Just This Once (film)

1952 film by Don Weis

February 27, 1952 (1952-02-27)

Running time

90 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget$547,000^[1]Box office$1.059,000^[1]

Just This Once is a 1952 American romantic comedy film directed by Don Weis and starring Peter Lawford, Janet Leigh and Lewis Stone. It was produced and distributed by the Hollywood major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film's sets were designed by the art director James Basevi.

Plot

Mark MacLene IV is a millionaire playboy. He is totally irresponsible with his money, piling up $5 million in debts. Judge Coulter, executor of his estate, puts Mark's finances in the hands of a penny-pinching lawyer, Lucy Duncan.

Mark is aghast when Lucy puts him on a $50-a-week allowance. He still extravagantly tips a busboy $10 after a 50-cent lunch or charters a plane to fly off to Paris without a thought as to his financial situation. Lucy shuts off his access to funds, causing an angry Mark to barge into her personal life, moving into her apartment and upsetting her routine. She wants to quit, but Coulter doubles her pay.

Lucy has a fiancé, Tom Winters, who has held off on proposing marriage until he can afford it. Mark owns a construction company where Tom works, so secretly he plots to get Tom a huge raise. Lucy sees through the ruse. But when she learns Mark also has offered his yacht for their honeymoon, she begins to see a different side to him.

Now in love, Mark and Lucy must hold off making plans for the future because the Naval Reserve has called him to active duty. Lucy fears for his safety, but Mark says he's going to Washington, D.C., and getting a desk job where he will be in charge of Navy expenditures.

Cast

Peter Lawford as Mark MacLene
Janet Leigh as Lucille Duncan
Lewis Stone as Judge Coulter
Richard Anderson as Tom Winters
Marilyn Erskine as Gertrude Crome
Douglas Fowley as Frank Pirosh
Hanley Stafford as Mr. Blackwell
Henry Slate as Jeff Parma
Jerry Hausner as Stanley Worth
Benny Rubin as Herbert Engel
Charles Watts as Adam Backwith

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $707,000 in the US and Canada and $352,000 elsewhere, making a profit of $89,000.^[1]

Comic book adaptation

Eastern Color Movie Love #14 (April 1952)^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ "Movie Love #14". Grand Comics Database.