Themes: Fathers and Daughters, Culture Clash, Americans Abroad
Main Cast: Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, John Saxon, Sandra Dee, Angela Lansbury
Release Year: 1958
Country: US
Run Time: 96 minutes
Plot
The Reluctant Debutante is a vintage example of the sort of elegant, witty "polite" comedy that Hollywood used to pull off so well. Real-life husband and wife Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall are cast as newly wed Jimmy and Sheila Broadbent, two of London's more attractive aristocrats. Jimmy has a daughter, Jane (Sandra Dee), from a previous marriage; though the girl is dead set against it, Jimmy insists that Jane make her society debut in London. Daddy wants his darling daughter to meet the "right" kind of husband, but she's more interested in handsome-but-shady American musician David Parkson (John Saxon). Little does anyone know that David, secretly a titled millionaire, is actually the prize catch of the season. The matchless Kay Kendall manages to walk away with the picture, though she's given a run for her money by fifth-billed Angela Lansbury. The Reluctant Debutante was based on the play by William Douglas Home. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Any picture which gives the lovely, uniquely talented Kay Kendall an opportunity to bubble across the screen is worth watching, and The Reluctant Debutante is no exception. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what made Kendall such a special performer. Was it her grace? Her charm? Her timing? Her fascinating facial features (a combination of swooping lines and sharp angles)? Her ability to take a single word (sometimes a single syllable) and give it a little life all its own? Whatever it is, it's on full display here -- and that fact makes it all the more remarkable that both Rex Harrison (all suave urbanity) and Angela Lansbury (all delightful bitchiness) not only keep up with her but sometimes manage to give her a run for her money. Vincente Minnelli's direction is efficient rather than inspired, but he does frame his two leads in the most flattering manner possible (Balmain's gowns are especially stunning) -- and he gets plenty of opportunity to indulge his trademark obsessions with colors and fabrics. If all concerned had been working from a more inspired screenplay, the result could have been a genuine classic rather than an amusing trifle; however, with Kendall (and company) on hand, what viewer wouldn't be willing to overlook the thinness of the screenplay? ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Diane Clare - Clarissa Claremont; Peter Myers - David Fenner; Charles Cullum - English Colonel; Ambrosine Phillpotts - Secretary; Sheila Raynor - Maid
Credit
Jean D'Eaubonne - Art Director, Pierre Balmain - Costume Designer, Helen Rose - Costume Designer, Vincente Minnelli - Director, Adrienne Fazan - Editor, Eddie Warner - Composer (Music Score), Jean-Paul Ulysse - Makeup, Joseph Ruttenberg - Cinematographer, Pandro S. Berman - Producer, Robert Christides - Set Designer, William Douglas Home - Screenwriter, William Douglas Home - Play Author
When 17-year-old Jane Broadbent (Dee) comes to London to live with her wealthy father Jimmy Broadbent, (Harrison), her stepmother Sheila (Kendall) feels compelled by her social aspirations to introduce her to society. Jane is bored by the debutante balls she attends and the young men she is introduced to, but becomes interested in a drummer named David Parkson (Saxon), who has a reputation for leading young women astray. As it turns out, Parkson's reputation is undeserved, but Sheila is convinced otherwise, and she tries to keep him away from Jane. Fortunately for Jane and David, her plans fail miserably. The two young people fall in love with each other, and David proposes to Jane. He also inherits an Italian title of nobility, satisfying Sheila's concerns for Jane's reputation.
