''She Couldn't Say No'' is a 1954 American rural comedy film starring

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

, Jean Simmons and

Arthur Hunnicutt Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, and old rural characters. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ...

. The last film in the long directing career of

Lloyd Bacon Lloyd Francis Bacon (December 4, 1889 – November 15, 1955) was an American screen, stage and vaudeville actor and film director. As a director he made films in virtually all genres, including westerns, musicals, comedies, gangster films, an ...

, it was later re-released as ''Beautiful but Dangerous''.

Plot

Wealthy Corby Lane ( Jean Simmons) visits the American hamlet of Progress, Arkansas, whose residents had paid for a critical medical operation for her when she was a child. She decides to express her gratitude by giving them money anonymously. The headstrong woman clashes with the local doctor, Robert Sellers (

), who foresees the resulting chaos.

Cast

as Dr. Robert "Doc" Sellers * Jean Simmons as Corby Lane, also known as Corby Johnson *

as Otey Chalmers *

Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...

as Ad Meeker *

Wallace Ford Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-face ...

as Joe Whelan *

Raymond Walburn Raymond Walburn (September 9, 1887 – July 26, 1969) was an American character actor of stage and screen who appeared in dozens of Hollywood movie comedies and an occasional dramatic role during the 1930s and 1940s. Life and career Born i ...

as Judge Holbert *

Jimmy Hunt James Walter Hunt (born December 4, 1939) is an American actor.. He is perhaps best known for his role as David in '' Invaders from Mars'' (1953). In the 1986 remake of the same film he plays the police chief. Hunt has also appeared in films l ...

as Digger *

Ralph Dumke Ralph Ernest Dumke (July 25, 1899 – January 4, 1964) was an American comedian and actor who had an active career from the early 1920s up until his death in 1964. He rose to fame as part of a comedy duo with Ed East, performing nationally in ...

as sheriff * Hope Landin as Mrs. McMurty *

Gus Schilling August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 – June 16, 1957) was an American film actor who started in burlesque comedy and usually played nervous comic roles, often unbilled. A friend of Orson Welles, he appeared in five of the director's films � ...

as Ed Gruman * Eleanor Todd as Sally Watson *

Pinky Tomlin Truman Virgil "Pinky" Tomlin (September 9, 1907 – December 12, 1987) was a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to performing in occasional motion pictures, he wrote and published 22 songs, several of ...

as Elmer Wooley *

Dabbs Greer Robert William "Dabbs" Greer (April 2, 1917 – April 28, 2007) was an American character actor in film and television for over 60 years. With nearly 100 film roles and appearances in nearly 600 television episodes of various series, Greer ...

as Dick Jordan *Source: Cast notes: *Robert Mitchum disliked the script for the film so much that at one point he went on suspension to avoid appearing in it. It was not the last film he made for RKO, but it was his last RKO film to be released.

Production

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

originally purchased the property as a vehicle for

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

, with

Dick Powell Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...

scheduled to direct, but conflicts with Holden's schedule caused the studio to sell the rights to RKO. The working title for the film was changed from "A Likely Story" to "Beautiful but Dangerous" to avoid confusion with RKO's earlier film ''

A Likely Story ''A Likely Story'' is a 1947 film directed by H. C. Potter. It starred real-life husband and wife Bill Williams and Barbara Hale. It is also known as ''A Fascinating Nuisance'' and ''Never Say Die''. Plot Bill Baker ( Bill Williams) has recent ...

'', released in 1946. Other working or alternate titles included "Enough for Happiness", "Murder", and "She Had to Say Yes". Principal photography took place between the middle of May and early June 1952.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:She Couldn't Say No (1954 Film) 1954 films 1954 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films 1950s English-language films Films scored by Roy Webb American black-and-white films Films directed by Lloyd Bacon Films set in Arkansas Films about health care 1950s American films