Monday 18 January 2016

Love Nest (1951)



Jim Scott returns home from the war to discover that his wife Connie has bought an apartment block with the wages he's been sending home.  Not a bad idea on her part, on the face of it: it gives them not just a place to live, but also rental income from the tenants.

Unfortunately, Connie rather got fleeced by the unscrupulous previous owner.  She paid above the market price, and there's the little matter of faulty plumbing, crumbling plaster, and dodgy lights.  The place is, in other words, a money pit.  Just how much of one becomes clear when the Department of Housing gives them two weeks to fix all the wiring or the building will be condemned.

All of which would put any marriage under strain, but Jim rather compounds the problem by renting one of the apartments to an old army buddy.  An old army buddy who happens to be a member of the Women's Auxiliary Corps.  An old army buddy, in other words, who happens to be Marilyn Monroe.  A wife who hasn't seen her husband for nearly three years might be forgiven for feeling a little threatened in the circumstances.

But at least there's nothing else for Jim and Connie to worry about.  I mean, it's not like the nice old man who just moved into the place is secretly a notorious confidence trickster, or anything like that, right? ... right?

This is a pretty fun little situation comedy.  None of the situations it throws up are going to be unfamiliar - after all, they weren't exactly new when the film was made, and the movie's old enough to draw the pension, now - but it has a breezy air to it that's quite appealing, and the actors playing Jim and Connie work very well together.

If you're in the mood for something feather light and fun, this isn't a bad option at all.

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