Between Us Girls (1942)

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Universal and producer/director Henry Koster had plans to make Diana Barrymore, the daughter of John Barrymore, into another Deanna Durbin with Between Us Girls, an ambitious sub-screwball comedy that undoubtedly owed some aspects of its existence to The Major And The Minor (in addition to anticipating elements of the Van Johnson/June Allyson vehicle Too Young To Kiss). Barrymore plays Caroline Bishop, an ambitious and gifted young actress and the daughter of actress Christine Bishop (Kay Francis). On a visit home, she discovers that her mother is involved in a serious romance -- which could lead to her re-marrying -- with businessman Steven Forbes (John Boles), but that he is under the impression that Christine is at least a decade younger than her actual age. When Forbes announces his intention to meet Christine's "young" daughter -- whom he presumes is on a visit home from boarding school -- in order to help her mother, Carrie pretends to be a 12-year-old; but she also meets his friend Jimmy Blake (Robert Cummings), who takes a paternal interest in the seemingly badly adjusted child, whom he believes is being neglected emotionally. This impression is only reinforced when Carrie must invent an alcoholic "aunt" to explain a picture in the Bishop home. The problem is that she genuinely starts to fall in love with Jimmy -- but by the time she recognizes this dilemma, it's too late to sort out the masquerade without admitting to dishonesty all around. And how will Carrie juggle her two "roles" within the family, and her own life as a theater actress with a production of Rain (in which she is to play Sadie Thompson) coming up? ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi