The More the Merrier
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Movie Reviews of The More the Merrier
Movie Review: A Warm and Funny Comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
Written with the wonderful Jean Arthur in mind, this warm and often funny take on the housing and male shortage during WWII has a perfect cast and a romantic charm all its own. Charles Coburn won an Academy Award in support of Arthur and McCrea, who gives another of his very fine but often overlooked performances from the 1940's.
Unlike the bold and zany tilt of Carole Lombard or the swanky sophistication of Constance Bennett, Arthur's magic in comedy was her serious reactions to often very funny situations. She was more down-to-earth than many other contemporaries and there was almost a Chaplinesque pathos, if you will, to some of her best performances. The viewer might know everything was going to turn out okay for her, but Arthur's characters always seemed to have their doubts, their happiness hanging by a very precarious, though often very funny, thread.
What Lombard and Arthur did have in common, at least in "The More the Merrier," was Lombard's photographer, Ted Tetzlaff. Director George Stevens brought out her vulnerability while Lombard's favorite cinematographer gave the audience glimpses of Arthur's more subdued but still palpable "wow" factor. It may have been only a fleeting glance, as in the rooftop beach scene, but it was certainly there, even if she joined Claudette Colbert in not exploiting it.
Here Jean Arthur is Constance Milligan, a working girl in Washington doing her patriotic duty during wartime by renting out a portion of her apartment. But the girl she'd had in mind instead turns out to be the hilariously pushy Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn). Dingle is a hoot trying to stick to Constance's rigid by-the-second schedule for everything. When he rents out half of his space and decides to play matchmaker, the film takes on a charm all its very own.
Joel McCrea is terrific as regular guy Joe Carter, about to head for Africa courtesy of Uncle Sam. He makes seal noises in the shower and is half the train trying to stick to Connie's schedule; choo choo sounds included! When Dingle discovers she's been engaged for a very long time to someone she doesn't even love, he goes full speed ahead trying to soften her heart in Joe's direction.
Her gradual submission to her own feelings for Joe is highlighted by his charming and tender confession of love for her and proposal of marriage through the partition which separates their living quarters. The stars are both warm and real here, making for a memorably touching scene not easily forgotten by romantics.
A kicked-out Dingle won't be deterred from what he knows is best for both of them. When propriety gets in the way, the sly Dingle nudges them towards each other where they belong. They make a fabulous threesome in this true film classic. You won't want to miss Coburn and McCrea reading Dick Tracy on the "beach" while a distracting Arthur, in high heels none the less, gets a tan. A marvelous reminder of just why we love the movies.
Movie Review: "Damn the Torpedoes!...Full speed ahead"
Summary: 5 Stars
The line that serves as title for my review is spoken by the great Charles Coburn all through the movie, and at the end of the film it is used as a "subtle" innuendo of what's going on...you'll know what I'm talking about when you see this great film.
I am a fan of pre-codes, in other words, films that were released before the Production Code was fully enforced (1930-1934), but this does not mean I do not love too, films produced during its full enforcement, because it never ceases to amaze me how certain masters of the American Cinema (Hitchcock, Preston Sturges, Lubitsch, etc.) found ways of subtly insinuating what could not be fully showed or directly told onscren.
This film takes place during the severe house (and men) shortage in World War II Washington D.C. and tells us the story of how the funny cupid-mister-fix-it character played by Coburn (Mr. Dingle) gets "clean-cut" Joel McCrea (Joe Carter) into Jean Arthur's (Miss Milligan) small Apartment. Previously, he has managed to get inside of it himself.
I had seen McCrea and Arthur together in the screen for the first time in the Early Talkie "The Silver Horde" (1930), a nice and entertaing adventure yarn (she plays his spoiled rich fiancée), but neither Arthur had yet blossomed into the excellent actress and deft comediene she was yet to become in the mid 1930's, nor had the great chemistry between both stars developed the way it did in this gem of a movie.
As I said before, in spite of censorship's shortcomings and the Code's restrictions, great directors such as George Stevens (the man who gave us Kate Hepburn's "Alice Adams" or Liz Taylor's "A Place in the Sun") knew how to handle the scenes and show us, insinuating it in a subtle way, in this case, the sexual tension between Connie Milligan and Joe Carter. In fact, never I had seen McCrea or Arthur in such sexy-romantic-"physical" scenes (by 40's standards), showing the love and desire they feel for each other, all the longing for "more".
McCrea seems so much "passionate" in his romantic secenes, than usual, and Arthur looks sexy to the hoot. What a fine figure this lady had! She surely looks much younger than the 43 years old she was when she made this movie and gets to wear some sexy-outfits (I liked her especially with her hair "loose") and even a translucid (or look-through) black nightgown.
Trust me, this is one of the most engaging, romantic, amusing, comedies from Hollywood's Golden Era, that you can get.
