Rosalind Russell storms through this film in admirable fashion, never letting up in her scattershot dialog and it's pretty effective at first. Very much a play made into a movie, the viewer can easily see how this was staged on a few sets on...
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Rosalind Russell storms through this film in admirable fashion, never letting up in her scattershot dialog and it's pretty effective at first. Very much a play made into a movie, the viewer can easily see how this was staged on a few sets on Broadway. The script is key to the successes and shortcomings here.

The story has a stock market crash setting, but some of the ideas of "bohemian" are a bit too 1950s. At the same time, the comedy early is replaced by more worn bits later as Mame takes the stage, works for Macy's etc. after being wiped out by investment losses. Still, though the bond between the socialite and her nephew forms a little too early for believability, it has charm.

The situations escalate as Mame finds Burnside and adapts to a southern lifestyle, and the comedy becomes more and more broad. At the end, there's a bit of an emphasis on "old rich", "new rich" and acceptably "cool rich" that is a little off-putting - despite Mame's love of life. This is one of those stories that I like in principle and then tends to get away from itself.