Harvey

What a perfect casting as Jimmy Stewart knocks the character of Elwood P. Dowd out of the park. He has the childish charm and the utter bewilderment that plays into the being of someone that everyone else thinks is crazy. Rather than viewing him as an idiot, we may actually start seeing that six foot rabbit through his eyes. This is a first rate example of a screwball comedy, but it is more than that because the script is so good (remember that this was a successful stage play before making it to the movies). It has some of the interesting TV actors from 1972, such as Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) and others like Anne Francis. Nicely done and enjoyable.

If you loved James Stewart in 1950's Harvey, you'll be tickled to know that everyone else loved him in it so much, he starred in a remake 22 years later for the Hallmark channel. In this Hall of Fame tv movie, he reprises his beloved role as Elwood P. Dowd and charms audiences all over again. If you didn't like the original and are looking for improvements, don't bother watching it. It's so incredibly similar, it's as if you're watching a colorized version of the original.

I loved the original, and I marked it as the start of James Stewart's charm that only grew as he got older. If you imagine someone else in the role, like Gary Cooper, it would have been terrible. "What did you have in mind?" he always answers when someone asks if they can do or get something for him. Jimmy has a twinkle in his eye and a smile tugging on his mouth, and he's so ever-present in the moment, he makes the story believable. Who else could make you believe he truly interacts with a 6-foot tall, invisible, white rabbit? He's genuine and sweet and perfect. Twenty-two years later, he's still genuine and sweet and perfect. He just happens to have white hair, and the plot of his sister trying to put him away in a mental asylum is more fitting because he could be looked at as a crazy old man instead of an eccentric. Helen Hayes takes Josephine Hull's role, and she adds class and reason to it. While Miss Hull seemed merely overdramatic and silly, it's clear Miss Hayes has become overrun by stress. Her outbursts can be traced back to nervous exhaustion. Marian Hailey plays Helen's daughter, and John McGiver ad Richard Mulligan are the two doctors. You'll get to see Madeline Kahn in a small role as one of the nurses, as well as Fred Gwynn for a couple of minutes in the end. Mostly, you'll be watching it for James Stewart. There's nothing like the delight in his eyes when he greets his pal Harvey, and now you'll have a second chance to see it!

I was surprised when I found this television version of "Harvey" on YouTube. Apparently, Hallmark Hall of Fame brought this to TV...which is odd considering how famous the earlier movie version was. Unfortunately, the print online isn't very good and isn't the easiest viewing because of this.

As for this version, it's sadly almost exactly like the 1950 film. Apart from a curse word (which you wouldn't have had in a movie in the 50s), it's the same...with Jimmy Stewart also in the lead as well as Jesse White as the orderly. I can't see how it's an improvement in any way and lacks originality. Also, while Helen Hayes was a wonderful actress, here she isn't as good as Josephine Hull (who received the Oscar for her memorable performance). Only worth seeing if you are very curious--otherwise just stick with the original.

Stewart kept returning to Elwood P. Dowd after definitively filming "Harvey," in 1950, and this 1972 Hallmark TV production, taped shortly after a Broadway revival, catches him doing his usual, competent thing, with an attractive cast around him. Minus commercials, it's about an hour fifteen, and that betrays the cuts and revisions that have been made to Mary Chase's script. The romance between Dr. Sanderson (a miscast Richard Mulligan) and Nurse Kelly (Madeline Kahn, about to become prominent thanks to "What's Up, Doc?"), is missing. Dowd's age is moved up to 57 (Stewart was 64 and looks it), and Helen Hayes is OK as Veda, though not a patch on Josephine Hull's Oscar-winning performance, and I liked Marian Hailey's Myrtle, though retaining the romance between her and Wilson (a superannuated Jesse White, who was better in 1950) is cringeworthy. All in all, it's straightforward and entertaining, but the movie, with its exteriors and additional dialogue and Henry Koster's sympathetic direction, is superior in pretty much every way.

I will not make references to the play since this is a film review and not a play review.

As a movie it is first class. Stewart plays his part quite beautifully, and the supporting cast is equally adept. Just watching Helen Hayes face whilst the singer performed at her home is a delight in itself.

Funny, touching and memorable, it tells the story of a man who, possibly is a simpleton, or possibly not. This depends on your point of view, since he appears to be a man who see's a 6ft tall invisible rabbit in his imagination. But is it his imagination, or is it just everyone else's lack of the same that stops them from seeing it.

By the end of the film you will be convinced one way or the other, and your guaranteed to be delighted and touched in the process.

When interviewed some many years later, Stewart would comment that of all of the movies he had ever made, this was perhaps his favourite.

I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone, but just watch out for my favourite part of the film where a male orderly at the hospital where his sister tries to have him committed reads from the dictionary.

This is a film I saw many many years ago when I was young, and it has stayed with me to the point where I would say it is in my top twenty enjoyable films of all time.