The Man Who Came to Dinner

When I was at college I saw this on television. At the time I was really into the work of Welles, rarely noticing the criticism that was to be found against him. While on the whole he was a welcome film and stage giant he had flaws. One of them was his comic sense. He had a sense of humor, but his performance as Sheridan Whiteside seemed pretty dull. And his singing "American Pie" several times in the course of the play seemed meaningless (Monty Wooley sang "I'se Just a Wittle Wabbit" once in the play and movie, so Welles's warbling seemed even more meaningless).

Actually the real problem was that the Wooley-Davis film of 1941 was just too perfect to be replaceable by later versions (at least until Nathan Lane's excellent "Sheridan Whiteside" portrayal could be compared to Wooley). Both men went to town as the irascible critic who meddles in people's lives. But Welles never came to grips with it. Without a good central performance "The Man Who Came To Dinner" is hardly worth watching. So yes, this one is justly forgotten.

I loved this version when I saw it when it aired in the early seventies. I had never seen the original movie or the play before so this was my first exposure to this work. I found Orson Welles to be perfect for the roll at the time. Since then I've seen the movie with Monty Wooley several times and I loved him and the entire cast in it. Being that this version aired around 40 years ago I don't fully remember it all that well except that I did totally love it and found it memorable. I would love to be able to see it again if they ever do release it to see if it lives up to my original impressions of it and how it compares with the movie.