About Mrs. Leslie (1954)

Simply Perfect

Crappy film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Beautiful film where a single lounge singer sparks a friendship and eventually a relationship with a successful businessman. They meet once a year in California by the sea. Every year, the man and his girlfriend meet and enjoy fishing, running in the surf, and intimate dinners at a local seafood restaurant. She doesn't ask questions, but simply enjoys his company. He appreciates their time together without any prying into his life. Mrs. Leslie's advice to a young couple embarking on marriage: "Be honest with each other. Give everything you've got. Don't settle for half. You gotta have it all: marriage, kids, the works. It cost me a life to find that out."

If people did not accept back street arrangements like Shirley Booth did in About Mrs. Leslie a whole lot of romance novels and soap operas would never be written. In one of her few film appearances Shirley Booth plays Mrs. Leslie who owns a boardinghouse in Los Angeles and deals with the problems of her tenants while thinking back on her wartime romance with what was called then, a dollar a year man.Her dollar a year man is Robert Ryan whom she met back east when she was singing in some second rate supper club. They more than hit it off and she accepts his proposition for a six week vacation on the southern California coast though her breaking her contract puts her career such as it is in jeopardy.She only finds out about who this man really is when she sees a newsreel in the theater and finds out that 46 weeks a year he's a business executive and former World War I ace who married a Senator's daughter to advance his career. Ryan regrets this and Booth regrets having to settle for back street status though in the end financially she comes out well.Combining elements of both Back Street and Maytime, About Mrs. Leslie is a fine film, one which we used to call a woman's picture. Booth made too few feature films for the big screen, but when she got there everyone was a gem.About Mrs. Leslie is an uncut diamond. It should be broadcast more often.

Shirley Booth proved what a good actress she was in this film. While she was memorable and received an Oscar for her performance in "Come Back, Little Sheba", here in "About Mrs. Leslie" she gives a more well-rounded and less pathetic performance. Here, her acting was tops, though the casting was a bit unusual--I might have expected someone like Lana Turner for such a role. That's because the rather ordinary looking Booth plays 'the other woman'--an odd role for a slightly overweight middle-aged woman. Now I am NOT against Booth getting this role and actresses like her getting more roles. Hollywood is too often filled with beautiful women--beautiful and unrealistic women. So, seeing a good actress who is more plain was nice--but in this particular case, the casting was even more unusual.This brings me to my major problem with the film. Although I marveled at the acting (as Booth managed to be even better than the wonderful Robert Ryan--and that's no small feat), I had a hard time loving this film because the film is essentially about a rather pathetic affair. You see, the single lady Booth had an odd affair that lasts six weeks every year, as she vacations with a man (Ryan) and they pretend to be husband and wife (the whole question of sex is omitted in the film). They know little about each other and she knows NOTHING about him--a sure recipe for contentment and lifelong security, huh? But, it did end well and I appreciated how her character seemed to understand this at the end.A magnificently acted film--too bad they didn't put a little more effort into the ordinary script.

What a movie. I don't know how or where to start to rave and praise it. The acting, the story. So very believable, and for a woman to live with a man outside of wedlock in the 1930's...well, unheard of then...or maybe not so. This is the story of a woman who accepts a man who can only offer her a six week a year commitment. But, oh, it is so worth it. You have to see this movie to fully understand it. The casting of both Shirley and Robert were perfection. So realistic. A very, very poignant and touching piece. Youth vs. age, many subplots, but done in a superior way of flashbacks. The character of Mrs. Leslie is one who has learned all about life's foibles and disappointments. She has her memories of her "Mr. Leslie, honey," to sustain her. I cannot praise this movie enough. I have it on VHS, recorded from TV. I cannot locate it on DVD. See this if and when it replays on television. It is amazing.