FAITHFUL IN MY FASHION  gave Donna Reed a starring role, after decorating 18 up-the-ladder parts over five years.  The 1946 comedy is lightweight stuff; despite Reed’s appeal and a cozy supporting cast of character pros the movie failed to cover its production costs. As her next role was in It’s A Wonderful Life, then snagging an Oscar for From Here To Eternity, followed by nine years on TV coming down the line, pretty Donna escaped this unscathed.

Boot camp for TV duties.

Sidney Salkow directed: it’s about employees of a department store trying to play Cupid to make sure salesgirl Reed marries the right guy (Tom Drake). On hand to keep things oiled are Edward Everett Horton, Spring Byington, Sig Ruman, Margaret Hamilton, Harry Davenport and Warner Anderson.

If you have super-quick eyes (and time on your hands) you could spot Barbara Billingsley, unbilled as a shop girl. ‘June Cleaver’, 31 here, would continue to toil for another eleven years, mostly uncredited, until she and ‘husband’ Ward landed on TV.  Twelve-year old Dwayne Hickman is in here somewhere as well, a dozen years before he became ‘Dobie Gillis’.  Voila!  You have the raison d’etre of this movie: training wheels for future pillars of Boomerland. The fluff lasts 81 minutes.