The Reluctant Debutante

Critics Consensus

No consensus yet.

Tomatometer
Not Yet Available

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: N/A

75%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 836

Super Reviewer

The Reluctant Debutante Photos

View All Photos (3)

Movie Info

The Reluctant Debutante is a vintage example of the sort of elegant, witty "polite" comedy that Hollywood used to pull off so well. Real-life husband and wife Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall are cast as newly wed Jimmy and Sheila Broadbent, two of London's more attractive aristocrats. Jimmy has a daughter, Jane (Sandra Dee), from a previous marriage; though the girl is dead set against it, Jimmy insists that Jane make her society debut in London. Daddy wants his darling daughter to meet the "right" kind of husband, but she's more interested in handsome-but-shady American musician David Parkson (John Saxon). Little does anyone know that David, secretly a titled millionaire, is actually the prize catch of the season. The matchless Kay Kendall manages to walk away with the picture, though she's given a run for her money by fifth-billed Angela Lansbury. The Reluctant Debutante was based on the play by William Douglas Home. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Classics, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Directed By:

Vincente Minnelli
Written By:

William Douglas-Home, Julius J. Epstein
In Theaters:

Aug 14, 1958 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Dec 11, 1991
Runtime:

94 minutes
Studio:

MGM

Watch it now

iTunes

Vudu

Cast

Sandra Dee
as Jane Broadbent

Rex Harrison
as Jimmy Broadbent

Kay Kendall
as Sheila Broadbent

John Saxon
as David Parkson

Angela Lansbury
as Mabel Claremont

Peter Myers
as David Fenner

Diane Clare
as Clarissa Claremont

Sheila Raynor
as Maid

Ambrosine Phillpotts
as Secretary

Charles Cullum
as English Colonel

View All

Critic Reviews for The Reluctant Debutante

All Critics (4)

A vintage drawing-room comedy that's flimsy, lacks any edge and plays out as an exercise in high style Brit comedy.

May 14, 2007 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Pedestrian Minneli comedy headlining Rex Harrison.

May 9, 2007 | Rating: 3/5

Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
Minnelli's comedy about the British upper class is one of his least successful films due to incongruous casting of all-American Sandra Dee as the daughter of Rex Harrison and Kay Kendall.

Apr 25, 2007 | Rating: C | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Visually creative comedy-love story.

Aug 26, 2006 | Full Review…

Michael E. Grost
Classic Film and Television

View All Critic Reviews (4)

Audience Reviews for The Reluctant Debutante

Mar 02, 2008

Kay and Rex sparkle like the sun, hard to believe she was dying while this was being made. Angela Lansbury provides solid support and John Saxon and Sandra Dee made a handsome couple, but it is really Kay Kendall's movie all the way.

jay n Super Reviewer