Pleasant little comedy about politics with Dick Powell the reformer and June Allyson the spunky redhead. He's running for mayor and ties in with the crooked Ray Collins until he uncovers some dirt about him and exposes him. She's the daughter of a zoo director (Cecil Kellaway) who gets fired for crossing Collins. Not quite a screwball comedy since the politics angle anchors this one in a sense of reality.Allyson and Powell are terrific together, with an easy-going charm and banter that probably reflects their married life together. Also on the plus side are funny supporting turns by David Wayne and Marvin Kaplan (who's still with us) as Powell's office associates. Robert Keith plays a gruff reporter, and the always-watchable Kathleen Freeman has a cat fight scene with Allyson. In bits, Mae Clarke as a cashier and John Hamilton as the police captain.Oh and the animals are good too.

The Reformer and the Redhead is a fun film to watch because it stars a real life Hollywood couple: Dick Powell and June Allyson. The two are wonderful together, sweet and funny.The film is about a zoo-keeper's daughter and a man running for mayor. When the girl's father is at risk of losing his job for a phony reason supplied by a corrupt power over the city, she enlists the help of the man, hoping for him to stay true to his pledge of being a reformer and to help her. The two become involved in a relationship along with many funny events, several including a sweet lion a la Bringing up Baby.The movie is very enjoyable, but nothing special. It is a breezy film with a good cast, a great choice for a bad day.

A small-town Politician falls for a tom-boyish redhead {sporting a very Rosemary's Baby hairdo}, who just so happens to help run a zoo out in the countryside. He meets "Herman", a lovably affable lion whom he is initially terrified of, which sends him literally up a wall, until he eventually gets used to the whole likable menagerie and falls in love. She whole-heartedly supports her man, gathering up all the local orphans to support the party's cause, which eventually takes him to international travels, at one point forgetting where he was at, which leads to an embarrassing yet most amusing scene, with relief in the end.Unfortunately their love becomes tainted when a despicable plan is revealed by a drunken co-worker, and his public standing is threatened with ill-repute. She is obviously hurt by this betrayal, yet his honesty leads to reconciliation, while right around the same time, another lion escapes from the zoo - that 'ol man eater Caesar, who the poor man believes is actually mild-mannered Herman, which displays another one of the more entertaining scenes when he manages to get the lion into the car. He gets his girl, she gets her man, and all is well in the humanimal kingdom.

Just another TCM time-passer. June Allyson brings her usual earnest charm to a movie that just didn't have much to it. The essential weakness is that the screenplay cannot make up its mind whether it wants to be a "look at all those crazy animals" comedy or a political "the honest man will win" film. When the movie finally makes its decision at the end, it just made me wonder why it spent all that time on the other thread. I've also been fairly suspicious of movies that have more than one credited director. Maybe that played a role here too.The high point for me was the performance of Cecil Kellaway as the father. TCM and IMDb make a great combination for learning about the wonderful character actors of Hollywood history.