The Model and the Marriage Broker

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."

I agree with other comments about this being a little-known gem with a terrific cast and that it is a pleasure to see Thelma Ritter in a leading role. Cukor's direction is efficient and he's particularly good with long, unbroken takes which help the actors gain momentum and relate to each other. What I found interesting was that the film is very direct about marriage as an economic proposition and how it is often a business arrangement. The other interesting quality is that many of the scenes are almost surreal in their grotesqueness. I really like seeing Scott Brady in a romantic lead, he's very fresh. The film is interesting as a Fox film made right before their turn to CinemaScope the next year with the somewhat similar, and inferior, How to Marry a Millionarie. This film would have been in color and 'scope if made later. It also has some location shooting which was a growing trend at Fox and other studios during this period yet the pacing and dialogue-driven quality of the film is much like a screwball comedy from 10 years earlier.

The movie's a showcase for Ritter's brand of cranky charm. She's a marriage broker, pairing up lonely people, and dispensing step-motherly advice. There's a parade of familiar supporting characters. Too bad they don't get more screen time, especially the poignant Nancy Kulp and the fast-talking Michael O'Shea. The film's too smooth to be genuinely funny. Still, there're amusing moments, occasional caustic charm, but the underlying theme of lonely people may be a reason director Cukor doesn't go for big laughs. I agree with the reviewer who thinks Crain too cool and detached to get into the swim. On the other hand, Brady surprised with a somewhat animated performance, unlike his usual stolid screen presence.

This is also a movie that really needs Technicolor. Instead the dull grays do nothing to underscore a lighter mood or heighten New York City locations. Anyway, Ritter certainly deserves top billing, which instead went to the better-known Crain who doesn't get much screen time until the last third. Plus, it's to someone's credit that a middle-age woman gets so much attention in a medium not known for the aging or plain-faced. Overall, it's an amiable film with an unusual central performance, a poignant topic, but also with an over-stretched script, likely to accommodate movie star Crain.

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.

"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.