Goodbye, My Fancy

Goodbye, My Fancy is a 1951 Warner Bros. film starring Joan Crawford, Robert Young, and Frank Lovejoy in a light tale about a woman and her old flame. The screenplay by Ivan Goff was based upon a 1948 play by Fay Kanin. The film was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke. Goodbye, My Fancy was the third and last cinematic collaboration between Sherman and Crawford. The first two were Harriet Craig (1950) and The Damned Don't Cry! (1950).

Plot and cast

U.S. Representative Agatha Reed (Crawford) returns to her alma mater to receive an honorary degree. Reed was expelled from the school years earlier for participating in an all-night date with young professor, Dr. James Merrill (Young), now the university president. The romantic fires are rekindled when the two meet. Matt Cole (Lovejoy), a photographer who loves Reed, believes her feeling for Merrill is simply an unresolved hold-over from her girlhood and follows her to the school.

A subplot involves Reed embroiled in a university matter over progressive teaching methods with Dr. Pitt (Morgan Farley), trustee Claude Griswold (Howard St. John) and his wife Ellen Griswold (Lurene Tuttle). After a series of misunderstandings, Reed realizes she belongs with Cole and should put away her romantic fancies of Merrill. Other players in the film include Eve Arden, Janice Rule, and Ellen Corby.

Reception

Variety commented, "Performances are very slick, under Vincent Sherman's direction. Miss Crawford...sustains the romantic, middle-aged congresswoman with a light touch that is excellent," while Bosley Crowther in the New York Times generally panned the film, writing, "Miss Crawford's errant congresswoman is as aloof and imposing as the capital dome."^[1].

DVD release

Goodbye, My Fancy was released on Region 1 DVD on March 23, 2009 from the online Warner Bros. Archive Collection.

References

External links

• Goodbye, My Fancy at the Internet Movie Database