Everybody Does It

Paul Douglas is magnificent communicating his frustrations trying to placate his headstrong and self-deluded wife -- portrayed marvelously by Celeste Holm -- who persists in pursuing singing endeavors despite everybody's best efforts to let her know that she just doesn't quite have the talent. Enter sumptuous diva Linda Darnell with designs on ruggedly handsome (!?!) Douglas -- especially when she learns, to everyone's surprise, that he has a powerful voice. Charles Coburn and Lucile Watson lead an immensely talented supporting cast. The script delivers sophisticated yet rapid-fire wit while the direction conveys all the nuances perfectly, but still manages to deliver a couple of belly-laughs. I highly recommend watching Everybody Does It.

Most viewers who discover this totally-unexpected satirical 'send-up" of opera, social snobbery and several other human pursuits simply find it hilarious. I love it because of the inexorable logic of its line-of-development--and because its humor is so infectious. This is adult humor, not compulsive misbehaviors being committed by parodies of human character (as in too-many TV "sitcoms" and badly-scripted comedies); here everyone tries his/her best and does pretty well considering that the scheme of things" is against them all. Doris Borland, played charmingly by Celeste Holm,, is married to nice-guy wrecker Paul Douglas, who has a partner, Millard Mitchell. Her parents, Charles Coburn and especially Lucile Watson, encourage her singing aspirations; Dougals as Leonard Borland isn't interested. The final shove to the family's already-tilting applecart--her side is wealthy, he just runs a business--occurs when Douglas discovers that he has a magnificent operatic singing voice. Encouraged by gorgeous Linda Darnell, a singer herself, and coached for stardom, Douglas reveals his talent to his astounded in-laws and his furious wife; then he goes onstage for his debut--only to be undone by unforeseeable bad luck. The entire script's development, from a James M. Cain story via Nunnally Johnson and director Edmund Goulding, derives every bit of humor possible from what is fundamentally a two-line joke about upper-class snobbery and lower-class down-to-earth realism. Kay Nelson's costumes are unusually fine; the competent music is by Afred Newman. But this is an actors' film. Douglas and Mitchell are wonderful together and separately; Darnell is lovely and right for a difficult part; Holm nearly steals the film by her ladylike reactions to goings on; Coburn and Watson add to the proceedings, as always. Others in the cast are John Hoyt as a music professor, fine actor George Tobias and Leon Belasco. The climactic scene of the film, Leonard Borland's operatic debut, is probably worth the price of admission alone. But the ending, which I won't reveal, is arguably the perfect commentary on the entire experience everyone has suffered. I recommend this humorous surprise of a film to everyone I know who isn't deceased--for the laughs.

OK, I'm a great Paul Douglas fan so consider me prejudiced, but this is just a plain terrific film. I understand from a video dealer that some legal problems has its rights tied up so if you get a chance to it, by all means do so. Perhaps some day it will be shown again on TV or maybe even a DVD will be for sale.

The short plot is silly beyond belief. Douglas is again a rough character thrown in among society types - this time with an opera background. Through an unlikely talent, this time he gets to be a performer, but as you will guess, things don't go as planned. If you don't laugh out loud at this film, you are dead and should consult with a mortician for immediate burial. Too bad this one is one of the lost ones. Maybe someday....we'll again hear why the monkeys have no tails

Fox's remake of their own 1939 comedy "Wife, Husband and Friend" (both versions produced and written by Nunnally Johnson, working from James M. Cain's story "Two Can Sing") is a faltering marital comedy which generally fails to stay the course. Paul Douglas is wonderful as a newly-discovered baritone singer who ends up on the concert stage under an alias, however society wife Celeste Holm (who fancies herself a professional soprano) treats her working-stiff spouse like a cuckold, and allows her pretentious mother to openly patronize him. When Holm finally hears Douglas sing at a party, she becomes furious and leaves him; Douglas' response is to get drunk and disappear for four days. Johnson certainly had the makings of great comic material here--and the perfect leading man in Douglas--but he allows the principals to come apart too easily, and spends too much underlining Holm's irrational nature. As such, the finale (meant to bring the marrieds back together) is self-defeating. **1/2 from ****

Although I am a fan of movies from the 1940's and 1950's I somehow had never seen this film before. This is one of those delightful comedy sleepers like "Champagne for Caesar". I happened to see it listed on the DIRECTV TCM channel view-on-demand list and downloaded it to my DVR via the internet for viewing.

The cast performance is excellent from the major players down to the minor characters.

My favorite scene is when Mrs. Blair titters and flits about as she informs the party guests that her son-in-law is going to give a singing performance.