Harvey

What a perfect casting as Jimmy Stewart knocks the character of Elwood P. Dowd out of the park. He has the childish charm and the utter bewilderment that plays into the being of someone that everyone else thinks is crazy. Rather than viewing him as an idiot, we may actually start seeing that six foot rabbit through his eyes. This is a first rate example of a screwball comedy, but it is more than that because the script is so good (remember that this was a successful stage play before making it to the movies). It has some of the interesting TV actors from 1972, such as Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) and others like Anne Francis. Nicely done and enjoyable.

The definitive production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Harvey" is the 1950 film version, starring James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd. Stewart knew a good role; over the next two decades, he continued to play Dowd onstage in the United States and in London ... on several occasions persuading Helen Hayes to co-star as Veta Louise. Miss Hayes had previously starred on Broadway in a flop comedy-fantasy called "Mrs McThing", by the same playwright who wrote "Harvey". Hayes was less enamoured of "Harvey" than James Stewart was (possibly because her role isn't nearly as good as his), and Stewart had increasing difficulty persuading her to join him in subsequent revivals of "Harvey".

The 1972 TV version of "Harvey" is competently done ... but, really, why bother? The film version is better. The film version successfully "opens up" the play, whilst this TV version is still painfully stagebound.

Jesse White, an excellent character actor, who played the asylum attendant Wilson in the original Broadway cast of "Harvey" and in the film version, repeats his role here. (For some reason, Wilson's forename has been changed for this TV version.) White was a very talented actor, but by 1972 he was too old to be playing a strong-armer who subdues maniacs. The scene in which he looks up the word "pookah" in the dictionary is too slow, and not funny at all. Marian Hailey (who?) is a complete waste of space as Myrtle Mae, admittedly an uninteresting role.

Fred Gwynne (who appeared with Helen Hayes in the Broadway cast of "Mrs McThing") is a surprising choice to play the small but pivotal role of Lofgren, the cab driver in the play's final scene. Gwynne gives an excellent performance here; it's a shame that he will be best remembered as Herman Munster rather than for his wide range of stage roles.

The best performance in this TV version of "Harvey" is that of John McGiver, as Dr Cholmondeley. McGiver was a character actor who (with very rare exceptions) basically spent his whole career giving variations of the same performance ... but that performance is always hilarious and delightful to watch. McGiver is very good here in his few scenes.

I've never understood the appeal of Helen Hayes. The so-called "First Lady of the American Stage" (a title which was hung on her by a Hollywood radio show) has never impressed me in any of her roles. Her performance here is much too subdued (even in the "white slaver" scene), and she definitely drags down the pace of this production of "Harvey". Even worse is Madeline Kahn's shrill, nasal performance in a small role as a nurse.

If you've only got room in your life for ONE giant invisible white rabbit, I urge you to skip this TV version of "Harvey" and rent the movie instead.

Adored the original movie. It is literally one of my favorite movies of all time. Stewart later remark that his character was not assertive enough. PooBa. That self-effacing, nice character of Ellwood in the original movie is what sold it. He was so good and so nice that you had no doubt that Harvey was real. This was a remake that ruined everything. Boo.

Stewart kept returning to Elwood P. Dowd after definitively filming "Harvey," in 1950, and this 1972 Hallmark TV production, taped shortly after a Broadway revival, catches him doing his usual, competent thing, with an attractive cast around him. Minus commercials, it's about an hour fifteen, and that betrays the cuts and revisions that have been made to Mary Chase's script. The romance between Dr. Sanderson (a miscast Richard Mulligan) and Nurse Kelly (Madeline Kahn, about to become prominent thanks to "What's Up, Doc?"), is missing. Dowd's age is moved up to 57 (Stewart was 64 and looks it), and Helen Hayes is OK as Veda, though not a patch on Josephine Hull's Oscar-winning performance, and I liked Marian Hailey's Myrtle, though retaining the romance between her and Wilson (a superannuated Jesse White, who was better in 1950) is cringeworthy. All in all, it's straightforward and entertaining, but the movie, with its exteriors and additional dialogue and Henry Koster's sympathetic direction, is superior in pretty much every way.

If you loved James Stewart in 1950's Harvey, you'll be tickled to know that everyone else loved him in it so much, he starred in a remake 22 years later for the Hallmark channel. In this Hall of Fame tv movie, he reprises his beloved role as Elwood P. Dowd and charms audiences all over again. If you didn't like the original and are looking for improvements, don't bother watching it. It's so incredibly similar, it's as if you're watching a colorized version of the original.

I loved the original, and I marked it as the start of James Stewart's charm that only grew as he got older. If you imagine someone else in the role, like Gary Cooper, it would have been terrible. "What did you have in mind?" he always answers when someone asks if they can do or get something for him. Jimmy has a twinkle in his eye and a smile tugging on his mouth, and he's so ever-present in the moment, he makes the story believable. Who else could make you believe he truly interacts with a 6-foot tall, invisible, white rabbit? He's genuine and sweet and perfect. Twenty-two years later, he's still genuine and sweet and perfect. He just happens to have white hair, and the plot of his sister trying to put him away in a mental asylum is more fitting because he could be looked at as a crazy old man instead of an eccentric. Helen Hayes takes Josephine Hull's role, and she adds class and reason to it. While Miss Hull seemed merely overdramatic and silly, it's clear Miss Hayes has become overrun by stress. Her outbursts can be traced back to nervous exhaustion. Marian Hailey plays Helen's daughter, and John McGiver ad Richard Mulligan are the two doctors. You'll get to see Madeline Kahn in a small role as one of the nurses, as well as Fred Gwynn for a couple of minutes in the end. Mostly, you'll be watching it for James Stewart. There's nothing like the delight in his eyes when he greets his pal Harvey, and now you'll have a second chance to see it!