La comedia humana

Author William Saroyan had a special love for America — a special kind of love that seems to be reserved for us fortunate ones who are immigrants to this great country. Or, at least, that's how it was a generation or two ago.

This film displays this love for America in the special way of the home front milieu of the 40s. No doubt, it's a sentimental, even maudlin look at the meaning of "home." Homer McCauley (Mickey Rooney) is a telegraph runner for his boss, the wonderful Frank Morgan, in the small California town of Ithaca, where he must deliver telegrams to the folks who have lost a loved one in the war. The film shows in many touching ways what it was like to be on the sidelines (keep your chin up; do the best you can) while the boys where fighting "over there."

As a small boy growing up in Germany during this time, it was one of the first American films I ever saw. It, more than any other thing, made me understand what it would be like to be somewhere where the little things in life are important, while the 'big stuff' takes care of itself. A place where small, unimportant folks count for as much as, or even more than, the ones hogging the news.

Watch this film if you can (shown on Turner Classic Movies) and see what we have lost and what we must find a way to get back into our lives.

The Human Comedy begins with the voice of the deceased father describing life in the small town of Ithaca California. He slowly introduces the viewer to his family in such a warm and loving way, that you are convinced that love really does survive death. The movie goes on to follow the lives of the family as they cope with the daily trials and tribulations of life in war time America. To those of us removed by time from this era, this movie transports you back to a place where values such as patriotism, neighborliness, compassion and community are alive and vibrate in the hearts and souls of those living through the war on America's home front. This movie never fails to move me every time I view it. There is really something magical about the confluence of events, from the voice and ghostly appearance of the recently deceased father, to the flesh and blood everyday characters that populate the film, to the young soldier who never had a family and comes to Ithica to fufill his own dream. What a movie! And the most surprising element of the entire story is the fact that even though told from the vantage point of the dead, the movie is totally and refreshenly life affirming. One of the most heart warming movies I have ever seen, I cannot recommend it enough.

This Movie Must be restored and released on DVD. I hope the studio monitors these sites. This film is a snapshot of the mindset and moral ideals that American society agreed upon during the period of the 1940's. As such, it is history. Many today scoff at these ideals. Personally, I think they are to be sought after. This is a wonderful, uplifting movie. Everyone should see it.

While the years may not have been entirely kind to "The Human Comedy," they have certainly been kinder than some of the comments I've seen here, the venom and churlish malice of which frankly astonish me.

In 1943, M-G-M commissioned author William Saroyan to develop a screen story about the World War II homefront. The result was this, which Howard Estabrook turned into a screenplay and Saroyan himself expanded into a novel -- which explains why the film was released before the book was published.

Yes, "The Human Comedy" is propaganda, but with a difference. Most of the propaganda of WWII arose from anger and grim determination, and films like "Air Force" and "Operation Tokyo" look excessive and embarrassing now that passions have cooled. The propaganda of "The Human Comedy" rises not from anger but from fear -- the fear that the crucible of war might be too harsh for the spirit of small-town America to survive.

To be honest, much of "The Human Comedy" also looks excessive and embarrassing now the fears have been alleviated. But few films struck such a chord in audiences of the time by showing them, if not as they were, then at least as they liked to picture themselves.

The film's appeal now is more than just as a historical curiosity, however. Despite the Andy Hardy sentimentality and Saroyan's blue-collar pseudo-poetry, "The Human Comedy" has much to recommend it if you can resist viewing it through the prism of our own time, with the war safely won these 50 years. It has, for example, one of Mickey Rooney's best and most restrained performances and a charming performance by Jackie "Butch" Jenkins as his baby brother -- he became a child star on the strength of this film, but was never this good again.

Frank Morgan, too, is first-rate as a sad old man taking pride in his work and refuge in his bottle; Morgan was an idiosyncratic actor, but he was capable of great depth and deserves to be known for something besides "The Wizard of Oz." Director Clarence Brown, now sadly neglected, shows once again his sure touch with Americana and his sensitive handling of child and teen actors.

"The Human Comedy" is a bit cloying, perhaps, but it's also a compassionate and generous-spirited film. It deserves to be regarded with the same generosity.

I moved to Fresno, California in 1948 when I was 4. I was welcome at all the gardens to plug a melon. That meant to cut a triangle and then remove that piece to be sure the melon was ready. A scary old man showed me how to do that. Then I learned a person was not scary just because they were not known and old. Yes I grew up a few miles south of town. And everybody knew everybody else. I vividly recall Rhoeding Park where the hot and weary travelers stopped amidst the large trees to cool from the summers heat. Air Conditioning was new. It was called 'cooled by refrigeration'. Swamp coolers were the norm and created a lot of humidity. Days in the 100s were the normal occurrence. Many many groups of various nationalities picknicked there. This movie may seem unreal to someone from more recent times and other places. But it sure reminds me of my childhood home. Families were a lot closer then. I lived there 5 years after the movie was made and possibly 5-8 after it was set. I too waved at the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific trains. I rode a bicycle for miles from home. I didn't know bad people existed. All adults were friendly and helpful. I knew a man like the old telegrapher. Others problems were my problems. The Korean war took our beloved doctor that made housecalls and knew everyones first name. Mothers worried about their husband returning Children did not understand. I attended the Presbyterian Church. I miss those times. I miss the trust we had with strangers. I miss the safety we felt at night. I even miss the names like Zahigian and Kechaloian. It is a shame younger people feel this was not a real place and time. Roger