The Mating Season (1951)

Before the two stories (Mom's and son's) merge, things are a little slow. Mom's (Thelma Ritter) losing her burger joint due to several months of unpaid mortgage and the son's doing his best to leave his wrong-side-of-the-tracks upbringing behind him and is set to marry the society daughter of an ambassador. But once mom decides to come live with her son in New York, things perk up.

Ritter is the perfect choice to play the no-nonsense unassuming hard-worker who'd rather allow her daughter-in-law believe she's live-in domestic help (against her son's desire to come clean) since she understands that living with an in-law is no young bride's idea of romance. Unfortunately, the other mother-in-law soon moves in and she obviously hasn't got the sense that Ritter's does.

As unlikely as the situation is, somehow the script pulls it off -- nothing gets too outrageous and the characters all behave believably. I was rooting for things to work out.

B+