Thursday, August 15, 2019

Movie review - "It Grows on Trees" (1952) **1/2

This movie has a bright central idea - a woman has a tree in the backyard which grows trees - and the complications are fairly well worked out. I feel the central conflict needed a drama - I think they should have played a love triangle like Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House, another man who tried to use the wife.

I wasn't a big fan of Irene Dunne... but maybe she would've been more fun had she been teamed with one of her co stars from her hey day - Melvyn Douglas, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott. But she's got Dean Jagger who is a good actor but is too realistically a dull man in the suburbs when you want a film star. It's also got that Eisenhower Era thing where everyone thinks the wife is crazy - Lubin used that device in Francis but here it's about a woman which has extra connotations.

The performances of the little kid is interesting - actually all the acting is solid. I did wish it was in colour and wanted to see more of the money tree - but they presumably had trouble with the Treasury.

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