Review of Auntie Mame (1958) by Adrian B — 02 Jan 2013

In the days leading up to the Great Depression (1929), a young boy (Jan Handzlik, as an adult played by actor Roger Smith) is forced to move into his Auntie Mame's (Rosalind Russell) penthouse and grow up there.

She loves the lavish style and is living off stock income until the crash on the markets occurs. In addition, the trustee (Fred Clark) for the father's inheritance arranges for the boy to be sent to a school away from his aunt, leaving her greatly disappointed.

Surprisingly, this comedy is not as bad as others from the era, so it stands up slightly better thanks to Russell's performance and some good lines. Unfortunately, it has a major problem. There are too many depressing scenes, such as Mame's new husband (Forrest Tucker) falling to his death in the Alps in Switzerland as well as Mame's loneliness when her nephew is taken away.

Those parts wreck a potentially good film and make sad, deteriorating the laughs I endured. Had those several scenes been cut, it may have stood a lot better. It would have also been shorter. Thankfully, not the most dated comedy of the era.