(1954)
2.5
Craig Butler
While it's true that About Mrs. Leslie is a soap opera, it's a soap opera with Shirley Booth, and that by itself makes it different. But leaving Booth as an actress aside for a moment, it"s also worth considering Booth's title character. She's not drawn with special depth, belonging to the typical Woman willing to suffer untold agonies for the one she loves" category. But she's presented as, physically, a very ordinary woman. She's attractive, yes; but she's no glamor girl, and this fact alone makes her stand out. She's also not denigrated for not being beautiful but instead just accepted as a perfectly normal, ordinary looking woman who happens to catch the eye of the more than ordinarily handsome Robert Ryan. And this is unusual. The rest of Leslie's screenplay is typical and ordinary, unfortunately, although there are a number of good isolated scenes and some snappy dialogue in places. Above all, Leslie has Booth, an absolutely first rate actress who made far too few films. She can dish up any emotion one wishes, and does so without falling into artifice. She even carries a number of scenes so well that one hardly notices that Ryan is barely pulling his weight. Full of life and joy, yet with room for layers of melancholy and anger, Booth is a treat.
About Mrs. Leslie on AllMovie
About Mrs. Leslie (1954)
