Confidentially Connie (1953)

A college professor (Van Johnson) and his pregnant wife (Janet Leigh) struggle with money problems. They can't even afford red meat on his salary. When his estranged but meddling father (Louis Calhern) comes to visit them, he plots to have his son lose his job and be forced to return to the Texas ranch and take over the family business. Directed by Edward Buzzell (NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER), this comedy may be on the anemic side but it addresses some serious issues. Notably, how teachers are underappreciated and underpaid. The film is rooted in its 1950s mentality. Leigh's pregnant wife laments that she has to give up cigarettes, not because she's pregnant but because it takes away from her food budget! Leigh is overly perky, Calhern overdoes the Texas Neanderthal bit but Johnson manages to let some charm cling to his quiet reserve. The movie's obsession that red meat is the mainstay of the American meal is so relentless that I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been funded by the National Cattleman's Association. With Walter Slezak, Gene Lockhart, Marilyn Erskine, Hayden Rorke and Barbara Ruick.