Ginger Rogers plays a member of a typing pool who heads upstate to a Catskills resort in order to get away from crowded subways and pushy bosses. What does she get in return? A crowded resort filled with pushy New Yorkers! There, she immediately begins to squabble with one of the resort's employees (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) whom she, for no reason revealed, ends up in a romance with. There's nothing to explain why their initial antagonism ended, and no reason to explain why they are together anyway. This isn't like the screwball comedies where the romantic leads argue but their chemistry is obvious. From the moment the film starts, it's very clear that this film is overcrowded with the most obnoxious types of people you can shove onto a subway, and then into a resort. Not one of them are likable. The Broadway play this was based upon apparently centered around a Jewish resort, but other than a few hints of an accent here and there, these characters are obviously not Jewish. Rogers is reunited with her "Stage Door" co-stars Lucille Ball and Eve Arden (reciting a harsh Brooklyn accent), but their characters are not at all fleshed out. Red Skelton makes his film debut and has several amusing, if not outlandishly funny, routines, showing campers how to dunk their doughnuts properly, and demonstrating how various types go up and down the camp's stairs. This is a major disappointment considering all the talent involved.
Review of Having Wonderful Time
