Toi et moi

The title of the film comes from a story told in drawings - The War Between Men and Women - whose author was the famous American humorist, James Thurber (1894-1961). Thurber's most famous work is the short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" which was made into a movie starring Danny Kaye in 1947. A new version of "Mitty" is in production.

The character of Peter Wilson played by Jack Lemmon in this film suffers from failing eyesight which also plagued Thurber and contributed to his unique drawing style. This film was probably inspired by William Windom's portrayal of a Thurber-like character in a TV series broadcast in 1969 called My World and Welcome To It which is a title of one of Thurber's books. Windom went on to do a one-man stage performance of Thurber's works including some animation of some of Thurber's drawings. At the end of The War Between Men and Women we see one of these animations, an anti-war piece by Thurber called "The Last Flower".

Jack Lemmon is a misanthropic cartoonist who hates women, dogs, children and is going blind. He's just published a book called THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN, and is enduring the inevitable cocktail party where people tell him that they don't understand his jokes and he can't draw. There he meets Barbara Harris, a divorced woman with several children, and they fall awkwardly into love.

I first encountered James Thurber in the late 1960s and was largely enchanted. I think his misanthropy was one of dissatisfaction with people's inability to be forthright and strong and competent, and the fact that he couldn't draw a woman crouching on a staircase.... or the bookcase it became. A key figure in the New Yorker magazine, his talent was that of the second rank. A couple of stories survive, a couple of cartoons, but his misanthropy, masquerading as misogyny, does not play well anymore.

So this is a bewildered romance, between the Thurber Man and the Thurber Woman, and it's a mildly depressing comedy, with the high point Jack Lemmon wandering through a gallery of giant drawings, while he narrates his book to Lisa Gerritsen. I think it captures Thurber's works well, given the quality of the adult cast, which includes Jason Robards and Herb Edelman.

I remember the time period when this movie came out. I never got to see the film at that time, which is too bad, because I liked the 1969 William Windom series, "My World, and Welcome To It." Both had roots in James Thurber, and both used live action and animation.

OK, so maybe this isn't Jack Lemmon's greatest movie. And I suppose it would not resonate with audiences in 21st century America. But you had to be there to really understand.

As it is, both Jack Lemmon and Lisa Gerritsen give great performances, and Jason Robards' appearance is always welcome. This is not a movie for everyone, but it is well worth a watch!!!

One of Jack Lemmon's most innocuous pictures. He plays a professional humorist in New York City, a cynic and confirmed bachelor quickly losing his eyesight, who thinks very little of marriage, women and dogs. How soon do you think it will be before bookstore manager (and marriage-minded divorcée) Barbara Harris gets him to the altar? She's got the dog, plus three kids and a puppy dog-like former husband, but what's in it for Lemmon? We are never sure what motivates him to take on this brood, to attempt winning over the children, to compete for attention with the ex-spouse. It isn't incredible that Jack should fall for Miss Harris (she's winsome and a little daft, despite an ugly hairdo), but it is fairly difficult to believe Lemmon's character would take this plunge--and there's nothing in the script to convince us otherwise. The production is colorful, the animation interesting (if not amusing) and the acting very fine (particularly by young Lisa Gerritsen), however the essence of a plausible story is missing. Based on the writings of James Thurber, screenwriters Danny Arnold (who also produced) and Melville Shavelson (who also directed) shift from satire to the more outré, silly kind of TV comedy without grounding the scenario in a bittersweet style of realism. As such, the movie is one-part comedy (with satirical inflections), one-part drama (with pathos) and one-part character study (disguised as a family's journey). It isn't any wonder the end results are cute, yet iffy. Shavelson, Arnold and Gerritsen had all previously tackled Thurber on the short-lived television series "My World and Welcome To It". **1/2 from ****

This movie is based on Thurber's book and his life, it's funny but very touching, like James Thurber himself. Of course Thurber's absurdest humor is not everyone's cup of tea, and much of this movie was over the audiences head. As usual the almost forgotten Barbra Harris is perfect, funny pretty and just a bit mad. When this movie came out there was a TV show on at the same time based on the same work. It was called "My World & Welcome to It" Lisa Gerritsen played the daughter in both . What seems to annoy many people who see this movie is the use of Thurbers cartoons. And I admit it took me a while to finally get the humor in his cartoon strips. so, although this may only be a film for Thurber fans , it is an excellent one.