Canadian-born Alexander Knox created an opportunity for himself in this comedy drama, the second he wrote and starred in for RKO Pictures (the first was the 1946 Sister Kenny, with Rosalind Russell). In this film, he took a lighter approach as a Boston judge facing a mid-life crisis. Fed up with his snooty wife and daughter (Frieda Inescort and a young Martha Hyer), he takes off to find himself. When his telegraph home never arrives, he's declared missing and decides to go even further afield. He ends up in California, where a job as a short-order cook leads to romance with diner owner Ann Sothern. But how long can he shirk his duties to his family? Knox is charming in his role, and Inescort, usually typecast as airheaded snobs, gets a chance to show some character growth as she adapts to her husband's disappearance. But the real honors go to Sothern, who turns in a warm and sympathetic performance. Sothern had just left MGM, where her low-budget Maisie films often out-grossed the studio's prestige pictures. Sadly, her career was not helped when this picture sat on the shelf for two years, a victim of the chaos that followed Howard Hughes' purchase of RKO Pictures in 1948.

By Frank Miller