I love this movie so much

Instant Favorite.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This rather dated comedy involves young Priscilla Lane going unchaperoned to spend a weekend at a lake cabin with Jeffrey Lynn before he goes off to Belgium for a career change and a bit of excitement. It got all the censor's hackles up because the two at the moment are not intending to be married. Today it wouldn't raise a blip.I'm in agreement with the other reviewer who said there's a whole lot of talking going on. Not as much as in one of Bette Davis's worst films Winter Meeting, still a lot. Today the young folk would be getting it on.Lane and her grandmother May Robson are having a great old time pointing out to mama Fay Bainter that back in the day she was a frisky young thing herself, all that suffragette activity etc. Fay reacts like a mom, but she's hoisted on her own petard by her past.Ian Hunter plays dad and he's out sailing on Long Island sound while all this is going on. When he arrives on the scene this pillar of the community proves singularly ineffectual. His sister Genevieve Tobin and house guest Roland Young function as kibitzers. Hard to believe back in the day that Yes My Darling Daughter got the Legion of Decency in such a snit. The play by Mark Reed ran for 405 performances with a cast I'm sure you mostly never heard of. Just noting the Broadway cast list you can see how the play was expanded a bit for the screen.One has to wonder that in 1939 those who saw Yes My Darling Daughter had to wonder what happens to all the characters the following year when the Nazis march into Belgium. It certainly had me wondering.This is a most dated but amusing film.

Yes, this movie is dated and yes, it has plot holes and ridiculous moments. But that doesn't matter. When I watch this movie I just go along with it and enjoy each moment.May Robson, as always, is a delight. She is one of my very favorite supporting actresses and she does not disappoint here. Her funniest moments in this movie aren't even spoken...they are her reactions to all that is going on around her.Priscilla Lane played the role of a sweet, innocent girl very well. (Random side note: at times her voice reminds me of Ginger Rogers.) The character of Ellen was a tad annoying at times (come on, what do you think Doug wanted to do in that cabin) but for the most part I enjoyed Ellen. The character of Doug was not well developed at all. I suspect that was intentional since the focus of this movie was on the relationships between the women. I would have liked to see a bit more to Doug, though. All we really know about him is that he's going to Belgium to sell razors.I did enjoy the side plot of the previous relationship between Ann and Jay. The character of Jay seemed out of place at times, but Roland Young was his usual marvelous self.Yes, My Darling Daughter is a thoroughly entertaining movie. The subject manner is dated, but the movie kept my attention and even made me laugh out loud more than once.

Based on a stage play and it really shows. (The characters in this movie talk and talk endlessly.)The situation, with our plucky heroine going off for the weekend with a boyfriend who is soon to leave for an overseas job, just might be seen as racy for the late thirties. It is made pretty clear early on that Priscilla Lane would just never do that sort of thing and not return as pure as the newly fallen snow, but everybody in this movie has to talk about it - her mom, her aunt, her dad, her grandmother (the hammy May Robson), the mom's old boyfriend from way back when (played by Roland Young - and what is he doing here anyway? His character's presence makes no sense at all)- and the quality of the talk is moralizing and dreadfully dull. (The movie is not helped at all by the presence of Jeffrey Lynn, just about the stodgiest and dullest young leading man this side of Ronald Reagan.) Priscilla Lane could be genuinely charming at times, but she doesn't have a chance against a lousy script and heavy-handed direction. See it once, if you really have to see have see every movie that Priscilla Lane ever made....

While this story of an unmarried couple's weekend together is obviously tame by today's standards, Yes, My Darling Daughter does have a moment or two that is a bit on the racier side. Well, at least for the time it was made.Led by the beautiful and unfairly underrated 'Lane, Priscilla' (qv), this movie has a good ensemble cast, with maybe the exception of Jeffrey Lynn.While Lynn has been likable in his other movies with Priscilla Lane, i. e. _Four Daughters (1938)_ (qv) and _Roaring Twenties, The (1939)_ (qv), he doesn't come across as the most likeable character. Or the brightest, either. In other words, if Priscilla Lane asked me to spend a weekend with her, platonic or otherwise, I think I would show a little more enthusiasm than he did!Anyway, Yes, My Darling Daughter is worth watching, thanks in no small part to the aforementioned Miss Lane.