She Couldn't Say No (1954)
Directed by Lloyd Bacon

Film Review

The third of the three films that Jean Simmons grudgingly made for RKO Pictures in the early 1950s was conceived as a screwball comedy but, beset with an uninspired script and a director who was well past his prime, it failed spectacularly to live up to its potential.  As in her first (and best) film for RKO - Angel Face (1952) - Simmons is romantically paired with Robert Mitchum, although these two films could hardly be more different.  In Angel Face, an exemplary noir thriller, Simmons played a psychotic killer; in She Couldn't Say No, she is cast, somewhat against type, in a much lighter role, that of an irresponsible Lady Bountiful.  In both films, the ever-charming Mr Mitchum falls hopelessly under her spell and consequently has his world turned upside down, albeit with different results.

As in their earlier film, Simmons and Mitchum spark off one another superbly and together they perform a remarkable salvage operation on a formulaic comedy that would have look dated and pedestrian even if it had been made a decade earlier.  The fact that the film's release was held back two years (all three of Simmons' RKO films were shot in quick succession in 1952) bears witness to studio boss Howard Hughes's disappointment with it.  The studio even had difficulty coming up with a title for the film, and it has been released under two generic titles - She Couldn't Say No and Beautiful But Dangerous - neither of which tallies with the film's content.  Director Lloyd Bacon notched up a fair number of Hollywood classics in the course of his highly productive career, including the landmark musical 42nd Street (1933), but here, on the eve of his retirement, he is clearly just going through the motions and does little to make up for the inadequate script.  She Couldn't Say No is a routine comedy that has more charm than sparkle, and whilst it hardly does justice to its two star performers it does at least manage to be an amiable little time waster.

Film Synopsis

Corby Lane returns to her small home town in Arkansas with a clear objective in mind: to reward the residents who clubbed together to pay for a life-saving operation when she was a child.  Now that she is a wealthy woman Corby can afford to be generous, but she has resolved that no one should discover the identify of their mysterious benefactor.  Before she can put her scheme into practice she runs into the local doctor, Robert Sellers, who takes an instant liking to her.  Robert is not slowing in deducing where all the unexpected gifts are coming from but his attempt to persuade Corby to keep her wealth to herself falls on deaf ears.  When everyone in the town receives an anonymous envelope stuffed with banknotes it isn't long before it becomes a magnet for undesirables from across the country hoping to get something for nothing.  Corby's plan has backfired spectacularly...