The Dough Girls (DVD)

If this is overcrowding, squeeze yourself in -- fast. With a clutch of pros spinning comedy gold from a topical situation -- the Washington, DC World War II housing shortage -- The Doughgirls, from Joseph Fields's Broadway hit, starts at a farcical gallop and unfurls its jokey, hokey hijinks with broad, breezy bravado. Two dimwitted newlyweds (Jack Carson and Jane Wyman) claim their very own hotel bridal suite, but it's not to be their very own for very long. In short order, the honeymoon nest becomes a nuthouse, reuniting husband-hunting ex-showgirl pals (Ann Sheridan and Alexis Smith) and going global with the arrival of a Russian guerrilla fighter (outrageous Eve Arden) who craves fish and targets pigeons to hone her Nazi-sniping skills. Also crashing the joint: one ex-wife, two bumbling bureaucrats (Charlie Ruggles and John Alexander), a maid squad that cleans with dizzying speed and a schmo (pre-Three Stooges Joe DeRita) in search of a bed. It's exhaustingly amusing nonsense (directed by I Love Lucy's James V. Kern) that runs riot through its paces: a laugh-riot!