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Over 21

  • 1945
  • Approved
  • 1h 42m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
436
YOUR RATING
Over 21 (1945)
Comedy

A female screenwriter lives in a shabby bungalow to be near her husband, a 39-year-old newspaper editor who has just joined the Army.A female screenwriter lives in a shabby bungalow to be near her husband, a 39-year-old newspaper editor who has just joined the Army.A female screenwriter lives in a shabby bungalow to be near her husband, a 39-year-old newspaper editor who has just joined the Army.

  • Director
    • Charles Vidor
  • Writers
    • Sidney Buchman
    • Ruth Gordon
  • Stars
    • Irene Dunne
    • Alexander Knox
    • Charles Coburn
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    436
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Charles Vidor
    • Writers
      • Sidney Buchman
      • Ruth Gordon
    • Stars
      • Irene Dunne
      • Alexander Knox
      • Charles Coburn
    • 14User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins total

    Photos20

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    Top cast46

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    Irene Dunne
    Irene Dunne
    • Paula 'Polly' Wharton
    Alexander Knox
    Alexander Knox
    • Max W. Wharton
    Charles Coburn
    Charles Coburn
    • Robert Drexel Gow
    Jeff Donnell
    Jeff Donnell
    • Jan Lupton
    Loren Tindall
    Loren Tindall
    • Lt. Roy Lupton
    Lee Patrick
    Lee Patrick
    • Mrs. Foley
    Phil Brown
    Phil Brown
    • Frank MacDougal
    Cora Witherspoon
    Cora Witherspoon
    • Mrs. Gates
    Charles Evans
    Charles Evans
    • Colonel Foley
    Abigail Adams
    • Officer Candidate's Wife
    • (uncredited)
    Francine Ames
    • Officer Candidate's Wife
    • (uncredited)
    Brooks Benedict
    Brooks Benedict
    • Man in Gow's Outer Office
    • (uncredited)
    Gladys Blake
    Gladys Blake
    • Girl
    • (uncredited)
    David Bond
    David Bond
    • Secretary
    • (uncredited)
    Lillian Bronson
    Lillian Bronson
    • Elsie - Paula's Secretary
    • (uncredited)
    George Bruggeman
    George Bruggeman
    • Lieutenant
    • (uncredited)
    George M. Carleton
    George M. Carleton
    • Hinkle
    • (uncredited)
    Franklyn Farnum
    Franklyn Farnum
    • Graduation Ceremony Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Charles Vidor
    • Writers
      • Sidney Buchman
      • Ruth Gordon
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    6.3436
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    Featured reviews

    10millriver

    great film

    This little-known comedy from the hit play by Ruth Gordon is a delight. The script, based on the play, is spicy, rich, and completely undated. Ditto the cast but I must underline the work of the leading lady,Irene Dunne. Irene is simply superb - as usual - and lights up the screen with every frame she's in (and she's in it a lot, thank heaven). In addition, director Vidor has given her some unusual close-ups that are mesmerizing. What a gal! I know of no other Hollywood actress from any era who has her versatility and is so convincing in every film. Why she remains so little known is a mystery. I have seen most of her films and this one was a surprise, even for a solid ID fan like myself. See it, everyone!
    7ksf-2

    WWII story from the wifely point of view

    Note the wide release date of Aug 8, 1945 - about a week before Japan surrendered in WWII, so there will probably be a message for us in "Over 21". Irene Dunne (It Happened one Night, the 1939 version of Love Affair) is Paula Wharton, who goes to live on an army base while her newspaper editor husband is in training school. Alexander Knox ( the Longest Day) is her hubby Max. Look for Charles Coburn (Monkey Business, Gentlemen prefer Blondes) as the stuffy, commanding, newspaper boss. Also look for Cora Witherspoon as Mrs. Gates, from The Women, Bank Dick, Libeled Lady. War story written for the wives' point of view, which wasn't too common in those days. fun commentary on the shabby condition of the "married housing"; Irene's wardrobe in this film certainly wasn't at all shabby.. since they never had to leave their little cottage, it appears the whole movie budget was spent on her always-exquisite dresses and hats.
    8bkoganbing

    The Kind Of Post War World He Wants

    Over 21 the film version of the Ruth Gordon play which detailed her experiences trying to keep the marriage together with Garson Kanin after he'd gone in the service provides Irene Dunne with one of her better later roles on the big screen. It's also in keeping with what was then an upbeat spirit in America about how we would not screw up the peace as we did in the first World War and sow the seeds of yet another global conflict.

