Young and Willing ** (1943, William Holden, Eddie Bracken, James Brown, Susan Hayward, Martha O’Driscoll, Barbara Britton) – Classic Movie Review 12,196

‘LIVE AGAIN! LAUGH AGAIN! DREAM AGAIN!’

William Holden, Eddie Bracken and James Brown star in director Edward H Griffith’s pleasantly appealing, cheap and cheerful 1942 romantic comedy drama Young and Willing.

Based on Francis Swann’s play Out of the Frying Pan, Virginia Van Upp’s screenplay tells the story of three struggling poverty-stricken young actors (William Holden, Eddie Bracken and James Brown), sharing an apartment in a theatre rooming-house in New York with actresses (Susan Hayward, Martha O’Driscoll, Barbara Britton), who have a success with an ancient play.

Thanks to being prompted by Norman Reese (William Holden), they have taken a pledge not to get romantically involved with each other until their acting careers have taken off, but Marge Benson (Barbara Britton) and Tony Dennison (James Brown) are secretly married.

Thanks to the nice young and willing cast and the good-spirited story, the neatly played, entertaining old show still gently amuses.

Also in the cast are Robert Benchley, Billy Bevan, Mabel Paige, Florence MacMichael, and Jay Fassett.

Packed with Paramount Pictures contract artists, it is one of many Paramount productions bought by United Artists for cinema release in 1942-1943 when UA couldn’t fulfill exhibitor contracts because of a shortage of films, mainly because of their wartime loss of production in England.

With the contract artists and filming location of basically just the one-room apartment set in Paramount Studios Hollywood, it must have been cheap to make.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,196

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