Agence cupidon

"The Model and the Marriage Broker" is a great film find. It has one thing few films have - Thelma Ritter in the lead! In this, she plays a marriage broker trying - and often succeeding - at matching up misfits. When she takes a model's (Jeanne Crain) purse by mistake and vice versa, the two end up in each other's lives, with Ritter dissuading Crain from a relationship with a married man by getting her involved with an eligible bachelor (Scott Brady). Yes, believe it or not - even bald, fat character actor Scott Brady had his palmy days when he was considered a hunk. He was a slightly rougher version of Robert Wagner, in fact, and even had a fan club.

Thelma is fantastic as a woman with a sad past who tries to make the future of others happier. The film is wonderfully directed by George Cukor and written by Charles Brackett. It's one of those dozens of films churned out by the studio back then. Nowadays, when the studios churn them out, they're $20 million flops and not little gems like this one. Jeanne Crain is lovely and the rest of the cast ably supports the leads: Jay C. Flippen, Zero Mostel, Michael O'Shea, Frank Fontaine, Nancy Kulp, and John Alexander. One comment disliked the character played by Brady, but you can't judge men by the standards of today. Like it or don't, the character was pure '50s.

A delightful, heartwarming movie with a marvelous turn by Thelma, who no matter what part she had, was always a star.

The Model and the Marriage Broker was one of those delightful light comedies that Twentieth Century Fox (and Columbia) did so well in the early '50s. It was released here in Australia as a supporting feature. I saw it then and it's never been seen here since then, sadly, so I'm relying on memory. It's hard to imagine anyone else but Thelma Ritter as the matchmaker, Jeanne Crain was gorgeous and suitably aloof as the model, and Scott Brady was just right as the wolf. George Cukor's direction was flawless: handling sensitive issues without becoming mawkish or cruel, and totally un-self-conscious. It ranks equally with his 'The Marrying Kind' and slightly above his 'It Should Happen to You' (aka 'A Name For Herself'), both made with Judy Holliday at Columbia about the same time. I still remember the classic line delivered by Thelma (as only she could) when she tries to persuade a sad-sack male client to take an interest in the plain-Jane character played by Nancy Kulp: "She's a real live-wire - low voltage, but steady."

Whatever merit THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER has is due entirely to the caustic, funny performance of Thelma Ritter as Mae, the lady with the New York accent who went into the broker business to make other ladies happy (after her own unhappy romantic past).

And it's a good thing Thelma carries the film, with the expert help of a few very good character roles--one in particular being MICHAEL O'SHEA, as a card-playing friend prone to giving her advice. SCOTT BRADY does a nice job as an eligible bachelor who shares some good scenes with Ritter and JEANNE CRAIN.

But Jeanne Crain is the problem. She looks so cool and detached as the unhappy model that it throws the comedy aspects a little off focus. She seems to be walking through her part instead of conveying any real emotion.

Still, a worthwhile little gem strictly because of Thelma Ritter. She's finally got a leading role and she runs away with it.

Nicely directed at a brisk pace by George Cukor.

Thelma Ritter was a national treasure. She could combine humor and pathos, and the warmth beneath the crusty exterior was always in evidence. Her presence in any film was always one of the high points, but this one is totally hers; she probably has in it the most screen time of any film she was in and, but for the vagaries of Hollywood, should have been first-billed in the credits. She brings great compassion to the character of Mae, who has endured a great loss and as a result has found herself in a business whose goal is to help others.

Under Cukor's sensitive direction, a wonderful script is brought to life (and, in view of his purported concerns about his physical appearance, one wonders if the script's allusions to the lonely and less-than-beautiful people of the world had a particular resonance for him). Dennie Moore, who had played the saucy maid in Cukor's "Sylvia Scarlett" 16 years earlier, shows up and is again a delight.

Although Jeanne Crain gets star billing in this comedy/drama, and even Scott Brady as the X-Ray guy gets billing over Thelma Ritter, this is Ritter's film from the get-go.

She plays Mae Swasey, a no-nonsense marriage broker with a heart of gold. She makes a small living helping life's lonely plain-janes and balding swains find a little happiness. And some of her clients are real doozies. She holds little Sunday afternoon "parties" where the lonely and desperate come together over coffee and cakes and get nudged into pairs.

Of course Mae has a secret of her own: she's in the business because her husband was stolen away 20 years before and she knows loneliness. When she accidentally runs across a naive model (Crain) being strung along by a married man, she knows the score.

So Mae manipulates the model and a struggling X-Ray guy who makes only $75 a week in New York City into some sort of relationship. But they get resentful and send Mae packing. The trouble is that while these glamorous types might not need her help (but they do), many others really do.

Crain learns this after Mae closes shop and goes off to a resort for a rest. Crain meets a few of Mae's customers who can't make a move without her compassion and sage advice. Crain catches on and does a little manipulating of her own.

Thelma Ritter is sensational as Mae. She funny and down to earth and can spit a cherry pit across a room with the best of them. Jeanne Crain is good as the model, and Scott Brady does well as a X-Ray guy. Excellent supporting cast includes Zero Mostel, Nancy Kulp (in her film debut), Dennie Moore, Frank Fontaine, Helen Ford, Michael O'Shea, Allison Daniell as Mae's secretary, Maudie Prickett, Frank Ferguson, JOhn Alexander, Jay C. Flippen, Mae Marsh, Kathryn Card, and Joyce Mackenzie.

They don't make films like this anymore. More's the pity.