Joy of Living

Musical screwball comedy from RKO which had its title changed from Joy of Loving (naughty, naughty, said the Production Code). Dunne plays a musical comedy star driven to the brink of exhaustion by the demands of the greedy, money-grubbing family she supports; Fairbanks is the carefree hero who helps her to opt out of the rat race by showing her the joys of loving (ie. eating in romantically cosy neighbourhood restaurants and running about barefoot in the rain). Dunne sings several Jerome Kern numbers, all very stiffly staged; and the dropout message characteristic of the period hedges its bets all the way (Fairbanks may be against money-grubbing, but with an island paradise and a small cargo business of his own he's all right). Faintly tiresome and full of flat stretches, but the excellent supporting cast helps.