    The play Ruth Gordon wrote and starred in herself ran for 221 performances in 1944 on Broadway and was confined simply to the bungalow that Gordon and Harvey Stephens who was the male lead had on a training base. If you look on the Broadway credits list it says that the production was 'staged' by George S. Kaufman as opposed to being directed by him. I'm not sure of the distinction, but I can imagine that with a wit and will as strong as Kaufman's it must have been an interesting period putting the production together before opening night.

    When Columbia bought the screen rights, Sidney Buchman had to do some considerable script reconstruction to move the action beyond the bungalow. The film bears very little trace of its stage origins.

    Alexander Knox plays the husband and Charles Coburn the employer of both Dunne and Knox who are writers. Knox has graduated to not only editor, but featured columnist. His words and thoughts help sell the paper and Coburn is in a bind. But Knox feels he has to get into the war, the seminal event of his time in order to speak authoritatively on the kind of post war world he wants. This was not an uncommon theme in those years.

    Irene Dunne has some good comic moments, the kind she used to have when she was appearing opposite Cary Grant. In fact Garson Kanin directed both of them in My Favorite Wife a few years earlier. Coburn is his usual cantankerous old water buffalo of a boss who ultimately has a good heart.

    Over 21 was an optimistic picture which sad to say wasn't accurate about what the Allies and I mean all of them could bring to the peace conferences to create a better world. Still hopefully a new generation will get it right.
    7Slyhuckster

    Propaganda film, but Irene looks great

    This American film has all the elements of the talked about, but little known "Flag Waver". While films like "Tender Comrade" and "Days of Glory" have become well known, this one has languished in obscurity. It is a lot less dramatic, but the illustrations of life stateside in wartime were revealing. Rationing, overcrowding, and folks pulling together to achieve a better life are well depicted. I can watch any movie with Irene Dunne, even if it is otherwise unremarkable.
    Hatchetman1945

    Pleasant Movie with Impressive Speech

    I first saw this movie in the 1960's on TV. I subsequently saw it a couple of more times in the next few years but have not seen it since the late 1960's. I don't believe there are any existing copies of it, but I may be wrong. I found the movie, as I recall it, pleasant and amusing. As you can tell, it made an impression on me.

    This film is about the editor (Alexander Knox) of a New York newspaper who, already an older individual, gets called near the end of World War II, into the U.S. Army's Officer Candidate School and the difficulties he goes through to meet the standards in order to become an officer. He agreed at his publisher's (Charles Coburn) urging to continue with editorial writing. Because he becomes burden with trying to pass the classes at OCS he becomes, he can't devote time to effort to writing the weekly editorials as he promised. His wife (Irene Dunne), who lives with him while he attends OCS, starts writing the editorials but passes them off to the publisher as his (Knox's character does not know that she keeps writing the editorials after he stops).

    What impressed me about this movie was a speech Knox's character gives at the graduating class commencement in OCS toward the end of the movie. It is called "The World and Apple Pie" and speaks about the need for America to remain active in world affairs after World War II ends (in view of America's isolationism prior to World War II). He makes the analogy between the ingredients and person that make a apple pie and the ingredients that and people that make a peaceful world, that the pie and the world are only as good as the ingredients and the people who made them.

    If there is an extant copy of the movie with the speech in it, I would love to find it. If you do have a chance to see the movie, do so. It's not a great movie but the speech, I think, will make its mark.

    I did come across a book, a few years back, containing Ruth Gordon's play upon which the movie was based but the play did not have the speech in it.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Ruth Gordon got the inspiration for her play when her husband Garson Kanin joined the army and she joined up with him. It was her debut as a writer for movies.
    • Goofs
      When Polly (Irene Dunne) is writing columns for Max (Alexander Knox) while he's busy attending classes and studying, one of the columns has a typo in the title - "Victory is What You You Make It."
    • Quotes

      Paula 'Polly' Wharton: Old? Max, that over-21 business is a lie, like the one about you can't teach an old dog new tricks. The fellas who spout lies like that don't think the world ought to change either. It's too old a dog.

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 8, 1945 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Kvinnan bakom allt
    • Production companies
      • Sidney Buchman Enterprises
      • Columbia Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 42 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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