Review of Has Anybody Seen My Gal

It is hard to imagine German exile Douglas Sirk (Hans Detlef Sierck) directing anything less likely than this, for it is even more extraordinarily pure Americana than the other Rock Hudson films he directed later. The film is based on a story written by Eleanor H. Porter, author of 'Polyanna'. The first thing to say about this film is that the cinematographer Clifford Stine ruined it from the start. Most of the interior scenes are so brightly lit by 'brutes' that they seem to be taking place in the Sahara Desert at noon. Any chance that a nuance might survive such savage and searing light was nil. The amount of sweat sponged off the actors' faces by the makeup lady between takes must have been enough to fill a swimming pool. The film is notable for an early appearance in a tiny cameo role by James Dean as a teenager sitting at the soda counter in a small town drug store. Even in his few fleeting moments, Dean manages to be electric, which is astonishing and most impressive. Although this film purports to be a cozy tale of small town life, it is based upon a rather rotten premise. It concerns a rich elderly curmudgeon, brilliantly played by Charles Coburn, who decides to stay as an incognito boarder in the house of a family to which he might or might not leave a fortune, depending on what he decides that he thinks of them. They are the daughter and grandchildren of the girl he wanted to marry but who dumped him, so that he lived his life as an embittered bachelor. The film was immensely popular when it was released. The story touches the central nerve of the USA, the land where Money is worshipped on bended knee by 300 million devotees, all of whom dream every night of the supposed delights of untold riches, especially unearned riches which come from an unexpected source (hence the popularity of Las Vegas and Atlantic City). Money is the only measure of value accepted by the majority of Americans. If you have a rare book or a beautiful painting any American visitor admiring it will give you what is meant to be the highest form of praise: 'That must be worth a lot!' It is only the monetary value that matters, the contents of the book or the beauty of the painting being incidental and essentially meaningless. Hence a fairy tale of a rich old man who might leave you a fortune is the ultimate dream, the True American Dream! The situation is made worse by the fact that so many people in America are desperately poor, far more now than in 1952 of course, for at that time there was national prosperity. Therefore they all still dream of Charles Coburn, even if they have never heard of him. The cute little girl in the film is played by Gigi Perreau, aged ten at the time. It is difficult for people today to realize how popular she was as a child actress. She first appeared on screen at the age of two, and she was only three when she played the illegitimate daughter of a Belgian woman who had been raped by a German soldier in THE MASTER RACE (1944, see my review). All during the 1950s she was a favourite of all the little boys throughout America, and made their tiny hearts throb in incomprehensible ways. She was not that cute, not that pretty, not that charming, but nevertheless she was a tearaway success. Her fame was eclipsed starting in 1959 with the appearance of the young Hayley Mills in the film TIGER BAY (1959). Hayley was a law unto herself: irresistible in every conceivable way, she could be sweeter than Margaret O'Brien (and that's saying something!), cheekier and cuter than Shirley Temple had ever been, more poignant that Natalie Wood, more everything than everybody, in fact. And so Gigi Perreau was suddenly forgotten, poor thing. But she had had a good run for her money and was four years older, and besides was getting long in the tooth at the great age of 18. She had had a run of 16 years and now it was somebody else's turn. So from these comments you may gather that in retrospect I do not believe she added much to the film, though at the time everybody was entranced by her. That is what happens when you are up against Hayley Mills in hindsight! Rock Hudson plays a young 'soda jerk' romantic lead, but doesn't have many interesting lines, and it is an unrewarding part, so he just looks dull and square-jawed and slightly ill at ease. Piper Laurie as the ingénue whom Hudson wants to marry was thought in those days by everybody to be lively, pert, and quite a cutie. In retrospect, she seems dreadfully dull too. (And just to make things worse, her makeup and costumes are bad.) In fact, everybody in the film is rather dull other than Charles Coburn and James Dean. And the film is a dreadful disappointment. But the crucial fact to remember is that it was not a dreadful disappointment back then. It served its audience of Middle America perfectly according to the undemanding standards of 1952. And for those prepared to watch a bit of nostalgia wearing their sunglasses (because of the harsh lighting), this rather tepid film might warm a cockle or two.