Darling, How Could You! is a 1951 American period comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Joan Fontaine and John Lund. The script is based on the 1905 J. M. Barrie play Alice Sit-by-the-Fire.
Plot
In late 1906, brother and sister Cosmo and Amy Grey have not seen their parents for many years, their father being a doctor who has been in Panama during work on the Panama Canal. Their housekeeper sends them to see a play, Peter Pan, but by mistake they end up seeing a rather sophisticated family melodrama instead.
Robert and Alice Grey come home not sure what to expect. The children hardly know their parents at all. Baby Molly has formed a natural attachment to her nanny, and both are reluctant to have Alice come in and "take over". The three children warm to Robert readily, but Alice receives a cold welcome. Furthermore, the play has given Amy some peculiar ideas of how adults behave. When she hears Alice receive an invitation to meet family friend Dr. Steven Clark, she falsely assumes they are having a romantic tryst.
Amy shows up at Steve's unexpectedly, trying to talk him out of the "affair", much to his confusion. She then decides to hide in a closet when her parents arrive, but when a glove is found and Amy's presence revealed, everybody gets the wrong idea. Alice assumes the doctor is seeing her daughter, while Robert assumes the doctor is seeing his wife. Eventually, Alice discovers why Amy has believed she has been having an affair. She decides to follow the plot of the play and pretends to give Steve up in a dramatic fashion. This helps win Amy, and the other children, over to her side. She explains everything to Robert, much to his amusement, and the newly contented family sits by the fire.
Cast
Joan Fontaine as Mrs. Alice Grey
John Lund as Dr. Robert Grey
Mona Freeman as Amy Grey
Peter Hansen as Dr. Steven Clark
David Stollery as Cosmo Grey
Virginia Farmer as Fanny
Angela Clarke as Nurse
Lowell Gilmore as Aubrey Quayne
Robert Barrat as Mr. Rossiter
Gertrude Michael as Mrs. Rossiter
Mary Murphy as Sylvia
Frank Elliott as Simms
Billie Bird as Rosie
Willard Waterman as Theatre Manager
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called the film "feeble, sticky and laboriously arch" and a "lusterless flapdoodle." Thompson wrote: "Ragged sentimentality and hackneyed misunderstanding march hand in hand through this tritely presented tale of parlor embarrassment. ... Paramount, how could you!"