Seven Days' Leave (1942)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Touches You

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Copyright 13 November 1942 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York release at the Capitol: 10 December 1942. U.S. release: 15 October 1942. Australian release: 14 October 1943. Copyright length: 87 minutes. Australian length: 8,019 feet. 89 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Soldier needs to marry socialite within seven days to get $100,000 inheritance.COMMENT: Not a highly-rated musical by most critics, but I found it vastly entertaining. Its fast-paced highjinks are of special appeal to nostalgia radio buffs: Harold Peary does his Gildersleeve - complete with fatuous giggle - and the script takes in no less than two radio shows, including the hilarious "Truth Or Consequences",As for the songs: Beyond an obviously dubbed voice handling Mature's chores as a crooner, there's a great line-up including Ginny Simms' "Can't Get Out Of This Mood" - a wonderful solo number which is then delight¬fully reprized by Marcy McGuire and Arnold Stang. Miss McGuire (who is supposedly a puckish sixteen but actually looks somewhat more mature) also has the delightfully zesty "Touch Of Texas" song and dance. The dances themselves are most energetically staged - and here Mature is in unbelievably rhythmic form, particularly in the rousing opener, "Please Won't You Leave My Girl Alone?", which is lavishly reprized at the conclusion by the whole cast.As if this were not enough, both Les Brown's and Freddy Martin's Orchestras strut their stuff; and there's also an hilarious spoof contributed by Lynn, Royce and Vanya of the de rigeur nightclub number of numerous "B" musicals where a top-hatted Fred Astaire second-rater whirls a girl around the dance-floor for an inordinate amount of cheap footage. If these skillfully mistimed acrobatics don't raise a few laughs, Peter Lind Hayes is on hand with some maliciously accurate Ronald Colman, Lionel Barrymore and Charles Laughton impersonations.You would think there was not much left for Miss Ball to do, but as usual she proves herself an expert comedienne, handling both slapstick and wit with equal dexterity - and so attractively photographed and costumed as to make Mature's interest totally believable. Her "punishment" on "Truth Or Consequences" is a gem.Anyone who fails to be entertained by at least some aspect of this film is mighty hard to please. I liked it all, just about. True, the fast gallop slows to a canter now and again, but Tim Whelan is as sure-footed a director as they come. All told, Seven Days' Leave is breezy, zestful, escapist, nostalgic if juvenile entertainment, presented with craftsmanship and style, and enacted by a marvelous cast.Mature joined the Coast Guard for the duration of the war after this one. An amiably dashing fellow when he was young, Mature had an unexpected gift for tongue-in-cheek. Alas, when he returned to Hollywood in 1946 he began to take himself all too seriously. Producers obliged by casting him as Doc Holliday, Samson, Demetrius, Horemheb, Chief Crazy Horse, Zarak Khan, Kasim Khan, Hannibal, etc. His talent for self-parody was not utilized again until After the Fox (1966).

"Seven Days' Leave" is a piece of wartime propaganda fluff--pure and simple. Much of it consists of lots of soldiers singing and dancing and putting flowers in their hats--and it makes you wonder HOW the US managed to win the war if these guys are like the soldiers they fielded during WWII! After a whole lot of singing and dancing, the plot FINALLY is introduced. Johnny Grey (Victor Mature) will inherit a fortune. He's thrilled and plans on marrying his girlfriend. HOWEVER, he soon learns that there is a stupid codicil to the will. He MUST marry a descendant of General Allen. It seems, in a VERY contrived plot twist, that Johnny's grandfather, General Grey, fought against General Allen during the Civil War. And, the will wants a descendant of Allen to marry a descendant of Grey to heal up these old wounds. And, this woman is NOT the lady he plans on marrying but Terry Allen (Lucille Ball)--a woman who HATES the Greys.So, you've got a VERY contrived plot, lots of silly and superfluous singing and Victor Mature doing comedy. All in all, it sounds pretty bad...and it is. Even worse is when a fourth-rate guy does imitations of various celebrities. They announce each one before he begins--and you really need to be told who they are supposed to be because you really cannot tell by listening to him! A silly and forgettable film.By the way, there is a very strange character in the film. Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary) is the lawyer who handles the estate, right? Well, this same character (and actor) played Gildersleeve in quite a few other films. Plus, Gildersleeve was a very popular radio character who appeared regularly on "Fibber McGee and Molly" and later had his own spin off radio show starring, who else, Peary!

This film is a most interesting and intriguing cultural document: it was released in November of 1942, or less than a year after the attack at Pearl Harbor. As most any person who paid attention in their American history class might know, the first year of the declared war against Japan, Germany and Italy did NOT go very well for the United States. Aside from the shocking losses sustained by the fleet at Pearl Harbor and by the Army Air Corps units there, and the deaths of civilians on Hawai'i, there was the slow-moving disaster in the Philippines as the Japanese forces invaded, and rolled up the resistance. U.S. and Philippino losses in that first year of the war were heavy, and the treatment of the prisoners of war there was shocking and brutal, and fairly well-known before 1945.Watching this film, now, some sixty-four years later, one almost gets the sense of this being a "mockumentary." Of course, it isn't. It's a romantic comedy. But Victor Mature and his Army buddies are entirely too happy for newly minted soldiers facing the grim reality of mortal combat.This film is a goofy, confusing and fast-paced romantic comedy. It has some nice comedic moments but the true value of this film fiction lies in the romantic music and in the performance of Lucille Ball.Personality wise, Victor Mature comes off as being kind of ... cheesy ... which is unfair because many people who have considered his entire career find in him an actor capable of subtle and nuanced performances. He could and did play 'noble and heroic' types and he could also be the less-than-acceptable Cad & Bounder. In this film he's a high-voltage goof-ball surrounded by screwball types.Film buffs who do not know much about cinema productions made during the war really ought to make it their mission to see this film the next time it comes around on Turner Classic Movies. It is fun, in the aforementioned goofy way, Ms. Ball scintillates, and the singing of Ginny Simms and the big band music is exceptional, truly exceptional.Some day, some day soon, hopefully, some august person will write a dissertation or a pop culture book on the subject of ...Where Did Rock & Roll Go Wrong ? Looking back at Bill Haley & The Comets, Buddy Holly & The Crickets, the doo-wop era and the blues-oriented vocal groups of the 1950s, most anyone can see that rock & roll music grew out of the "swing" movement in the big band era. But what happened to the genius deployed in the big band styles ? How could it have become obsolete so quickly ? Was it "television" that killed the big bands ?? Get a load of the song stylings in this peculiar film, crafted, clearly crafted, as a form of 'feel good' entertainment for the home-front at a time when the news was bad, grim and getting grimmer, and most anyone will have to ask -- where did all those brilliant singers go ??? This is a good film and got a six, but only because the plot is entirely paper-thin. But that didn't stop either Ball or Mature from hamming it up and having a very good time on the silver screen.

"Seven Days' Leave" is a WWII-era musical comedy about a young Army soldier [Mature] who is due a large inheritance. The problem is, he must marry a certain girl [Ball] whom he does not love, in order to collect.If one is a Lucy fan, this movie is a great watch. Lucy is actually drop-dead gorgeous in this flick, more so than she had ever been in her entire career, in my opinion.Also, Harold 'The Great Gildersleeve' Peary adds to the fun, along with Marcy McGuire as the younger sister to Lucy's character.Unfortunately, this film as a whole is quite mediocre. And, Victor Mature sings twice. FFWD required.All in all, one watch of this movie is definitely worth it. The video is even worth owning if you like Lucy.