Now, one more time Columbia-Sony leads us into mistake, with its statement on the back-cover of the DVD Case, that this film was "remastered in high definition". The quality of the transfer is so-so, pretty uneven I'd dare to say, with many imperfections. But then, it's the only DVD edition available of this masterpiece, so buy it anyway! You won't regret it.
Movie Review: Uncommonly funny, sweet, and sexy
Summary: 5 Stars
Since I uncovered this tragically overlooked gem in Hollywood's crown, thanks to NY Times and their list of 1000 best films ever made, I've watched it four times and it just gets better with repeated viewing. That alone is a tremendous recommendation for anyone who likes a good romantic comedy, especially if you've found yourself let down by the more mindless entries into the genre (the recent "Must Love Dogs," for example).
Some fine synopses of "The More the Merrier" can be found elsewhere on this page, so I'll not be repetitive. Let me just say how wonderful it is to find a film that perfectly captures that magical moment in time when two people have the locomotives of their lives derailed by finding each other completely by accident. Well, OK, not completely; Mr. Dingle is the engineer of this particular train wreck, the sheer joy of which is not fully clear to anyone until the final five minutes of the film, an ending that is so beautifully planned, constructed, and executed that it gives me goose bumps.
The other marvelously pleasurable aspects of this film include the realistic way the dialogue unfolds. Most films have had the life rehearsed out of them; "OK, I say this, then pause for a beat so the audience can laugh, then you say this while I wait to respond to what you've said." In TMtM, on the other hand, characters sometimes mumble, dialogue overlaps, there are scenes when two characters seem to be ad libbing at the same time, etc., just like the viewer is a fly on the wall rather than watching a polished Hollywood product. Ah, 'tis a rare and precious thing, this.
And finally, TMtM reminds us how sad it is that today's films usually substitute nudity for sexiness. I have rarely seen a sexier scene than the one where Joel McCrea is walking Jean Arthur home. He just can't keep his hands off her shoulders, neck, and face, and she half-heartedly fends him off; she has a loveless engagement to be married, and he is a distraction...but ultimately she can't withstand her own feelings for him. It's heartbreakingly sweet and sensuous, without being the least bit prurient. Beautiful work.
Obviously this has quickly moved into the top 10 of my own personal list of 200 favorite films, and it carries my highest recommendation without reservations. Enjoy!
Movie Review: "There are two kinds of people..."
Summary: 5 Stars
"There are two kinds of people - those who don't do what they want to do, so they write down in a diary about what they haven't done, and those who are too busy to write about it because they're out doing it!"
There is a housing shortage in Washington during the war, and when wealthy Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) arrives early to his hotel for a meeting, he finds that he will not have a place to stay for two days. Frustrated but not defeated, he slyly acquires himself an apartment with Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur). She is not happy to be sharing a room with a man, let alone a man who cannot even follow a schedule properly, but she resigns herself to the situation. Then Dingle invites a soldier (Joel McCrea) on leave to stay in half of his half of the apartment and makes a profit from it. Joe obviously likes Connie and she tries to hide her admiration for him too, but she is engaged to a much older and incredibly high strung businessman, Mr. Pendergast (Richard Gaines).
If you never had a fondness for Arthur, watch The More the Merrier. She is just gorgeous in all of her scenes and her costumes are to die for. It is fun to watch her small emotional changes too. Not once does she go over the top with her acting; she always gets a laugh when appropriate and becomes vulnerable when we need to like her character. She was a master actress, and is certainly one of the most underrated leading ladies of the golden age. She and McCrea are wonderful together, and aided by director George Stevens' soft lighting, their scenes are very romantic. The film is very funny too; each of the characters contribute to the fun. This movie has something for everyone and is a real gem.
Movie Review: very cute, intelligent and original movie....
Summary: 5 Stars
"The More the Merrier" is a film that I wish I had heard of before. This is one of many great films directed and produced by the legendary George Stevens. Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur) is a young woman with patriotism in mind, who decides to rent out half of her apartment to someone, due to the housing shortage in wartime Washington DC. Connie had a female roommate in mind, but, that isn't what she gets. Mr. Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) shows up at her front door--an elderly, retired millionaire, whose itinerary is two days ahead of schedule, and is seeking lodging, since his suite at the hotel is still booked up. Connie's grudgingly forced attempts to compromise with the gentleman, without starting a scandal, is just the beginning of the screwball humor in the film......
Mr. Dingle decides that Connie needs a clean-cut nice young man...not the uptight, too old fiancee she is currently seeing. Joe Carter (Joel McCrea) literally shows up on the frontstep, and the opportunity presents itself for Mr. Dingle to engage in matchmaking, as he rents out his half of the apartment to the young man.
I enjoy the broad humor of this film, that isn't at all dated in my perception. Also , the leads are likeable and believeable in their roles. The direction of the humorous scenes was brilliantly subtle, and is so much more engaging than the over-the-top, cartoonish comedies of today. It's like watching a beautifully choreographed dance......
Enjoy it......