The Mating Season (1951)

Thelma Ritter runs a hamburger stand that is being pressured by the bank. So, she gives it back to them and walks out to go see her son. He (John Lund) is a hard-driving young executive in a Tool Works in Ohio. The owner's son (James Lorimer) is a hard-drinking playboy. On the way home one day he saves Gene Tierney, whose car is teetering on the brink of a cliff. She has just turned down Lorimer's proposal, but she agrees to marry Lund. Ritter hitchhikes to Ohio, and meets Lund at the bus station so he won't know she has no money. When she learns the social circle they are in, she skips the wedding, pretending she was called home.  She takes odd jobs to raise some money to buy a nice hat  . Lund and Tierney are over their heads financially in their new circle, and when the boss invites himself to their party, she is at her wits end as everything goes wrong. The doorbell rings, and Ritter is there. Tierney mistakes her for the temporary cook. She tries to explain, but never gets the chance, and since the party is so important to Tierney, she goes ahead with the charade. When food is accidentally dumped on the big boss(Larry Keating), Ritter cleans him up and wins his heart.

Ritter then moves in as full-time cook under the pretense that she and Lund agreed on it. Next, Tierney's mother (Miriam Hopkins) moves in with them. Then Tierney lends Ritter to the Keating, who has a cold. She cures him with loads of personal attention and old-fashioned remedies. Tierney learns by accident that Ritter is Lund's mother. She angrily moves out because he did not trust her. Next Keating learns that she is his mother. He goes to see Tierney to buy her one last drink before she leaves, but takes her to his own private party, where, of course, Lund happens to be. They fight again. Lund leaves for his apartment, where he graps Ritter and takes her to the party to introduce her to the hoity-toity wife of the man financing their company's newest project. They all make up on the spot.

Ritter walks back toward the her apartment when Keating drives by, tells her to get in, puts his arm around her, and they drive off into the sunset.

Very pleasing, well-done movie. Five Stars.

This was the second of six roles for which Ritter would receive an Oscar nomination.




Rutter


Hopkins