George is in Cleveland

Author Kenneth Bixby (George Brent) is on a book tour with his secretary (and almost fiance) Ann Rogers (Ann Sheridan). Upon his arrival in Cleveland for a book signing, he receives flowers and a mysterious note from "Miriam," the fictional character in his latest book. The sender of the flowers turns out to be Ken's college girlfriend, Julie Wilson (Osa Massen), who's still fixated on him even though she is married to Harvey Wilson (Charles Ruggles). Our film this week is Honeymoon for Three (1941)

With a script based on a relatively successful Broadway play, and an excellent cast, you would think Honeymoon for Three would be a good film. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. The script slides deeper and deeper into silliness, and after awhile, the audience just doesn't care any longer (and starts to look at their collective watches).

It doesn't help that George Brent is miscast as the lothario Kenneth Bixby. Mr. Brent is just to stable to be convincing as a ne'er-do-well.  And why on earth he would respond to a flibbertigibbet like Julie Wilson is beyond comprehension, especially when he has an attractive, intelligent woman like Ann Rogers sitting next to him.

We don't get to see enough of Ann Sheridan. Initially, there is a pleasant rapport between her and Mr. Brent (who would become her husband shortly after the filming ended. The marriage only lasted for a year). (TCM article)  Ann is a calm breath of air next to the overblown Julie, and we DO get too much of Osa Massen. She's a delusional whirligig, with a mania that is just too much to take in. The viewer needs to understand why Bixby would even tolerate her, and the audience just can't.

Jane Wyman, as Julie's almost sister-in-law, Elizabeth Clochessy is also wasted. Ms. Wyman was still playing small roles in 1941 - her real breakthrough as Orry Baxter (for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar) in The Yearling wouldn't come for another five years. All she allowed to do in this film is dither, and look adoringly at her fiance Arthur Westlake (William T. Orr), who really isn't worth all that much adoration.

Lee Patrick is equally ill-served as Mrs. Pettijohn, an idiotic woman with a penchance for naming her children after authors (Booth Tarkington Pettijohn???). The character provides a somewhat deus-ex-machina ending to the proceedings, but Ms. Patrick deserves better.

We did like Charles Ruggles who is the only part of the comedy to underplay his role. You feel sorry for Harvey - his wife is insane, and his brother is a bore - and Mr. Ruggles makes you rather like Harvey. Who can blame him for wanting to get Julie off his hands?  Charles (or Charlie) Ruggles started his career on Broadway (in the 1914 production of Help Wanted), and was working in silent films by the following year. He easily made the transition to sound, often in those early years playing the romantic lead.  As time progressed, he moved to character parts, including Egbert Flout in Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), Major Applegate in Bringing Up Baby (1938), and Grandfather Charles McKendrick in The Parent Trap (1961).  A generation grew up with his voice - he was Aesop in the various Rocky and Bullwinkle shows. He worked frequently in both radio and television, while continuing to appear in films and on Broadway.  He married his second wife (his first marriage only lasted two years) in 1942; they remained together until his death from cancer, age 70, in 1970.

Originally slated to have starred Olivia de Havilland and Fred MacMurray (AFI Catalog), the film was based on the play Goodbye Again, which opened on Broadway in 1932, starring Osgood Perkins (Anthony Perkins father) as Kenneth - and with a very young James Stewart as The Chauffeur (in his second Broadway role).  In 1933, it was made into a film, with Warren William and Joan Blondell. In 1943, and 1956 (with Donald Cook, Patricia Barry, and Tom Poston), the play was again produced on Broadway. 

While critic Bosley Crowther is never a fan of Mr. Brent (his loss, quite frankly), we have to agree with him in his New York Times review Mr. Brent is just all wrong for this one. Then again, no one would have had a great deal of success with this tangled web of a script. Here's a trailer from the film.