This is a tale of opposites attracting and the course of true love flowing like a river of doubt. Irene Dunne plays the lady and Fred MacMurray the boxing champ. Although they come from different worlds, they can't help falling in love--he with her ladylike ways, quiet charm and elegant beauty and she with his sheer manliness and out and out sex appeal. Their wedded/bedded bliss is snatched away all too soon as trainer/manager Charlie Ruggles (best remembered by us baby boomers as Daddy Farquahr on "The Beverly Hillbillies") yanks MacMurray back into his training regimen. Ruggles explains to Dunne why a fighter's wife can't follow him to camp. And although it is unspoken in this 1930s flick, we know that it is because their continued sexual activity would rob him of the strength he needs to vanquish all foes. Ha! Dunne relinquishes MacMurray to Ruggles but only after we learn that she is pregnant. To her this is a greater prize than MacMurray can ever hope to attain in the ring and she hopes that having a child will bond MacMurray even closer to her. Wrong! He doesn't make it to the hospital on time and she is alone, except for her faithful father played here by William Collier. Things only go further south from there. MacMurray spends years chasing the heavyweight championship and misses out on seeing his son grow up, all the while growing more and more estranged from Dunne who is for all practical purposes abandoned. Even when he is home, he seeks out female companionship with the floozy he ran around with before he was married. Dunne rightly divorces him and they share custody of their young son, the only person smart enough to see the wisdom of a reconciliation and their becoming a family once more. This is how the movie ends and just in the nick of time as the closing credits roll as they embrace on the staircase of the family home. This film while well acted feels like a retread, one that Dunne and MacMurray perhaps only fulfilled under contractual terms. Dunne is treated rather like a doormat and her usually strong character is somewhat too submissive to MacMurray's lug nut of a man. Oh well, it is not a total miss. A good enough movie for a way rainy/cold day but that's about it.

Solid performances by the entire cast earn this movie its eight stars. "Invitation to Happiness" has a good plot that Irene Dunne and Fred MacMurray make into a very good love story. He is Albert "King" Cole, a heavyweight boxer, and she is Eleanor Wayne, a smitten socialite. The rest of the cast contribute as well. Charles Ruggles gives one of the supporting cast performances that made him a favorite supporting actor in more than 120 films and in many TV series over four decades. Ruggles plays Pop Hardy. Billy Cook does a good job as Albert Cole Jr. Dunne and MacMurray only played in two films together – this one and the comedy-romance "Never a Dull Moment" in 1950. It would have been interesting to see them in more, especially comedies. Both were among the most versatile performers in their trade. Dunne made drama, comedy and war films with excellence. MacMurray played in many films from family fare, to westerns, mysteries and crime flicks, drama, war and comedy. She played opposite many of the best leading men of Hollywood, and he played opposite most of the leading women of the silver screen over four decades.Invitation to Happiness is a good story about love and family, and reconciliation. As noted, the performances earn it the eight stars I give. Otherwise, the screenplay is choppy and disjointed in places. It's a story that most should enjoy.

Surprisingly effective story about bullheaded boxer (Fred MacMurray) and the society girl (Irene Dunne) who fall in love but then face some hard times.The two stars are top-notch and turn in solid performances even when the material goes astray and the story turns soapy. Dunne is warm and gracious as always and makes the most of the comedy here; MacMurray is excellent as the goofy fighter determined to be world champ. His final fight scenes are among the best and most realistic I've seen.Solid support from William Collier as Dunne's wise father and Charlie Ruggles as the wary fight manager. Billy Cook is the son, Marion Martin the the blonde, Virginia Brissac is the nurse, Oscar O'Shea is the judge.But the stars here dominate this film. I've always been a big Irene Dunne fan but I must say I'm gaining a whole new vision of Fred MacMurray. Having grown up with "My Three Sons," it's amazing to see the young MacMurray in a variety of solid 30s roles (many with Carole Lombard).Excellent film with something for everyone.

Invitation to Happiness, my first evening flick. I was eight and already a sports fan and, during an earlier matinée preview, Invitation to Happiness flashed on - a prizefight movie.Fifteen or twenty seconds of solid slam-bang action were shown. I had to see it. It was only playing for two nights in the middle of the week and I understood the importance of school the next day. But I knew I had to go. Problem: I couldn't go alone. I launched a campaign of such ferocity that my parents gave in. Grudgingly, we trooped off to Invitation to Happiness- -and it wasn't a prizefight movie, it was a kissing movie. All they did was kiss, the hero and the lady. Those precious fifteen seconds of slam-bang action were there, all right, but that was the sum total of prizefighting. I never dreamed a preview would snooker you that way.The kisses went on and on. I began to groan. Then I started counting. Eleven kisses. Now a quick buss on the nose, but that counted. Twelve. On and on they went, and by now I was counting out loud.There were twenty-three kisses in Invitation to Happiness and I hated every one.-- from William Goldman's Adventures in Screen Trade