jacobs-greenwood 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.

WarnersBrother Many of the reviews here seem to be posted by people who have no clue as to the time period of history which this film is set in. When you watch an older contemporary film you need to be able to watch it with the mindset of a viewer seeing it in a theater at it's release. If you can't relate to 1944, you don't get this film. If you do it's a true gem.Warner's threw it's best female leads at this, Ann Sheridan, Jane Wyman and Alexis Smith (sans Bette Davis), capped off with Eve Arden in a memorable role, added Jack Carson and the reliable John Ridgely, stirred in Charlie Ruggles, Alan Mowbry and Regis Toomey in brief support and a supporting cast rated A+ It is a manic comedy, but if you don't get the political and historic tongue in cheek it falls flat. If you do, sublime!

mark.waltz Two love birds are cooing and romancing each other as chatty ditz Jane Wyman and irritable Jack Carson go to a justice of the peace to get married. When they come out as bride and groom, the love birds are now biting at each other. "Yaa taa taa, yaa taa taa", Carson screeches at his new wife, making talking motions with his hands. A snarky man peaks out and the viewers know that all is not what it appears to be. The loving couple arrive in overcrowded wartime Washington D.C. where the hotel lobby is overrun with people desperate for a room. Another newlywed Ann Sheridan is busy taking a bath in the room they check into and refuses to budge. This means war! Take the catty humor of "The Women", throw in war time politics and a few dozen men, and you have "The Doughgirls", the film version of the hit Broadway play of a couple of seasons before.This is not the Jane Wyman audiences know from "Johnny Belinda" or the powerful matriarch of "Falcon Crest". She is a cheery dumbbell who doesn't do dictation verbatim-she does it word for word! And when she finds out that the woman in the tub is her old pal from the chorus, she begins her marriage with more trouble than a dozen mother-in-laws could cause! Next in is another old pal, Alexis Smith, Carson's lecherous boss Charlie Ruggles ("The Parent Trap's" loving grandfather), and a hysterical Natasha-like (of Boris/Rocky/Bullwinkle fame) Eve Arden, dressed out in a military uniform, always carping "I would like a fish". "Live?", Wyman asks. "No, dead.", she says, intoning a deadpan voice that Virginia O'Brien would envy. Then, there is Irene Manning, the cold-blooded ex-wife of Sheridan's husband, who comes in as someone changes the wedding march to the funeral march upon spotting her. These are a wacky group of people of all kinds. The situation isn't at all believable, but oh, what fun it is! World War II audiences needed laughs like this, and Warner Brothers gave it to em' good here. Everybody gets a chance to shine.There's humorous bits by the society matron who uses the women to watch factory women's babies, the perplexed hotel manager ("People who don't pay their bills shouldn't shoot guns out the window"), the beleaguered spouses of Anne Sheridan and Alexis Smith (neither legal as well), and the Lou Costello like man who keeps creeping into the room trying to get some sleep. Arden steals the film from the moment she appears, and relishes it much like Dianne Wiest in "Bullets Over Broadway". She is hysterical leading the hotel maids in a brief song of the items she is exchanging at a pawn shop. Unfortunately, comedy was mostly overlooked by the Oscars in the 40's, as Arden's lack of a Supporting nomination is a true Hollywood crime.I'd like to also pay tribute to Warner Brothers' sound system, which is unlike any of its era. The crispy clear audio was as notable to Warner Brothers as the Technicolor of 20th Century Fox and the art deco looks at MGM. This is just a hysterically funny, funny film that I've shared with half a dozen friends long before Turner Classic Movies was around, and could watch at least once a year without not laughing.

adamj-4 This is about as wild and wacky as it gets. Eve Arden, who made a career of playing second banana, is wonderful as a Russian soldier. Jame Wyman, though not a blonde, delivers one "dumb blonde" line after another. Jack Carson is his usual blustery, pompous self. Charley Ruggles is a lecherous old man. Alan Mowbray is a Rush Limbaugh-type broadcaster, who "just got back from the front-the home front." The setting is a hotel room, and all these characters, and many more, create the most hectic, confusing and daffy atmosphere since the Marx Brothers. In fact, "The Doughgirls" is really a female Marx Brothers circus. If you like the characters mentioned above, you'll love this movie.