Keeping Company
| Keeping Company | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | S. Sylvan Simon |
| Written by | Herman J. Mankiewicz (story) |
| Starring |
Frank Morgan Ann Rutherford |
| Music by | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
| Cinematography | Karl Freund |
| Edited by | Elmo Veron |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Keeping Company is a 1940 drama film starring Frank Morgan as a real estate broker with three daughters who all have their own problems. The film was followed by This Time for Keeps (1942).
Plot summary
Harry C. Thomas and his wife Susan have a hard time keeping track of their three daughters; all different in their own way. There is the eldest, Hasriet, ready for marriage, and Mary, engaged to a car dealer named Ted Foster. The youngest, Harriet, is still an unpredictable adolescent with her head in the clouds.
Mary's engagement makes Harry and his wife feel like giving her some advice on married life. The young couple refuse to take it, assuring their marriage will be a walk in the park. Almost instantly they are proven wrong when Ted's old girlfriend, Anastasia Atherton, arrives to visit from New York.
It turns out Anastasia is in need of financial help and Ted gives her a car to help out. He doesn't tell Mary about the gift, causing a misunderstanding when she finds checks from Ted to Anastasia in the car. Mary believes Ted is having an affair and goes home to her parents.
Things get even worse when Ted manages to put the owner of the car shop, Mr. Hellman at risk, ordering forty new cars that can't be sold to the planned cuustomer. Ted is devastated by shame and disappears into hiding.
Mary has to arrange and attend the company picnic on her own. Hellman doesn't announce Ted as his successor at the picnic as was the plan, and Mary scolds him and speaks highly of Ted's good sides to make Hellman come to his senses.
Ted reappears and tells everyone that he has managed to save the Hellman company from ruin by selling the cars to another dealer. Hellman talks to Ted, revealing how his wife had stood up for him while he was away. Ted is then reconciled with his wife again.[1]
Cast
- Frank Morgan - Harry C. Thomas
- Ann Rutherford - Mary Thomas
- Irene Rich - Mrs. Susan Thomas
- Virginia Weidler - Harriet Thomas
- Gloria DeHaven - Evelyn 'Skinny' Thomas
- John Shelton - Ted 'Teddy' Foster
- Gene Lockhart - Mr. Hellman
- Virginia Grey - Anastasia 'Stasia' Atherton
- Dan Dailey - Jim Reynolds