There is some awkward scripting to cover Sandra Dee's presence in this comedy of manners - she is the daughter of Rex Harrison and an unseen American who goes to visit Harrison and his new wife Kay Kendall. Kendall becomes determined to launch Dee into society, and is worried when she falls for John Saxon who has a reputation as a rake.
Harrison and Kendall can play this sort of material in their sleep - Angela Lansbury is a dab hand, too. Fortunately so, since the material is light as hell - it doesn't really make sense that Kendall would be so obsessed with launching her step daughter into society, or be so uptight about it, or that Dee would care at all (they should've just made Dee their daughter and explained away the accent via American boarding schools or something). And it's a cheat that John Saxon turns out to be actual nobility (which is a spoiler but I thought I'd let you know because it's so dumb - and snobby).
Dee is sweet and tries but simply seems to stick out - there's no reason it couldn't have worked but I think a little more of her American citizenship could have worked. She's not very convincing as Rex Harrison's daughter, although I did enjoy the scene with them together where Harrison talks about his old conquests.
Harrison acts with disinterested aplomb which is always enjoyable, Kendall throws some fun tantrums, there are some accomplished support actors, it all feels as though it's set in the 1930s, John Saxon and Dee have an easy chemistry (they were teamed several times) even if Saxon doesn't have much of a role. If you want to see a film about debutantes you're better off checking out Metropolitan but this is amiable, simple fun.
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