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One of the best supporting casts of familiar character players this side of a Frank Capra film is the best thing that Behave Yourself has going for it. When any of them are on the screen they make up for the fact that leads Farley Granger and Shelley Winters have absolutely no chemistry between them.

Behave Yourself finds Farley Granger getting adopted by Welsh terrier named Archie who follows him home. The dog has been trained as a courier among groups of gangsters, but he decides he likes Mr. Average Guy Granger instead. When he gets home the wife thinks that the terrier is an anniversary present. But now all kinds of strange and sinister people are contacting Granger about the dog. The police have taken an interest in him as well.

Any film that has Francis L. Sullivan, Sheldon Leonard, Hans Conreid, Marvin Kaplan, Lon Chaney, Jr., Elisha Cook, Jr., William Demarest, Margalo Gilmore, etc. is worth a look. But the core of the film, the leads just aren't up to the light touch this comedy needs.

From RKO, this minor rom-com starring Farley Granger and Shelley Winters is quite entertaining, thanks to the pleasant lead players but especially filled with great character actors, mocking the format of a crime movie. And with Archie the dog stealing scenes throughout, it represents the type of innocuous entertainment that kept fans happy during 1950s Hollywood.

One could easily imagine a straight, serious film noir with this cast, and Granger/Winters playing tough guy and femme fatale, but here they are ably involved in crazy comedy situations, intentionally goofy as sets of criminals all compete to find the cute doggy who has attached itself to Granger. Murders keep occurring and Granger's little white lie (he pretended the pooch was an anniversary present for his wife Shelley) ends up getting him into big trouble.

Elisha Cook Junior, Hans Conried and Lon Chaney Junior are among the familiar faces who are so much fun to see, even seven decades later when such obscure films show up regularly on YouTube. Influence of producer Norman Krasna is obvious here, while obscure writer-director George Beck (this was the only movie he ever directed) does a fine job keeping things moving at a brisk pace.

I was actually surprised at how funny this comedy was--I guess I wasn't expecting much. Still, I laughed out loud several times. Shelly Winters proves grating at times with her one-note performance, but Farley Granger (looking as sexy as ever)proves to be extremely good at comedy. However, the single best performance in this movie is given by Archie, the dog, who is crucial to the plot. And he's not even listed in the credits on this website! (I actually looked the movie up on IMDb just because I wanted to see if Archie was in other films. And I've never, ever done that for a DOG before.) Elisha Cook Jr. is very welcome in a cameo role, but is not given nearly enough to do.

Behave Yourself!

Not sure why the film is titled the way it was. I did want to watch it as I have not seen an early Shelly Winters film. I could only imagine an older, larger Shelly from the film "Poseidon Adventure."

The film is a situation comedy of sorts. The early 50s version of situation comedy includes lots of misunderstandings, a mother-in-law doing Dianetics classes in the evenings, and an innocent man who (a) forgot his wife's anniversary; (b) had a run-in with a dog who is trained in finding drop-off points for smugglers and (c) is always at the scene of a murder or three!

Sorry but the overacting was just too much. The comedy was not that funny to the modern viewer and the cops not really understanding what was going on as the stumbled through the scenes and the equally dumb gangsters with pratfalls and further misunderstandings – well!

Stars: Fun to see William Demerist in something other than his "My Three Sons" TV series (from the Sixties). And Lon Chaney Jr. as a heavy was a sight to see.

Shelly Winters acted as a clueless woman who faints more than she babbles on about her husband. The mother-in-law was a gem, how she accuses her son-in-law of murder and says "it figures" several times throughout the film.

Unless you're a big Shelly Winters fan, probably not the style for you. Lucille Ball played this theme so much better.

DVD: My DVD was from Alpha Video and did not have any features other than scene selections.

Cast & Crew:

Director: George Beck Writers: George Beck (screenplay), George Beck (story),» Stars: Farley Granger, Shelley Winters and William Demarest

What talent, Shelley Winters, Farley Granger, William Demarest, Lon Chaney, Jr., Hans Conried, Elisha Cook, Jr., Allen Jenkins, Sheldon Leonard, Francis L. Sullivan, King Donovan. What an idea for a funny movie, having a stray dog get a newly married couple who have to live with the wife's obnoxious mother into all kinds of murder and intrigue. What a talented dog, Archie, right up there with Asta. What fine cinematography by James Wong Howe highlighting Wilshire Blvd in the early 1950's. Then what went wrong? One thing is a lack of comedy timing by Farley Granger who even overacts at time. Apparently he was using Jerry Lewis as his model, but was unable to come close to Jerry Lewis' élan. Other weaknesses involve the script and direction, by the same person, George Beck. In more capable hands Farley Granger could have been restrained and, given his acting ability, could have turned in a good comic performance. The script? With some revision it could have been a winner. As is, the best performances are by Elisha Cook, Jr., Hans Conried, and Shelley Winters, with the standout being by an uncredited canine who must have had a gifted trainer. This comedy is worth seeing if you don't expect too much.