discover that their room's bathtub is already occupied by Ann Sheridan's character, who happens to be ditzy Wyman's old chorus line pal. Naturally she's allowed to stay as is their other gal-pal Alexis Smith, who's married to a lieutenant (actress Smith's soon to be husband Craig Stevens).Things really heat up when Sheridan's husband's (John Ridgely) ex- wife (Irene Manning) shows up, and a gun-toting female Russian army sergeant (Eve Arden) and Carson's lecherous boss (Charles Ruggles) join the mix, further delaying-frustrating Wyman-Carson's consummation.Alan Mowbray appears as a radio correspondent. Donald MacBride, a judge and Regis Toomey, an FBI man also appear.

You can definitely tell that "The Doughgirls" was a play, as it's basically confined to a hotel suite and there is a lot of dialogue. In fact, it ran on Broadway for over 600 performances and was staged by no less than George Kaufman. The play featured Natalie Schaefer of Gilligan's Island and Arlene Francis, stage and film actress and What's My Line panelist.The film was made in 1944, and it has a nifty cast: Jane Wyman, Alexis Smith, Ann Sheridan, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Charles Ruggles, and Alan Mowbray.Unfortunately the film (for me) goes on too long and isn't particularly well directed. The story concerns a dumb as a box of rocks showgirl, Vivian (Jane Wyman) and her fiancé (Jack Carson) getting married and taking a hotel suite in a Washington, D.C. hotel. However, the present resident, Edna (Ann Sheridan) refuses to leave - in fact, she's in the bathtub. When she exits, Vivian and Edna recognize one another, embrace, and Edna tells Vivian that she's about to be married. That is, until her husband's wife shows up.Meanwhile, Nan arrives to wait for her intended (Craig Stevens). She also knows Vivian and Edna. Jack Carson by this point has had a fight with his new wife and left. Then a Russian soldier named Natalia (Eve Arden) shows up.This film was funny and would have been a lot funnier fifteen minutes shorter and directed with a little more pace. Also, Jane Wyman was better than that - she plays this showgirl, and it's a totally external characterization. Knowing she was a fine actress, I blame the director for this. Ann Sheridan, as the no-nonsense Edna, comes off the best, and Eve Arden is terrific as Natalia.This is a story that was timely in 1944, when accommodations were impossible to come by. The premise of the story is very amusing and zany. If you set the play in the '40s, it could easily be done today with success.

Director James V. Kern also co-adapted this screen-translation of a once-popular play by Joseph Fields involving three would-be brides rooming together in the Honeymoon Suite of an overcrowded hotel in WWII-era Washington, D.C. They are joined by confused suitors, Eve Arden as a gregarious Russian guerrilla fighter, an amusingly out-of-it hotel staff, a blustery broadcaster, and the inimitable Charles Ruggles as the smitten boss of dotty Jane Wyman, whose heart belongs to flustered Jack Carson (who only wants to have his honeymoon!). Breathless farce came in on the tail-end of the screwball rage, but nevertheless contains several big laughs. The staginess of the material becomes overpowering before long, but the cast never runs out of energy. **1/2 from ****

When I saw "The Doughgirls" was coming on TV, I re-read the comments of the critics, and somehow could not believe that they could find anything comical or clever about it. Let me start with the dialogue, without a shadow of a doubt, it had to be the worst heard in any , supposedly, A movie for years. For stars such as Ann Sheridan and Alexis Smith to have to utter the crap served up to them must have been repulsive to them - while Ann overacts as she has never done before or after. Everything Jane Wyman said was typical of the kind of roles that Warners served up to her in many movies for years, and Jack Carson was his usual goof. As for the role played by one of my Favourites, Eve Arden - I felt embarrassed watching it. Truly, most of the cast deserved so much better. This film was a stinkeroo of the worst kind!