Has Anybody Seen My Gal?

A very rich old man conceals his identity, moves to the town where the family he is thinking of leaving his money to lives, and takes a job in their shop. Then he makes them an anonymous gift and watches how people change as the money arrives. The film is not interested in its romantic thread. It is interested in money spoiling behaviour: the richer the family gets, the more alien their own neighbourhood becomes, and the film shows this plainly, in a comic register. The form is a colour period comedy in love with the twenties: the Charleston, raccoon coats, soda fountains and brisk dialogue. Douglas Sirk directed. He would later be known for melodramas like All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life; here he tries the same theme, how climbing socially isolates people, in the costume of light comedy. One detail catches film historians' attention: in one of the soda fountain scenes there is an uncredited young extra, James Dean. It is among his first appearances on screen. Charles Coburn plays the rich man, with Piper Laurie and Rock Hudson as the young couple. Who it is for: viewers who like fifties studio comedy and are curious about early Sirk. Who it is not for: anyone expecting Sirkian melodrama. This film is light, short, and nobody is really shaken by the end.