No Leave, No Love
No Leave, No Love | |
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Directed by | Charles Martin |
Written by |
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Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
Starring | |
Cinematography | |
Edited by | Conrad A. Nervig |
Music by | George Stoll |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 119 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,778,000[1] |
Box office | $3,785,000[1] |
No Leave, No Love is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Charles Martin and starring Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn and Pat Kirkwood.[2][3]
Plot
[edit]Mike, a Marine and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, returns with his pal Slinky from fighting in the Pacific during World War II. Mike expects to marry his hometown sweetheart; his mother wants to tell him in person that she has married someone else. Most of the film involves the efforts of Susan, a popular radio personality, to keep him from finding out or going home until his mother makes it to New York from Indiana. Susan and Mike fall in love; misunderstandings ensue. The shenanigans of the implausibly unpleasant and larcenous Slinky fill out the action, and the musical element is provided by several appearances of then-famous performers in nightclubs and on Susan’s radio show. The story is bookended by Mike’s arrival in the waiting room of a maternity ward and the birth of his and Susan’s son. Slinky gets the last word when Rosalind announces that she is pregnant.
Cast
[edit]- Van Johnson as Sergeant Michael Hanlon
- Keenan Wynn as Slinky Edwards
- Pat Kirkwood as Susan Malby Duncan
- Edward Arnold as Hobart Canford 'Popsie' Stiles
- Leon Ames as Colonel R.G. Elliott
- Marie Wilson as Rosalind
- Marina Koshetz as Countess Elena Marina Strogoff
- Selena Royle as Mrs Hanlon
- Wilson Wood as Mr Crawley
- Vince Barnett as Ben
- Guy Lombardo and his Orchestra as Themselves
- Frank Sugar Chile Robinson as The boy on the piano
- Lillian Yarbo as Maid (uncredited)
Reception
[edit]The film earned $2,891,000 in the US and Canada and $894,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $629,000.[1][4]
Critical response
[edit]Bosley Crowther of The New York Times writes in his review: "No Leave, No Love starts rambling along about the second reel, when Van Johnson, as the marine hero, turns things over to his pal, Keenan Wynn. And from there on it is mainly a matter of how comical Mr. Wynn can be with little more helpful material than his sense of humor and a big cigar. It must be said to Mr. Wynn's credit—and to the credit of his director, perhaps—that he does pull some fairly funny business in a strictly low-comedy vein, but it is all rather forced and capricious. And it, too, has its saturation points.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ^ "No Leave, No Love". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved September 14, 2016.
- ^ BFI | Film & TV Database | NO LEAVE, NO LOVE (1946)
- ^ "Top Grossers of 1947", Variety, 7 January 1948 p 63
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (October 18, 1946). "'No Leave, No Love,' With Van Johnson, Keenan Wynn and Pat Kirkwood, Opens at Capitol". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved September 14, 2016.