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You for Me (1952)

You for Me

1952

  • MGM
  • Directed by Don Weis
  • Screenplay by William Roberts
  • Starring Peter Lawford, Jane Greer, Gig Young, Rita Corday, Howard Wendell

Synopsis

Tony Brown (Lawford) is accidentally wounded in the backside with buckshot while duck hunting. At the hospital he is insulted by a tired and irritable Nurse Katie McDermad (Greer). Since Tony supports the hospital financially, Katie is fired. Dr. Jeff Chadwick (Young) suggests that Katie use her charms on Tony, a susceptible playboy. Katie is rehired, and Jeff wants her to work on Tony to ensure that he maintains his endowment that also supports Jeff’s research. Soon both Tony and Jeff are falling for Katie.

Tony wants to marry Katie but is not free to marry until his wife obtains her divorce. A jealous Jeff attempts to separate Katie from Tony. Angry, Katie accepts Tony’s proposal. Realizing that she loves Jeff, Tony takes Katie to the train station to stop him from moving to a new hospital. Katie leaves Tony on the train after she sees Jeff standing on the platform. Tony flirts with a pretty passenger. As he tries to sit next to her, he sits on her knitting needles.

Discussion

You for Me is an inexpensive lightweight romantic comedy, intended as a companion feature on double bills. The plot uses an amusing gag, the condition of Lawford's wounded backside, as a continuing joke, opening and closing the film with accidents to his posterior. Variety, in its review of the film, has some fun with the gag, writing that Lawford is the butt of jokes as the playboy who gets it in the end. The joke, while unrefined, is never carried over into ribaldry, and the dialogue and Weis' direction avoid any possibility of offending the audience. Variety also commended the film's slick script, smart direction, and nifty trouping. Peter Lawford and Gig Young, experienced light comedians, play their parts effortlessly. Jane Greer, whose somber, world-weary beauty was an asset in a film noir, lacks liveliness and comes across as a cold nurse who does not enjoy nursing. She does not project a needed sense of the youthful pleasure and gratification she should be getting from the attentions of the two handsome men.

Greer's career originated with a photo. She was one of three young women who modeled the new WAC (Women's Army Corps) uniform in 1943. Her photo was published in Life magazine and attracted the attention of Rudy Vallee and Howard Hughes. After a worldwind courtship, she married the smitten Vallee in December 1943. The marriage lasted only six months. Hughes signed her to a personal contract and arranged acting lessons. They were romantically involved for several years. Eventually, Greer bought out her contract. Never a big star, Greer played mostly in melodrama, often in bad girl roles. She is a film noir icon due to her memorable role as the femme fatale in Out of the Past (1947). Greer came out of retirement in 1984 to play the femme fatale's mother in Against All Odds (1984), a loose remake of Out of the Past. You For Me is a rare comedic exception in Greer's filmography.

Director Don Weis had a forty-year career during which he directed twenty films and hundreds of episodes of television series. His films, mostly second-rank comedies intended as companion features on double bills, include such amusing, lightweight entertainment as I Love Melvin (1953), starring Donald O'Connor, A Slight Case of Larceny (1953), starring Mickey Rooney, and Half a Hero (1953), starring Red Skelton. From the mid-1950s onwards, Weis was prolific on TV, most notably directing over fifty episodes of Ironside (1967-75), starring Raymond Burr, and sixteen episodes of the highly acclaimed M*A*S*H (1972-78).