Von Katzen und Katern

Plot--A top-notch law student is courted by a powerful legal firm. Trouble is the budding legal eagle gets silly drunk on just a taste of alcohol. Of course, that creates problems in the boozy world of formal dinners. And, oh yes, something about a Chinese man losing his apartment because of discrimination gets dropped in.

I was curious. The production has two of MGM's brightest young stars, Taylor and Johnson, yet I'd never heard of the movie. Now I know why. It can't make up its mind what it is— comedy, social conscience, drama. Okay, some movies manage to combine the three into a luminous package, like The Apartment (1960). But that film benefited from the versatile Jack Lemmon in the lead. Now Van Johnson could do light comedy, especially with engaging dialog. And that's the trouble here. In a difficult role that calls for traversing from bibulous one-liners to sober righteousness he looks dour throughout, turning many of his sudden inebriated moments from humor to confusion. I'm not sure what the cause was, but the results look like miscasting. Trouble is that his is the central role, and thusly the movie as a whole is compromised.

Not that the script is any help, especially the fancy dinner scene that's almost painful in its misplaced humor. Then too, the pregnant premise—getting drunk on a mere whiff of alcohol —is a tricky one that might work in a different context, but not here. Anyway, Taylor's gorgeous, while about every middle-aged actor in Hollywood picks up a payday. But whatever impresario Krasna was reaching for just doesn't come off. Good thing both stars went on to bigger and better things.

Van Johnson portrays a young World War II veteran who, upon joining a prominent law firm, attempts to avoid scandal stemming from his allergy to alcohol. He forms an alliance with the daughter of the firm's leader, played by Elizabeth Taylor, and their romance is light hearted and moderated with realism. Ensemble playing from the talented cast is top-drawer throughout, with excellent timing ever in evidence. A shadowy sub-plot dealing with racial prejudice (victims: Chinese) is not overdone and is necessary for developing the film's principal theme: the inherent value of performing public service. Playwright Norman Krasna, who wrote, produced and directed this understated comedic drama, keeps matters moving briskly, while allowing scenes to develop properly by emphasizing the sharp dialogue, some of which is startling with its insight. There is good acting aplenty, by the mentioned leads as well as by Leon Ames and Edgar Buchanan; but the honors must go to the veteran English stage performer, Percy Waram, whose delivery is perfection.

This movie is based on a very contrived plot device. Van Johnson plays a man who has a peculiar sort of reaction to alcohol--the type you'll only see in movies and I doubt if anyone on this planet does what his character did. While the IMDb summary says he passes out when he drinks, this is NOT the case. Instead, even the smallest taste of alcohol sends him into a fit where he behaves roaring drunk for several minutes--afterwords, he has no clear recollection of his behaviors. As I said, it's contrived--but also odd because the film really isn't exactly a comedy--in fact, much of it is VERY serious. In fact, with a subplot involving racism, the mix is uncomfortable and bizarre to say the least.

On the plus side, the film has very good acting. Van Johnson, despite the material, is excellent and he's given tons of support from the likes of Liz Taylor (who is at her radiant best), Leon Ames (whose speech at the end is terrific), Gene Lockhart (June's father) and Edgar Buchanan--among others. It is clearly filled with quality actors. It's just too bad that the script itself isn't high quality. In fact, it could clearly have used a re-write. It's a B-movie script with A-list actors and production values. Not a bad film but not at all a good one either.

This 1950 film was a sleeper at the time and is now considered a classic. Starring Van Johnson [at his peak] and Elizabeth Taylor [at her early MGM grown up best] it tells the tale of a young man with allergies to alcohol and the boss's daughter who crusades to help him overcome his problems. The supporting cast is one of the finest MGM group of veterans ever presented in one film along with a talking shaggy dog [at least Van can hear him].

Percy Warham [notable English actor] and Fay Holden [Judges Hardy's wife] play the parents of Miss Taylor. Edgar Buchanan [that gravel voiced actor from PETTICOAT JUNCTION] outstanding in his role, and Selena Royale play aunt and uncle to Van. Leon Ames [of MEET ME IN ST LOUIS] and Rosemary DeCamp [from TV's LOVE THAT BOB] play a couple struggling to survive in the field of law [she's his wife] with Philip Ahn as a victim of racial malpractice and trick legal maneuverings.

Miss Taylor never looked lovelier in her Edith Head gowns and Van is just plain charming. They both underplay their roles and give very believable performances. Directed and written by Norman Krasna [playwright of KIND LADY, DEAR RUTH, SUNDAY IN NEW YORK] this is well written and directed.

I had the privilege of working with Mr. Buchanan years ago at the Pasadena Playhouse in SEND ME NO FLOWERS. He was wonderful to work with and to know. Having started out as a dentist then turned actor, he had such wonderful funny stories to tell us all.

Nineteen-fifty can't have been an accommodating year for a drama with a `progressive' axe to grind, so writer/director Norman Krasna opted for stealth: He wrapped it in a simple-minded screwball plot. Alas, the comedy takes an offensive, loutish turn while the social commentary ends up trivialized, an afterthought.

Van Johnson, valedictorian of his law school class, interns at a white-shoe firm but hides an awkward secret. In France during the war, a bombing raid on a monastery almost caused him to drown in Napoleon brandy. Ever since, he has zero tolerance for booze, in a way that's different (but not entirely so) from abnormal drinkers who sometimes refer to their `allergy' to alcohol; even a whiff sets him off into sustaining conversations with floor lamps and sheep dogs, like another inebriate of that year, Elwood P. Dowd. But pains are taken to stress that he's not `an alcoholic.' Luckily Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of the firm's head, rescues him from embarrassment and sets out to `cure' him.

In the Scotch-and-martini days of post-war drinking, maybe audiences swallowed the fallacy that Johnson's aversion to spirits was a crippling obstacle to his happiness and success; at one juncture he even laments, `Why couldn't I just have been shot in the war?' (The unthinkable is never proposed – that, like millions of others, with and without problems, he simply abstain.)

Then, about halfway through, the movie suddenly springs its `serious' theme. Johnson is lied to about an incident of anti-Asian discrimination in which his firm is involved (this seems courageous until it dawns that a Jim Crow incident could never have been used). Everything comes to a head at a self-congratulatory banquet where the partners – with the connivance of their wives – become merry old pranksters, spiking Johnson's soup in hopes that he'll discredit himself. But, Taylor at his side, Johnson surmounts his disability and blows a clarion call for truth, justice and the American way.

Appealing performances by Johnson, Taylor, Leon Ames, Gene Lockhart and many others help the movie go down rather smoothly. But then The Big Hangover lives up to its title: afterwards, It's foolish, unpleasant and regrettable.