Darling, How Could You!

Gently adapted from James M. Barrie's "Alice Sit-By-the-Fire" (and in honor of Barrie, the scriptwriters even work a "Peter Pan" joke in), this is a smooth sitcom with attractive turn-of-the- century period trappings and a cast working near its peak, surely guided by Paramount's elegant comedy director Mitchell Leisen. Joan Fontaine, happily married to John Lund (never an interesting actor, but more chipper than usual here) but a can't-help-it flirt, has been making the rounds with the boys while staying with Lund, who's a doctor to workers building the Panama Canal. The pair return to their stately Greenwich Village digs to reunite with their three kids, most prominently teen daughter Mona Freeman (who's delightful), who suspects Fontaine of cheating with family friend Peter Hanson. No great surprises, but much amusement, including a terrific opening-sequence of two of the kids viewing a "scandalous" Broadway play, featuring a posturing Gertrude Michael doing a great Ethel Barrymore parody. Part of a great wave of circa-1900 nostalgia romps that studios were churning out around then--"Life With Father," "Chicken Every Sunday," "Excuse My Dust," etc.--this one's unpretentious and fast-moving. Not shown a lot, but worth tracking down.