Dream Girl (1948) DVD-R

Starring Betty Hutton, Macdonald Carey, Patric Knowles, Virginia Field, Walter Abel
Directed by Mitchell Leisen

Print: black/white
Runtime: 90 min.
Genre: comedy
Print Quality: B

Elmer Rice's clever stage comedy Dream Girl is Hollywoodized and "dumbed down" almost
beyond recognition in this 1948 film version. In place of the original play's Betty Field, Betty
Hutton stars Georgina Allerton, who periodically escapes her humdrum existence by
retreating into elaborate daydreams. Georgina's fantasy excursions disturb her parents
(Walter Abel and Peggy Wood) and her married sister (Virginia Field), who wish that she'd
grow up already and stop all this nonsense. Only when she falls truly in love with Clark
Redfield (Macdonald Carey) does Georgina abandon her dream world. Like the previous
year's Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the film version of Dream Girl substitutes the quiet
whimsy of its source with slapstick and overstatement; additionally, Elmer Rice's
three-dimensional supporting characters are transformed into cardboard stereotypes. And
just so the audience doesn't miss anything, the producers have added a voiceover narration
to explain what has just been seen. With all this going against Dream Girl, Betty Hutton
emerges unscathed, delivering a lot better performance than her material warrants.