The Bride Goes Wild (1948)

A prim and proper spinster (June Allyson at her most adorable) wins a contest to illustrate a book by a beloved author (Van Johnson) of children's books. The only problem is that the author is a boozer, a womanizer and can't stand kids! Directed by veteran Norman Taurog (DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE), this is a rather sweet screwball romantic comedy. Allyson and Johnson, who made six movies together, have a wonderful chemistry together. There's a reason they were box office gold and America's sweethearts in the 1940s. When the author's publisher (Hume Cronyn) borrows a hell raising kid (Butch Jenkins) from a local orphanage to masquerade as the writer's son, complications and hilarity ensue. Jenkins is that rarity among 1940s child actors in being quite natural without resorting to the "cutes". The only thing that doesn't work is a misguided slapstick sequence between Johnson and Richard Derr as Allyson's fiance. Other than that, the movie is steadily amusing. With Arlene Dahl as Johnson's old flame, Una Merkel, Elisabeth Risdon, Lloyd Corrigan, Clinton Sundberg and Connie Gilchrist.