Lovely little drama about a hopeless love affair told in remembrance. Shirley Booth is incredibly moving in a beautifully simple performance and Robert Ryan a fine match in a understated part very different from his usual gruff often cruel characters. If you are only familiar with Shirley Booth from her years as "Hazel" she will be a revelation here. She and Ryan are pretty much the whole show with the other actors unmemorable excepting the neighbor's daughter and only because she is such an odious little brat. For discriminating audiences who enjoy superior acting and don't mind that the actors look and behave like real people.

Shirley Booth runs a rooming house in Beverly Hills before WWII. She's an unmarried frump. Thru flash-backs we see her pathetic life unfold. First she's a torch singer in a bare shoulder evening gown. Unfortunately, Shirley Booth is not the hotsy torch singer type and she looks ridiculous. Then she agrees to run off to California with Robert Ryan who has a continuous scowl on his face. The go for a swim in the ocean and Shirley wears a one piece suit with a frilly skirt on it. Shirley Booth should not do bathing suit scenes. Time passes and affairs of her present day boarding house intermingle with her platonic 6 weeks a year "arrangement" with depressing Ryan. Soon, Shirley finds out Ryan is married so she disappears but he finds her one night roaming the streets of New York. They reconnect but he has to split and she has a foreboding that they will never see each other again. The war is over and Ryan dies. He leaves her money to buy a house and then all her current roomers move on. There is a useless scene with the neighbor girl, Pixie which does'nt make sense and Shirley calls Ryan "Mr.Leslie,honey". Throughout the film there is lush, loud overly violiny music blaring. In the scene with Pixie she serves her a sandwich of cold ham. How appropriate.

This movie was ahead of it's time, but still posturing to the "Code" and Hayes Office. "Mrs. Leslie" knew she was a once a year Date for a married man, in a "Open Marriage". The movie treated her with respect, as a woman, and not a cheap whatever, going to a Motel with a married man. It didn't matter to her the "reasons" that this man craved her companionship once a year. He never gave her the trite, "I'm getting a divorce", or "She doesn't understand me" spiel when he arranged their vacations. He didn't say anything about his wife, i.e. put-downs, horror stories, when he was Mrs. Leslie, either. The only people in the film that treated her like scum were the Lawyer for the Estate, and the neighbor she babysat.

This is a wonderful love story. Shirley Booth is Vivien; Robert Ryan is George Leslie - Leslie is actually his middle name - he wanted to keep his identity a secret from Booth.Booth is an "old maid" type who is introduced to George Leslie, a wealthy businessman. They have a long-term affair as Ryan is married. This was rather risqué as the flashbacks take place in the late 1930s through VJ day, 1945.As the movie opens, Booth is an elderly woman who runs a boarding house. She recounts her life with Ryan in a flashback method.The scene near to the end is most moving. It is VJ day in NYC. Booth is working in a dress shop and she is pulled out to the street to join the celebration that WWII is finally over. As she stands in the street near Times Square, she see the news ticker flash the message: "George Leslie _______, died suddenly today of a massive heart attack . . ., " at which point she swoons. The film returns to Booth as an older landlady.The catch phrase in the film used by Booth was, ". . .Mr. Leslie, honey," each time she would meet with or part from Ryan.It was a moving film, different from the typical post-war movies of the time. Shirley booth was excellent. Robert Ryan, who was a Marine and served with the OSS in Yugoslavia in WWII, was excellent.I wish I could get a copy of the film. It made quite an impression on me and I saw it only once. I hadn't noted the title, but when I described it to my dad, who knew every movie, I said "Mr. Leslie, honey." and he knew it immediately.