Tonight's Movie: Meet the Stewarts (1942)

Can a girl from a wealthy society family live happily on her new husband's low budget? That's the question in MEET THE STEWARTS, in which William Holden and Frances Dee play the struggling newlyweds, Mike and Candy Stewart.

It's a cute film, with a series of amusing incidents as the couple adapts to married life. Candy has a cooking experience reminiscent of the climactic scene of another 1942 film, WOMAN OF THE YEAR. The funniest sequence involves Margaret Hamilton as an inept maid -- inept is an understatement.

If the film were any longer the characters' constant financial squabbles could become exasperating, but with the movie running a brisk 73 minutes, there isn't much time for it to become too bogged down in the couples' financial difficulties. Holden and Dee are an attractive twosome, and the film provides pleasant entertainment.

MEET THE STEWARTS was filmed in black and white. It was directed by Alfred E. Green, whose best-known film might be THE JOLSON STORY.

MEET THE STEWARTS is not available on VHS or DVD, but it can be seen on cable on Turner Classic Movies.

February 2011 Update: MEET THE STEWARTS is now available on DVD-R from Sony Pictures' Columbia Classics.