Nope. No, sir, I don't approve.

I have borrowed that line from Disapproving Rabbits to express my feelings about June Allyson's performance in "The Secret Heart." I watched it because it featured her and Claudette Colbert, who I'm really liking right now because I recently saw her in the 1934 "Imitation of Life," and I just finished the book as well (an entry on all of that is forthcoming).

Anyhow, I was talking about June. With her little girl looks and squeaky voice, she is ideal for bubbly musicals like "Till The Clouds Roll By," wherein she does that "Cleopatterer" number (lyrics by P.G. Wodehouse, there's a neat factoid) I keep seeing in the "That's Entertainment!" compilations. I also liked her in "The Glen Miller Story;" that kind of drama works for her. However, in "The Secret Heart," she is supposed to be a disturbed young woman with a mild sort of Electra complex who dislikes her stepmother. I thought her performance was just average; I could not, in my mind, put aside the perky June Allyson long enough to find her credible in this role. When she has a "breakdown" near the end, and ends up temporarily catatonic, then bursts into hysterical tears, I wasn't really moved. Of couse, the movie ends with her miraculous recovery as she moves on with her happy life (apparently crying in the arms of Claudette Colbert is a cure for years of mental illness; who knew?).

Another ho-hum addition to the cast was Walter Pidgeon, who I think works perfectly well in small character roles (I liked him in "The Bad and The Beautiful"), but doesn't have what it takes to pull off a leading man role. That was kind of distracting to me as well. I had the same feeling about him in "That Forsyte Woman;" I just could not buy that Greer Garson would leave Errol Flynn for Pidgeon. Not just because of Pidgeon's looks (which are average at best, although he does have a great, deep voice), but because he was just sort of...meh. No reflection on his acting, he just doesn't thrill me, is I guess what I'm trying to say. I've never been really absorbed in one of her performances.

An amusing fact with which to close: June Allyson guest starred in an episode of "The Incredible Hulk," which tickles me. For some reason it's easier to imagine her as Dr. Kate Lowell than Penny Addams.