''San Diego, I Love You'' is a 1944 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Jon Hall,

Louise Allbritton Louise Allbritton (July 3, 1920 – February 16, 1979) was an American film and stage actress born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her name was sometimes seen as Louise Albritton. She played in such films as ''Pittsburgh'' (1942), '' Who Done It?'' ...

and

Edward Everett Horton Edward Everett Horton Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Early life Horton was born in Kings County ...

.McLaughlin p.249

Synopsis

Philip McCooley, a widowed

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

teacher in small-town

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, believes that he has discovered a new self-inflating

life raft A lifeboat or liferaft is a small, rigid or inflatable boat carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard a ship. Lifeboat drills are required by law on larger commercial ships. Rafts ( liferafts) are also used. In the m ...

. He is persuaded by his elder daughter Virginia to travel to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

to apply for funds from a developmental agency, and takes his four young sons along as well. On the train journey they encounter and offend John Thompson Caldwell IV by taking his compartment, little realizing that he is extremely wealthy and the head of the agency that the McCooley's need the support of. With their last savings, the family buy a house in the city, which comes with an unusual butler and a very confused lodger. After Caldwell dismisses McCooley's invention, his daughter forces herself into his company to convince him otherwise. Although at first he resists her approaches, they gradually fall in love as they both come to appreciate the attractions of San Diego. Caldwell is persuaded to give the invention a second look. While McCooley's life raft ultimately proves to be both useless and dangerous, he has unwittingly invented a very destructive explosive which can be used by the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War (1789–1947) See also * War Office, a former department of the British Government * Ministry of defence * Ministry of War * Ministry of Defence * D ...

. Buster Keaton appears in an extended

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

as a bus driver who is persuaded by the heroine to abandon his usual route and drive along the beach.

Cast

* Jon Hall as John Thompson Caldwell IV *

as Virginia McCooley *

as Philip McCooley *

Eric Blore Eric Blore Sr. (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End of London, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appe ...

as Nelson, the Butler * Buster Keaton as Bus Driver *

Irene Ryan Irene Ryan (born Irene Noblitt, Noblett, or Noblette; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress and comedienne who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her por ...

as Sheila Jones * Rudy Wissler as Walter McCooley * Peter Miles as Joel McCooley * Charles Bates as Larry McCooley * Donald Davis as Pete McCooley *

Florence Lake Florence Lake (born Florence Silverlake, November 27, 1904 – April 11, 1980) was an American actress best known as the leading lady in most of the Edgar Kennedy comedy shorts. Early life Lake was born in Charleston, South Carolina. In t ...

as Miss Lake *

Chester Clute Chester Lamont Clute (February 18, 1891 – April 2, 1956) was an American actor familiar in scores of Hollywood films from his debut in 1930. Diminutive, bald-pated with a bristling moustache, he appeared in mostly unbilled roles, consis ...

as Percy Caldwell * Sarah Selby as Mrs. Lovelace *

Fern Emmett Fern Emmett (March 22, 1896 – September 3, 1946) was an American film actress. She appeared in 212 films between 1930 and 1946. Emmett's film debut came with Universal in a two-reel production in 1914. Personal life Emmett was married to ...

as Mrs. Callope *

Harry Barris Harry Barris (November 24, 1905 – December 13, 1962) was an American popular singer and songwriter. He was one of the earliest singers to use "scat singing" in recordings. Barris, one of Paul Whiteman's Rhythm Boys, along with Bing Crosby an ...

as Clarinetist *

Leon Belasco Leon Belasco (born Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky; 11 October 1902 – 1 June 1988) was a Russian-American actor and musician who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films. Musi ...

as Violinist *

Hobart Cavanaugh Hobart Cavanaugh (September 22, 1886 – April 26, 1950 ) was an American character actor in films and on stage. Biography He was born in Virginia City, Nevada on September 22, 1886. Cavanaugh attended the University of California. He worked in ...

as Mr. McGregor * William B. Davidson as General *

Vernon Dent Vernon Bruce Dent (February 16, 1895 – November 5, 1963) was an American comic actor, who appeared in over 400 films. He co-starred in many short films for Columbia Pictures, frequently as the foil and the main antagonist and ally to The Thr ...

as Mr. Fitzmaurice * Eddie Dunn as Stevedore * Mabel Forrest as Mrs. Fresher * John Gannon as Soldier *

Edward Gargan Edward Gargan (July 17, 1902 – February 19, 1964) was an American film and television actor. Career He was born of Irish parents in Brooklyn, New York. He was the elder brother of actor William Gargan. As soon as he had left college, he wen ...

as Policeman *

Victoria Horne Victoria Horne (November 1, 1911 – October 10, 2003) was an American character actress, appearing in 49 films (uncredited in 25 of these) during the 1940s and 1950s. Early years Horne was born on November 1, 1911, in New York City, to Ig ...

as Mrs. Allsop *

Esther Howard Esther Howard (April 4, 1892 – March 8, 1965) was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career ...

as Mother *

Teddy Infuhr Teddy Infuhr (November 9, 1936 – May 12, 2007), born Theodore Edward Infuhr, was an American child actor. Biography Missouri-born child actor Teddy Infuhr, youngest of four, moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was three and was initial ...

as Brat * Tom Keene as Reporter * George Lloyd as Moving Man *

Matt McHugh Matthew O. McHugh (January 22, 1894 – February 22, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 200 films between 1931 and 1955, primarily in small cameo parts. Career McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a s ...

as Man on Street * George Meader as Mr. Applewaite *

Clarence Muse Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a film, 1929's ''Hearts in Dixie''. He acted for ...

as Porter * Sarah Padden as Mrs. Gulliver *

Jack Rice Jack Rice (May 14, 1893 – December 14, 1968) was an American actor best known for appearing as the scrounging, freeloading brother-in-law in Edgar Kennedy's series of short domestic comedy films at the RKO studio, and also as "Ollie" (aka "Ol ...

as Hotel Clerk *

Dewey Robinson Dewey Robinson (August 17, 1898 – December 11, 1950) was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 250 films made between 1931 and 1952. Career Dewey Robinson was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1898, and made his Br ...

as Stevedore *

Gene Roth Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth (January 8, 1903 – July 19, 1976), known profesionally as Gene Roth, was an American film actor and film manager. Early years Roth was born in Redfield, South Dakota. He was the son of a German father an ...

as Stevedore * Almira Sessions as Mrs. Mainwaring * Jerry Shane as Sailor * Harry Tyler as Mr. Carruthers *

Jan Wiley Jan Wiley (February 21, 1916 – May 26, 1993) was an American film actress. Early years Wiley was born Jan Harriet Wiley in Marion, Indiana and early in her career was billed as Harriet Brandon. Film Beginning in 1937 with ''New Faces of ...

as Receptionist

References

Bibliography

* Robert McLaughlin. ''We'll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema during World War II''. University Press of Kentucky, 2006.

External links

*
Film review
at Variety 1944 films 1944 comedy films American comedy films Films directed by Reginald Le Borg Universal Pictures films Films set in San Diego Films scored by Hans J. Salter American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{1940s-comedy-film-stub