It Happened to Jane
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Movie Reviews of It Happened to Jane
Movie Review: It Happened To Jane
Summary: 5 Stars
It was a very uplifting movie about overcoming injustice. Enjoyed the relationship between Doris Day and Jack Lemon.Movie Review: Day and Lemon--Good combination
Summary: 5 Stars
Good movie. Fun to watch. The stars are good and the movie is another classic. Good old time family fare.Movie Review: movie Doris Day
Summary: 5 Stars
A good movie with a fine cast.
Look for Ernie Kovacs in this one.
Movie Review: MAINE'S "JANE" IS FAR FROM PLAIN
Summary: 4 Stars
Columbia's spring, 1959 release, "It Happened to Jane" should have been a box-office smash. It certainly had all the makings of a hit.
Starring Doris Day and Jack Lemmon, two of the screen's most gifted comic performers, featuring a great supporting cast and set amidst some of the most beautiful scenery seen up to that date in wide-screen, it nevertheless opened and closed rather quickly.
Perhaps it was the title or the general lack of enthusiasm the studio seemed to have for the film, but it nevertheless provided more than ample entertainment for audiences who did venture into the theatres where it played and now, beautifully presented on DVD (It was never, oddly enough, given a release on video), it should more than provide ample pleasures for those who purchase or rent this delightful romp.
In short it is the story of a widow, with two children, who raises lobsters in a small Maine town who takes on a mighty railroad whose indifference had caused her to lose a shipment. She is assisted in her battle by smalltown lawyer/boyfriend, Jack Lemmon. This being Hollywood, the outcome may seem rather predictable but getting there is such fun that you can't help but smile throughout and from time to time let out a major guffaw.
The film was released about 6 months before Doris Day began her many year reign as the top box-office star in the world. The film that made that possible was "Pillow Talk". She was Oscar-nominated for her turn in that film but she is equally as good as Janie Osgood in this picture.
She beautifully epitomizes the strong willed, determined New England stock she plays and the audience is rooting for her from the first frame. It is a very skilled performance utilizing the natural empathy audiences feel for her and allowing her to display her one of a kind comic timing coupled with the "heart" comedy that she does better than anyone else. Miss Day and Lemmon are great together and one can only wish they'd had another chance to work together since they are naturals.
Lemmon does the sometimes neurotic, high-strung portrayal that he did skillfully for decades but it has rarely been funnier and more apt.
Ernie Kovacs has the role of his lifetime as railroad mogul, Harry Foster Malone. He chews the scenery with such skill and his scenes with Day and Lemmon are memorable. You dislike his character but also enjoy the relish with which the actor plays it.
Great supporting performances are contributed by Steve Forrest, Parker Fennelly, who briefly tried to fill Percy Kilbride's shoes in a "Kettle" comedy at Universal, and Mary Wickes, making her fourth big screen appearance opposite Miss Day. (She would appear opposite her one more time, ten years later when she guest-starred on Miss Day's hit CBS television series).
Richard Quine, who never achieved major success as a director despite a handful of good films and would forever be known as the man who accidentally shot and paralyzed his one time actress-wife Susan Peters, directs with confidence and capability. As noted by many, there is a Frank Capra-esque quality about the proceedings.
Miss Day sings the title tune and another song during the film in her customary way (i.e. one of the screen's best female singers), and there are surprise appearances by several game show performers of the time.
"It Happened to Jane" may finally gain the reputation it deserves as one of 1959's happiest surprises.
Movie Review: Bright and breezy comedy
Summary: 4 Stars
Richard Quine was an underrated talent and his light and crisp direction of this movie is one reason why it is a fun piece of work.It stars Doris Day as Sara Osgood a young widow in a small Maine town .She has two small children -a boy and a girl-and runs her own business supplying live lobsters to restaurants and hotels in New Englsnd and environs .She is shocked when a large consignment is returned dead ,having died thanks to swingeing cuts in services ordered by the haed of the railroad ,the avaricious scrooge-like Henry Foster Malone (Ernie Kovacs).Sara takes the railroad to court aided by her friend the somewhat diffident and undynamic George Denham(Jack Lemmon) who is devoted to Sara but has nevber gone public with his feelings .She wins but when the railroad resorts to delaying tactics she seizes a train belonging to the railroad and in the process becomes a national celebrity ,the champion of the "little people".A newspaperman assigned to do a story on her ,Larry Howe(Steve Forrest)complicates matters by falling in love with her much to the chagrin of George .
As the battle with the railroad escalates stakes are raised and the climax features a race to get the next batch of lobsters to their destination in the face of obstructionism from Malone
This is a bright movie in every respect -the colour is eye catching ,the script is lively and characterful and it presents an essentialy sunny view of people and their inmherent niceness.the town seems almost impossibly friendly and the inhabitants sparky and essentially good ,Its a picture radiating a cock-eyed optimism about human nature and thus very likeable .all the actors are on top form but for my money it is Kovacs who steals the show ,basing his performance on the then head of Columbia Pictures ,Harry Cohn a man noted for being mean and mean spirited .
This is an enjoyable experience that might not make you laugh out loud but it will raise a lot of smiles all round