The Judge Steps Out

Knox has a "mid-life crisis" before the term was even in vogue. He plays a judge who's weary of his nagging wife (Inescort) and daughter (Hyer). Finally he escapes home to journey to California, where he finds a job as a cook. Sothern, the restaurant's owner, lends the judge a sympathetic ear before he resolves to return to his Boston home. A nice, if simple, comedy, it is well-played, though too long. The script is by Knox and director Ingster. Both Knox and Sothern were on loan to RKO for the film, he from Columbia and she from MGM. Although the film was completed in 1947, the studio held onto the finished work until two years later.