Plus on est de fous

This movie, set in Washington, DC during the early years of the US' involvement in WWII, when DC was still a relatively small city, is sociologically fascinating: the back story is the housing shortage that occurred when everyone descended on the nation's capital in order to organize the country in preparation for war. But the real story is the incredible script, directing (George Stevens) and, most of all comedic acting by Joel McCrea (always the tall, handsome, slightly cynical straight man (whose straightness itself can be hilarious)), Jean Arthur (whose voice I could listen to forever), and, WOW, Charles Coburn as a flustered wealthy tycoon who plays cupid while trying to help solve the country's pressing problems. The comedy is relentless, absolute hilaritas, and it gets zanier by the minute. Very few weak spots in this relatively unknown comedy. Seeing this recently, and a couple of other McCrea comedies directed by Preston Sturges, you have to wonder why Cooper got all the glory while McCrea was frequently relegated to the second tier (despite major box office draws for more serious wartime work).

In her one and only recognition of sorts from the Motion Picture Academy, Jean Arthur got a nomination for Best Actress for The More the Merrier, a screwball comedy based on the housing shortage in Washington, DC. It was a tough field with veteran players like Greer Garson for Madame Curie, Ingrid Bergman for Casablanca, and Joan Fontaine for the Constant Nymph. But a fresh faced newcomer with only two previous film credits under a different and real name of Phyllis Isley copped the big prize. Spiritual and ethereal beat out funny and sentimental that year as Jennifer Jones won for The Song of Bernadette.

Arthur's well known stage fright manifested itself in non-cooperation with those that give out the awards. There are all kinds of Jean Arthur stories about her running and hiding from fans, her getting physically sick before shooting a scene and then giving a great performance, her total non-cooperation with the press that covers the film industry. It didn't redound to her benefit at Oscar time. Still The More the Merrier is one of her great roles.

My mother's older sister was also one of those government girls who went to work for a flock of new agencies that sprung up during World War II. The country and its people were mobilized to a degree never seen before or since. Would that this president could show the leadership now that FDR showed then against a group of people who would destroy our way of life.

My aunt met her husband in Washington who was deferred from military service because of tuberculosis he had suffered. If she were alive she could attest to the things shown in The More the Merrier. Washington, DC simply did not have the housing available for all the folks now working in the capital.

Jean Arthur is one of those women and to show her patriotic spirit she offers to take in a roommate for splitting the rent. She gets quite a roommate in Charles Coburn, a millionaire who's been caught without a reservation at a hotel.

Coburn was the only one who took home an Oscar from The More the Merrier as Best Supporting Actor. He's one roguish grandfatherly type who decides Arthur needs some male involvement even though she has an engagement of sorts to bureaucrat Richard Gaines. If he was 30 years younger he'd do the deed himself.

So when homeless soldier to be Joel McCrea shows up, Coburn gets his matchmaking skills honed to a fine edge. Dolly Levy could have learned from this man.

McCrea was at the high point of his career, he was taking a break from westerns and doing some of the best comedies around with Preston Sturges and this one with George Stevens. This was his third and final film with Jean Arthur. He had done the Silver Horde a Victorian melodrama with Arthur as the other woman and Adventures in Manhattan where he was miscast. This one however was a winner in every way for him.

Best scene in the film is after Coburn as sublets half of his half of Arthur's apartment to McCrea and they haven't broken the news to Arthur yet. He gets into the shower and while some of us sing, McCrea likes to imitate a seal. Arthur's expressions on hearing the seal noises is priceless.

The More the Merrier got a remake in the Sixties with Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar and Cary Grant in his final film in the Charles Coburn part. It was good, but not nearly as good as the original.

Don't believe me, see both and compare.

I watched this movie without seeing the credits and, immediately, I knew it had to have been directed by a master craftsman. Turns out the master craftsman was George Stevens. Every frame, every angle, every line of dialog is made significant, while retaining a sense of freshness and spontaneity. If you love Jacques Tati, or anything by Sidney Lumet, you will appreciate the precision choreography of The More the Merrier (the title of this movie is the only bad thing about it). Never mind the story-- if you are a movie buff you'll want to watch it like you're finding out how a Swiss watch is made. Even the pauses in the dialog, simple glances the actors give each other, are well-timed and even musical. Nothing seems left to chance... and yet, it's all seamless, fresh, and totally engaging. And Joel McCrea will steal your heart.

One of the greatest romantic comedies ever. The main characters are funny and likable (Joel McCrea is one of the forgotten great romantic comedy leading men of the '30's and '40's), the dialogue is wonderful, and the sense of the period is exact. Two great scenes: 1) McCrea and Arthur on the steps of her apt., he groping her, she fending him off without turning him off--hilarious and sexy; 2) At a factory, a long, long line of women workers is clocking out of work, a male worker (apparently there weren't many) walks toward them, becoming more apprehensive and walking faster as he runs the gauntlet of the women's hoots and hollers (talk about turning the tables)--no revisionism needed here, a primary source for the depiction of the burgeoning of feminism during WWII.

What otherworldly power decides what films survive in the public mind decade after decade? And what films don't? 'The More the Merrier' is completely forgotten, although in its time, during WWII, it was a huge hit and was nominated for several of the most prestigious Academy Awards, Best Picture, Director, Leading Actress, Script etc. And deserved every one of those nominations. It is, simply a great film, that time forgot, and one that is finally out on DVD. And it remains a mystery how a sexy, sassy, down-to-earth and abundantly funny film such as this could ever be forgotten.

In the Washington of 1943, with the housing crisis brought on by the war, single working girl Jean Arthur feels compelled to do her bit and let out half of her apartment. Well-to do businessman Charles Coburn, who has arrived in town too early for a conference and cannot find a vacant hotel room, moves in with her, and, wanting to play Cupid, he sublets, unbeknownst to her, his half of half her apartment to a young soldier, Joel McCrea, on town on a mysterious purpose.

Rumour has it that Garson Kanin, of later 'Adam's Rib' fame, wrote the script for 'The More the Merrier', but never took credit. Whoever did it, the premise and even more so the execution of the plot is wonderfully crisp and superbly done. There is not one moment in this film that doesn't work on an extremely advanced level, and as sheer exuberant fun! And the replay value of the DVD is infinite.

George Stevens, one of the truly great American directors, has titles such as 'Gunga Din', 'Penny Serenade', 'Woman of the Year', 'A Place in the Sun', 'Shane' and 'The Diary of Anne Frank' to his credit, and 'The More the Merrier' has won a place in that exalted category of masterpieces in all genres. It is obvious that Stevens got a kick out of directing his actors in this movie, creating a many-colored carpet with all this apparently improvised dialogue, so magnificently stylish and at the same time with a looseness, a naturalness in structure that makes the movie feel like a slice of real life.

But of course real life was never as wonderful as this! Just imagine having known characters like the ones played by Miss Arthur and Mr McCrea, in one respect they are so typical and easily recognizable, and in another they are so immensely attractive, and not just in a physical sense, that you would want them for your best friends. In a strict Hollywood sense, try and imagine two more gorgeous people in the scene near the end when they, almost but not quite, make out on a the quiet street where they share the apartment! The film is great, no two ways about it.