Good concept, poorly executed.

Crappy film

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Melvyn Douglas was a marvelous actor who somehow never quite made it to the top ranks on acting....but he was terrific in just about everything he did...even crap like "And So They Were Married". He gives it his best and is quite nice in the film but the terribly flawed and clichéd story is beyond anyone's ability to fix!When the film begins, the audience soon realizes that Stephen (Douglas) and Edith (Mary Astor) will fall in love. Why? Because they hate each other and realistically they haven't a prayer of falling in love. But, as the movie is filled with clichés, they soon find themselves in love at the mountain resort they are both visiting with their respective children. Joel has brought his son to spend Christmas there, as he's a widower. And, Edith has brought her daughter and she recently got divorced. The romance is working just fine for a few days, as the resort is snowed in and the two kids are stuck in town. But once they arrive, the brats decide they don't like each other and if their parents marry, life will be awful...so even though they hate each other, they agree to work together to make their parents miserable. This is a sad excuse for a plot, as it's so selfish and nasty...and some of their behaviors (such destroying the Christmas tree and many of the presents of the other hotel guests) isn't funny...it's just cruel. This cruelness definitely was a bad decision in the film....and it's sad because although they are hateful, the two young actors playing the kids actually did a great job with what they were given. It could have been a bit like "The Parent Trap" but was sunk due to selfishness, too many clichés and a few characters who were more caricatures than real, believable people.

Both Astor and Douglas had been in films for years by this time, so we know it'll be a good film. And with Donald Meek, there should be some good antics coming ahead. Too bad they didn't give him a larger part. Blake (Douglas) and Farnham (Astor), and Farnham's daughter are the only guests in a hotel locked in by snow. SO much talking.. this one MUST have started out as a play. According to IMDb, the snow scenes were done at Donner Pass. That is just west of Reno, about 7 hours north of Burbank, so that would have made for a fun winter outing for the actors. Mr. Snirley and Miss Peabody are hotel employees, determined to accompany the only two guests every second, much to their (and OUR !) annoyance. Then Blake's son shows up, and the rest of the film is about the plotting between the two children. Kind of a fun note to hear them talk about esperanto, which has actually been around since 1887. It's okay. No big surprises. Mildly entertaining. Pretty whitewashed and bland for the film code. Astor and Douglas would also make "There's always a Woman" together, as well as a couple television episodes. Directed by Elliott Nugent.

Jackie Moran and Edith Fellowes are two bratty adolescents who fight like a dog and a cat and utilize their antagonism to prevent their single parents (widowed father Melvyn Douglas and divorced mother Mary Astor) from getting married. But each scheme they concoct only serves to bring the adults closer together and of course create an understanding between the children who, like a dog and cat, really adore each other, just too stubborn to admit it. Some of the funniest situations involve a soap-consuming dog who makes the entire ski resort lobby think he's "mad" and Moran's use of bee-bee spitwads in a crowded dining room. This is so sitcomish that I am surprised that Columbia didn't do a sequel, "And So They Were Siblings".

I must qualify my rating of this picture - I am a pure unadulterated Mary Astor fan, and I must ask myself, 'Would I have given this film the same rating if another actress were playing the part?' Honestly, no. I cannot say that the story isn't a bit trite. Here are two children, played by Edith Fellows and Jackie Moran, who, wishing to keep widowed and divorced parents to themselves, plot to thwart the blossoming romance between Mom (Mary Astor) and Dad (Melvyn Douglas). With predictable results. Douglas was a fine comedic actor, and his presence certainly helps lift the picture over some of the rough spots. The kids were pretty fair actors in their own right, and do not at all detract from what could have been a pretty dismal effort. In her biography, Ms. Astor confirmed that she rarely argued over the quality of a script. She went to work and did the best she could with the material given her. This is one she may have been better off choosing to be difficult about.