Rating. Eight out of ten. Not a blockbuster, but rather delightful.Barbara's reputation. She is a very tough cookie in other films, and many times portrays quite an unlikeable character. She is not sentimental, in the stereotyped image I have of her.Barbara as a real woman. I remember Barbara in later life, in The Thorn Birds, portraying an elderly woman in love/lust with a young priest (horrors!). She is wealthy, and wants to rule the world of her rural fiefdom. She wants to control her whole world. She, Barbara, is jealous of a younger woman who also lusts after said priest. Elderly Barbara admits that the young priest causes her to melt into jelly, and that, if I remember, she feels she is surely soon going to hell because of her sinfulness.True lies. In this film, Barbara is a fake food columnist for a magazine. She isn't fake, but the food doesn't exist. She is a total klutz in the kitchen. Just imagine if some of today's well known chefs couldn't even boil water or fry an egg. Barbara is nicer here than in some of her other films that people remember. She is even rather naïve here, and almost sympathetic/nice.Swoon. Dennis Morgan was a real hunk. He was a lovely singer, witness his role in My Wild Irish Rose. My fave Jack Carson is missing here, but if competitive Jack had vied for Barbara's hand in this film it would have just been confusing. Dennis and Jack, that irascible pair, would have been totally hilarious playing off each other and opposite Barbara. They could have both been fighting over her. Hope and Crosby knockoffs, indeed. Do a song and dance, Jack and Dennis. The old soft shoe.The feed bag. Dennis' food in the hospital was horrible. His friend's was better. Worse food than Dennis' was the doctor-recommended diet of the Sydney Greenstreet character -- a cardboardish pile of nothingness that Greenstreet abhorred. Was Greenstreet's menu item turnip mousse or soufflé or something like that?Shades of JFK. In this film, Dennis is stuck at sea on a raft after being attacked in World War Two. I am reminded of JFK and his famous similar situation. Consider if JFK had ended up like Dennis's character: crappy food in hospital, while fantasizing about Ms. Perfect Cook from a magazine -- and the bimbos are trying to hook up with him.Sexism: women should not be judged for cooking ability or other outdated marriage qualifications. Let the man learn how to cook. Then he can blame himself for burned meat or boiled over coffee. The woman should not have to wait on the man hand and foot.Rosie doesn't roll up her sleeves. The World War Two stereotype of women is Rosie the Riveter who works in a factory. In this film however, Barbara, the lead woman, actually has a career away from the manufacturing plant. She has a salary, not an hourly wage. Maybe she is a college graduate. Meanwhile, the babies' mothers actually work in factories, from what I remember. They are certainly not the main protagonist of this film. They are in the background, and seldom appear.Two fat men. SZ Sakall was the real chef in this film. It was funny when he called Greenstreet The Fat Man, because Sakall was no Skinny Minnie. It seems Sakall was always somebody's uncle or buffoonish financial adviser.Sydney trying to be an almost lovable curmudgeon. Greenstreet was a mean guy in other films, but here he was actually sort of funny in spots while trying to stay gruff and scary in others.Dennis deft with the infants. The two babies were different than each other. One had dark hair, and one had blonde hair. Morgan had a way with the babies, while Barbara didn't know how to bathe them or do anything else with them for that matter.Eight out of ten.

No need to wait until Christmas to watch this laugh a minute film. In this film a War Hero is invited to a life style magazine writer who is a Martha Stewart before there was a Martha Stewart. She makes all her meals look like fine dinning. Her articles talk about her private life which includes her marriage and her child. The problem is that she is lying. She is not married and can't cook. When her boss demands that she take in the war hero she is up the creek. Other problems include that she doesn't have a child. It is a very funny film that you should see! This is the film that many situation comedy show have stolen from.

Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is a single NYC food writer who is famous for her articles about her fictional Connecticut farm and family. She doesn't know how to cook. Her friend chef Felix Bassenak (S.Z. Sakall) gives her the recipes. The publisher Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) insists that Elizabeth host a Christmas dinner for returning war hero Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan). Her editor Dudley Beecham (Robert Shayne) fears being exposed. In desperation, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to a loveless marriage to the insistent John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) and somehow get a baby before the dinner.The story is rather boring until Stanwyck starts faking in Connecticut. The war hero isn't very compelling. Dennis Morgan is not that special as a leading man. It takes awhile for the movie to set up the premise and there are no good jokes in that section. The loveless marriage is kinda sad. The movie finally gets to Connecticut after 30 minutes and it takes awhile for the comedy to pick up. Stanwyck has some fun as she fakes a modern-day Martha Stewart starting with changing the baby.

This is my favorite Christmas movie. I love it. I have friends over to watch it. I watch it in June. I'm definitely not a fan of Hollywood propaganda wartime films but this transcends the others. The war is a background to the sweetest holiday film ever made.Stanwyck is great as the slightly unscrupulous writer, Greenstreet is great as her boss, Morgan is incredibly likable, Una O'Connor is Una O'Connor, Gardiner is OK as,I guess,the villain, but for me the star is S.Z Sakall (who refused to have makeup applied to his ears). His lines include:"She put the watch in his mouth". "Kidneys!!!" "Now it's goulash".This is the warmest Christmas film I have ever seen. It's one of the few films where I think, "I wish I was there." The house they are staying in is the perfect Christmas cottage. The meals they prepare are perfect. The whole feeling of the film is the embodiment of Christmas.So to sum up, this film is VERY HONKY DONKEY!!!