The Voice of the Turtle

A fool when it comes to love, Sally Middleton (Eleanor Parker) vows to give up romance and stop getting silly over men. But when her man-eating pal (Eve Arden) ditches Sgt. Bill Page (Ronald Reagan) for a date with a superior officer, Sally feels it’s her patriotic duty to go out with the non-com for dinner. Spending his leave on her apartment couch, Bill finds himself deeply attracted, while a smitten Sally struggles to be just friends and keep it strictly platonic. Although based on one of the biggest hits in Broadway history, The Voice of the Turtle was deemed by the Breen Office to be “a story of illicit sex, without sufficient compensating moral values.” Toning down its more censorable aspects, John Van Druten’s adaptation of his play made a great comedy even greater, “proof sufficient that Hollywood can, when it wills, do anything as well as the theatre can and, perhaps, even somewhat better” (The New York Times).