MartinHafer "Grounds for Marriage" is watchable but I also found the plot to be silly and just hate the sort of singing that Kathryn Grayson did in this film. If you like very operatic music, perhaps you won't mind it like I did.When the film begins, you learn that Linc (Van Johnson) and Ina (Grayson) have been divorced for a few years and Linc is now planning on remarrying. Inexplicably, Ina wants Linc back--though exactly why is never really explored. In fact, it seems as if she wanted the divorce in order to follow her dream career--and now she is scheming to get him back despite him upcoming marriage to another lady.In order to get Linc's attention, she pretends to have a throat disorder and they call for a doctor--and Linc just happens to be that doctor. Now any sane doctor would have refused the case and referred her on to another--especially since she announced that she's trying to rekindle their dead marriage. But he doesn't--and eventually you know exactly how it's all going to end.Aside from the singing, the worst part about the film was Grayson's character. At times she was shrill and late in the film when Linc wants her back(???), she runs off in a huff--and this makes zero sense in light of her working so hard to get him. Overall, she comes off as petulant and childish and you have no idea why Linc would want her. At the very best, this is a silly time-waster--a film to watch when you don't want anything intellectually taxing.

Neil Doyle While KATHRYN GRAYSON doesn't get a chance to shine here (she's left voiceless for too much of the film), at least VAN JOHNSON and BARRY SULLIVAN prove so adept at comedy that it's a shame they never had more frequent chances to prove how good they were at mugging.Sullivan, with his trim mustache and eyebrow-raised reactions, is clearly having a good time as an eccentric toymaker with designs on Grayson and PAULA RAYMOND--and anyone else who tickles his fancy.Van Johnson has a fine time as a doctor who is part of an all-doctor orchestra and trying not to renew his relationship with ex-wife Grayson. Unfortunately, the script makes Grayson's character rather unbearable, relieved only by some operatic warbling that scarcely gives the audience time to appreciate her musical talent. Ironically, the studio could have chosen much more effective operatic arias for her to sing, given that she's supposed to be an operatic diva who has just finished a world tour. Instead, we get very brief segments from "La Boheme" and "Carmen" that are over much too soon.Funniest bit has Van Johnson stifling a cold while making a speech about his theories on cold symptoms and later getting sympathetic treatment from Grayson while he wheezes and coughs his way into a spasm of epic proportions. He's hilariously effective.Summing up: Too bad the script isn't bright enough to accommodate all of these expert performers. A very uneven comedy that gets a lift from Johnson and Sullivan.

tonstant viewer We know from Hollywood that divorced couples must be reconciled, and any attempt for one partner to marry someone else is doomed.Yet here, three years after his divorce, Van Johnson announces that he's grown, and fallen in love with an adult woman. Kathryn Grayson is a willful, turbulent child, an opera singer who psychosomatically loses her voice when her ex- refuses to resume their disastrous marriage. She tells him "you were born to be dominated," and ultimately infantilizes him into renouncing his new engagement and returning to their sick, sick, sick relationship.The entertaining parts of this film are indeed entertaining, if not memorable. But the parts of this film dealing with medicine, psychology, motivations and relationships are a distasteful mess, shot in Stygian darkness by a cinematographer with a half dozen of the world's greatest film noirs under his belt.When you wind up rooting for the cold society babe over the eccentric artist heroine, you have a film with a problem. Yuk.

Liza-19 This film is the usual comedy from MGM - simple set-up and obvious ending, but it's still a charmer. The beautiful Kathryn Grayson plays Ina, who is trying to win back her ex-husband, played by Van Johnson. Kathryn is a singer (surprise surprise) and Van is a doctor. There are a few musical numbers, most notably the dream sequence, where the production does some famous selections from CARMEN. Kathryn sings them beautifully and Van Johnson is very obviously dubbed.The big surprise is that Kathryn's character actually looses her voice throughout a good part of the film. This is simply criminal, considering the woman's vocal talent. However, she gets it back and still has plenty of songs. Van and Kathryn have great chemistry together, too bad they never made another film together. I love this movie, it's sweet and very funny, even if it is predictable.