Movie Mirrors Index

The Model and the Marriage Broker

(1951 b 103')

En: 6 Ed: 6

A divorced woman earns a living finding lonely people marriage partners, and she helps a beautiful model stay away from a married man.

         Matchmaker Mae Swasey (Thelma Ritter) counsels Mr. Johansson (Frank Fontaine) and registers tall Hazel (Nancy Kulp). Mae tells optometrist George Wixted (Zero Mostel) she has someone for him. X-ray technician Matt Hornbeck (Scott Brady) tells Mae he is getting married to Ina Kuschner. Mae finds her purse was switched and reads a love letter from a married man. At her office Kitty Bennett (Jeanne Crain) brings her purse, and Mae advises her to let him go.

         At the wedding Mae demands her $500 fee from Mrs. Kuschner, but the groom does not show. Mae finds Matt and tells him what she does.

         At home Mae serves food for her clients. Mr. Johansson meets a Swedish woman who likes to walk. Mae ties couples together in a game. Kitty comes to see Mae and apologizes. Kitty says her man is getting divorced to marry her; but Mae says the abandoned wife loses her pride, and she sends the man away. Mae invites Kitty to stay with her to avoid him.

In the morning Mae says Kitty swallowed an earring, and she takes him to Matt for an x-ray. Mae tells him she is a model. At her office Mae refuses to see Emmy Swasey (Helen Ford). Kitty calls Mae and says she is dining with Matt. Mae sends roses.

Matt and Kitty have a good time, and he kisses her. He persuades her to let him in. He finds the roses without a card, become jealous, and leaves.

         Hazel sees Kitty modeling and says she is marrying Mr. Wixted. Kitty learns that Mae is a marriage broker. In her office Mae tells Kitty that she created another guy to encourage Matt to marry. Kitty is offended and says she does not like what Mae does for money and leaves. Mae’s friend Doberman (Michael O’Shea) tells Mae that they can’t continue her ad.

         Emmy finds Mae at home and says she is lonely. Mae says she is going away. Kitty goes to Mae’s office and advises Mr. Johansson. Doberman tells Kitty what Mae does for lonely people with plain faces. He says Kitty cut down Mae. Kitty advises the new client Dan Chancellor (Jay C. Flippen), and he finds Mae on vacation.

         Matt calls on Kitty, who has been refusing to see him. He says they love each other, and he wants to marry her. Mae comes in wearing new clothes and says she met a man who wants to marry her. Matt says that Kitty was there, and Kitty admits that she brought Dan. Mae says that he bores her.

         Mae goes to her office and fixes Emmy up with Dan. Doberman comes in to play cards and proposes to Mae.

         This romantic comedy explores the difficulties many people have in finding compatible partners and how some can be helped by a professional who brings people together.

Copyright © 2007 by Sanderson Beck

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