The Lady Wants Mink *** (1953, Dennis O’Keefe, Ruth Hussey, Eve Arden, William Demarest, Gene Lockhart, Hope Emerson, Hillary Brooke, Tommy Rettig) – Classic Movie Review 12,008

Director William A Seiter’s 1953 Republic Pictures American comedy film The Lady Wants Mink stars Dennis O’Keefe, Ruth Hussey, Eve Arden, William Demarest, Gene Lockhart and Hope Emerson, along with Hillary Brooke and Tommy Rettig.

Nora Connors (Hussey) and her husband Jim Connors (O’Keefe) set up a mink farm and go in for self-sufficiency after neighbour Gladys Jones (Arden) appears in a new mink coat. Since Hussey can’t afford such a luxury she and O’Keefe decide to start from scratch.

The Lady Wants Mink is an unexpectedly amusing comedy with exceptionally assured playing, a glossy surface and polished handling.

Even if its premise seems terribly cosy and dated, and the splendid Arden and her screen husband William Demarest as Harvey Jones are not given enough to do, it is still a lot of Fifties fun.

It is written by Dane Lussier and Richard Alan Simmons.

The film was released on 30 March 1953 by Republic Pictures.

The cast are Dennis O’Keefe as Jim Connors, Ruth Hussey as Nora Connors, Eve Arden as Gladys Jones, William Demarest as Harvey Jones, Gene Lockhart as Mr. Heggie, Hope Emerson as Mrs. Hoxie, Hillary Brooke as Evelyn Cantrell, Tommy Rettig as Ritchie Connors, Earl Robie as Sandy Connors, Mary Field as Janie, Isabel Randolph as Mrs. Frazier, Thomas Browne Henry as Mr. Swiss, Brad Johnson as Bud Dunn, Mara Corday as Model, Robert Shayne as Cecil, Jean Fenwick as Faye, Jean Vachon as Doris, Vici Raaf as Daisy, Mary Alan Hokanson as Marian, Mary Alan Hokanson, Barbara Billingsley, Frank Gerstle, Wade Crosby, Bobby Diamond, Angela Greene, Wayne C Treadway, Max Wagner, Arthur Walsh, Slim Duncan, Rodney Bell, Michael Barton, Gail Bonney, Sydney Mason, Joseph Mell, Howard Negley and Dennis Ross.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,008

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