Instant Favorite.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Sonny Tufts, high energy but unorthodox management type, has just arrived in Washington to step up airplane production. Olivia de Havilland, the "government girl" assigned to assist him, quickly realizes that the biggest part of her job is showing Tufts just how D.C. works. The plot isn't much but it's the kind of material that ought to make a great comedy—part satire, part romance, lots of patriotism and snappy dialog....Unfortunately, this picture mixes in bits of all of those elements but never quite manages to put any of them over the top. Olivia de Havilland is fine as the title character and it's fun to watch her play broad comedy. There's a great shot of her sitting behind her desk, shoes off, feet up, smoking a cigarette and reading a book. She looks good and it's fun seeing her in modern dress. (Sure, she made plenty of "modern" movies but many of her most famous roles were period pieces. Here she dresses like neither Melanie Wilkes nor Maid Marian, and she looks comfortable.) However, it just seems like there isn't enough for her actually to do: one of the recurring gags in the film is de Havilland racing across the office then racing back to her desk, having forgotten to put on her shoes. That's kind of funny but no matter how cutely performed it's just not hilarious. Ann Shirley is rather lively as de Havilland's friend. Shirley and soldier James Dunn are just married, but they can't seem to find a place to live, or even get a little privacy before Dunn's leave is over. They exchange some corny dialog (Shirley: Oh, wouldn't it be awful if ya got killed before our honeymoon? Dunn: For me it'd be just as bad after!) and are generally cute if silly. Overall, this is of those well-meaning pictures that's pleasant enough but just a bit dull.

Looking at other user reviews on the IMDb I realize people seem fairly divided-- they either consider GOVERNMENT GIRL a lot of fun and rate it highly, or else they find it pretty awful and rate it low. I think the film has merit but is very problematic on many levels. I'm giving it a score of 7, which is above the current average. My primary issue with it is how the story goes in several directions. It was like Dudley Nichols couldn't decide whether it should be a screwball comedy or if it should be a patriotic endorsement of bombers. I'm uncomfortable with the main message of GOVERNMENT GIRL, but it obviously had an impact in its day because it was a big hit for RKO.As for how GOVERNMENT GIRL relates to the subject of women during wartime, it's very uneven. Anne Shirley's character is rather juvenile (sort of like Anne of Green Gables getting married to a much older man then leaving Matthew and Aunt Marilla behind for Washington). Olivia's character has her moments of strength and intelligence, but she overplays it in a highly exaggerated farcical manner which seems to undercut the role and any values it might represent. I don't think women viewers would have found Olivia or Anne to be playing types they would like to emulate. The most interesting woman in the picture is Agnes Moorehead's society matron, but she doesn't have a lot of screen time.

Olivia deHavilland plays a wacky woman with good intentions. The foundation of this comedy has to do with people that don't listen to one another. If things had been allowed to calm down for a moment, there wouldn't be all this trouble. They also make speeches, ignoring the situation. It is filled with sight gags and lost documents and deadlines missed and rooms unavailable. Of course, we know that those who become the most combative are bound to eventually hook up. But the path to this is filled with pratfalls and silly dialogue that isn't particular funny. DeHavilland does lots of screeching and accusing and everything is totally predictable. I suppose in 1943, a vacuous comedy would have been met positively. Not horrible but nothing to write home about.

If you're looking for laughs, this comedy may disappoint. Surprisingly, the usually restrained De Havilland over-acts egregiously, just about chewing up the scenery in the process. As Smokey, the government girl, it's like she's trying much too hard. On the other hand, the much derided Sonny Tufts comes off best in a slyly bemused performance as the can-do industrialist. At a comedy level, the movie's uneven, at best.As a glimpse of wartime Washington, however, the movie delivers in revealing ways. Note the unusually crowded scenes in the early part. Newly arriving office workers mix with service men and women, all flocking to staff the explosion of paper work. Naturally, the sudden influx creates a room shortage, which the movie amusingly illustrates with the frustrated newly-weds. There's also the gossipy intrigue of the high-class salons and drawing rooms, where careers can be made or broken. Then there's Brown's (Tufts) tussle with red tape, while trying to get his bomber production up and running. And, of course, the year being 1943, it all ends with a patriotic flyover presaging the Allied victory to come.Not many wartime films deal with the administrative phase of the war effort. This, I believe, is one of the few, and from that standpoint the movie remains an interesting, if rather frantic, curiosity.