After five years of retirement, longtime
theater star Preston “Mitch” Mitchell continues to reject the
efforts of his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, actress Nita Holloway, and
agent Phil to interest him in a new stage role, playing the father
to teen idol Tony Manza. Insulted by Nita’s accusations that
he is frightened of competing against the new breed of Method actor,
Mitch leaves in a huff.
At his Connecticut horse farm, his
perpetually tipsy housekeeper, Mrs. Early, is followed by a seagull
that she has wounded during her attempt to shoot a chicken for
dinner. When Bill Tremaine, the young man who lives next door,
visits to complain that his latest girlfriend has married a rich
older man, Mitch cheers him up by loaning him his car for a party
that night.
At the party, Bill is at first dejected
by the lack of single women, but is soon approached by dental
secretary Janet Blake, who is trying to escape the drunken clutches
of her boss, Dr. McCafferty. Janet quits and asks Bill for a
ride to the subway, but once in the car, he offers to drive her all
the way to Brooklyn. Suspecting he is going to accost her, she
jumps out of the car in front of Bill’s house. Bill chases
Janet into the rainy night, scandalizing his mother Margaret when
she hears him suggest to the young woman that she get out of her wet
clothes. Still frightened, a soaking wet Janet bangs on
Mitch’s door, hoping to call a cab. Once inside, however, he
also advises her to take off her dress, and Janet reacts in alarm.
After Mitch finally manages to calm Janet down, they discuss his
career and her recent loss of one. Mitch is delighted with his
young visitor, and when Nita calls once again to invite Mitch over,
he has Janet pretend to be his “personal secretary” to dissuade her
from pursuing him. Eventually, it becomes clear that Janet
will have to spend the night while waiting for her dress to dry.
In the morning, Margaret visits Mitch to
ask his advice about Bill, whose actions the night before have upset
her, but as soon as Janet shows up at the breakfast table in
pajamas, Margaret assumes the worst and prepares to leave.
Just then, Nita visits, and also believes that Mitch is having an
affair with Janet, even after Janet heatedly denies the accusation.
Bill, however, who appears minutes later, is certain that Mitch is
far too old to have an interest in young women and is thrilled to
see Janet again. After asking Nita to leave, Mitch drives
Janet to the train station, and during their ensuing discussion
about love, he asserts that people fall in love when they find
something they need in someone else. Just before the train
pulls away, Mitch impulsively offers Janet a job as his secretary,
and, while running alongside the train to give her his phone number,
falls into a ditch. His resulting back injury is tended to by
Mrs. Early, who gives him a hot-water bottle filled with
brandy.
Janet soon calls to accept the job, and
although Mitch re-injures his back trying to answer the phone, he
feigns perfect health while insisting that she move into his house
to avoid the long commute. The next day, Bill picks up Janet
at the station and proposes that they date, ensuring her that Mitch
could not be interested in her because he “wants to take it easy in
his old age.” He brings her to the farm, where Phil, Nita and
Tony are visiting in the hope of convincing Mitch to join their
play. Tony is in the yard practicing “psychic existentialism,”
which requires intense concentration, on the seagull to heal its
wing. After Mitch declares that he cannot abide the current
acting trend of mumbling and slouching on stage, they join Tony in
the yard just in time to see the seagull take flight, completely
cured.
Over the next few days, Mitch grows more
captivated with Janet’s straightforward, youthful charm, a fact that
remains unnoticed by Bill, who visits regularly to ride Mitch’s
champion horse, Miss Holly. One night, Bill invites Janet to a
dance, and although she is at first disappointed that Mitch will not
join them, Mitch surprises everyone by showing up later.
Janet, who is falling in love with her debonair boss, tries to make
him jealous by dancing with Bill, and later accepts Mitch’s offer to
rumba. They dance beautifully, but he soon throws out his
back, prompting him to leave suddenly. When Janet returns late
that night, she pretends to be drunk in order to flirt openly with
Mitch. He kisses her, but has to hide the fact that he cannot
straighten up afterward.
In the morning, Bill visits Janet, but
when she treats him coolly, he realizes that something has happened
between her and Mitch, and angrily denounces Mitch as a lecher.
Bill is supposed to ride Miss Holly in an exhibition that afternoon,
but decides to ride a rival’s horse instead, forcing Mitch to
compete against him. At the horse show, Margaret, concerned
for Bill’s happiness, asks for Nita’s help in dissuading Mitch from
dating Janet. Although Bill and Mitch are soon tied in the
competition, Bill falls from his horse at the last moment, causing
Margaret and Nita to chastise Mitch for putting him at risk.
That night, Bill, who has sustained a back injury but is healing
speedily, calls Mitch to apologize and concede that age does not
matter to love. Impressed, Mitch pensively agrees that age
does not matter, but one must be “who you really are.” After
hanging up, Mitch knocks on Janet’s door, and although she is
thrilled to see him there, he reveals that he is not truly in love
with her. After rhapsodizing about “intangible love” and his
newly found ability to embrace youth and vitality, “today and now,”
Mitch realizes that, by turning down the too-young Janet without
hurting her, he has completed his best performance to date.
Months later, at the culmination of his
successful return to Broadway, Mitch leaves with Nita, Janet with
Bill, and Mrs. Early with the seagull.
Notes
The working title of this film was For Love or Money.
Although Jay Livingston and Ray Evans are credited onscreen with the
music and lyrics to the title song, only the music is heard in the
film. The song was later recorded by actress
Debbie Reynolds. When the play ran on Broadway in 1947, it
starred June Lockhart and helped to launch the career of
Grace Kelly, who played "Janet Blake" in the play's touring
company. Universal borrowed Reynolds from MGM for the film.
According to modern sources, after the success of Tammy and the
Bachelor, Universal noted MGM's failure to promote
Reynolds and so prepared This Happy Feeling specifically as a
star vehicle for her. Although an October 21, 1957 HR
news item adds Lorelei Vitek to the cast, her appearance in the
final film has not been confirmed.
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