Ça c'est New York

Radio humorist Henry Morgan probably best known today as one of the panelists from I've Got A Secret produced and starred in this independent film released from United Artists, So This Is New York. For a film about Ne York it sure looked like Morgan didn't do much shooting there i any.

Based on a Ring Lardner story the plot takes place post World War I as the returning doughboy Morgan has found he's got a windfall. The wife has always wanted to go to New York so Morgan, Virginia Grey, and Dona Drake their daughter head for the Big Apple.

Where in this episodic film they encounter all sorts of New York type folks. And the supporting cast is loaded with familiar character players. Can you get more New York than Leo Gorcey, a jockey not so on the up and up?

My favorite was Bill Goodwin playing a vaudeville comedian who rooks these country folks out of their money to produce a bad play. The scenes with Goodwin and Drake in this bad play with Drake's fake bad acting are the best.

Morgan was never quite able to translate his radio popularity to the screen. The film has some good moments, but they're in fits and starts.

Still it's an interesting view of New York circa 1919 as seen from 1948.

Henry Morgan (the lead) was a radio comedian in the 30s. He had a daily show on which he did a monologue of his own whimsical and sardonic observations--better than most stand up comedians. I remember a "weather report" in which he predicted "snow, followed by little boys on sleds".

He made very few films. In this one, he is a salesman in a two-employee cigar store in Indianapolis, bullied by the owner who is always complaining that business has never been so bad. Henry's wife has just inherited some money and has decided to use it to move to New York City (at least temporarily) and "make a big splash" so that her younger sister can marry a rich man more suitable than her present beau who is a small-town butcher's helper. Henry is certain no good will come of this so he accompanies them on the train, making his trademark sarcastic wisecracks and keeping a record to the penny (without being requested) of everything they spend. Arriving at the station in New York, they ask a cab driver to take them to a hotel. He replies sullenly, semi-literately, in a heavy New York accent, something like "Where duh yuh wanna go?". A subtitle appears, "Where may I take you, sir?"

The direction is altogether superb. There is a device used that I have never seen used that way again. Today, on TV, it would be called a freeze frame, but the way it is used makes all the difference. It brings out, and emphasizes, character and prepares the audience for the action to follow. For example, in the dining car on the train, a con man (the audience knows this because he looks exactly like a movie con man of the 30s-- sort of good looking, dandyish dress, pencil mustache, slicked-back greasy hair, big- city villainous, elaborate speech, yet a blow hard) tries to pick up the younger sister. The foolish wife is immediately deceived (though not Henry). As the scene is playing, one particular frame is frozen; one that shows him at his absolute worst, artificial, phony, slimy. It propels the action forward. It is completely different from the meaningless modern TV freeze of the last frame in a scene. (Though I'll bet they all copied it from this movie.)

It is cynical, sophisticated comedy, though completely accessible. Not to be missed.

When sisters Virginia Grey and Dona Drake inherit $60,000, they drag Virginia's husband Henry Morgan from his comfortable life in South Bend, Indiana to Manhattan to find Dona a wealthy husband.

Set during the 1920s, this seems a bit heavy-handed satire, with Henry Morgan's constant ironic commentary inappropriate for a movie -- although given his popularity on radio, that was undoubtedly thought an asset. The movie is based on a novel by Ring Lardner, produced by Stanley Kramer, and Carl Foreman did the screenplay. Richard Fleischer directed; this might seem an odd choice, considering he was about to make his reputation with a series of film noir. However, he was coming off the FLICKER FLASHBACK series, in which they took a silent short, projected it at the wrong speed, and made funny comments. The fourth segment, in which the sisters sink all their money into a play, looks like one of those with Morgan's voice over.

This was undoubtedly conceived as one of the nostalgic movies that were popular in the era. With its sardonic viewpoint and heavy-handed humor, it didn't do the talent any good. Morgan's screen career never took off, although he continued to do well on radio and would move comfortably into television. Kramer, Foreman and Fleischer would also eschew comedy, to their profit.

When I accidentally discovered that Leo Gorcey was one of the players in this movie on the Blu-ray box, I had to seek this one out. I've been watching lots of movies made in the '40s in chronological order recently so it was a nice surprise to also find out Bill Goodwin, Hugh Herbert, Rudy Vallee, and Jerome Cowan are also in this one. Anyway, radio comedian Henry Morgan plays the husband of Virginia Grey whose sister Dona Drake is single and since they've just inherited some money, they all go to New York to experience the high life though Morgan does so reluctantly. There are many cynically funny lines and the characters played by many of the players I mentioned bring great atmosphere to the proceedings. Henry Morgan, himself, may not have been much of an actor but he's surrounded by some of the best here like Arnold Stang-who often worked with him on radio-doing a hilarious take on a Western Union clerk. So on that note, I highly recommend So This Is New York. P.S. Since I like to cite when people associated with my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-is involved in something else I review here, I have to note that the score here is done by Dimitri Tiomkin who was also involved in IAWL. As an aside, I also should note the use of a freeze-frame when a voice-over is heard being as effective here as in that Frank Capra masterpiece. Also, Dick Elliot, who said in that film "Youth is wasted on the wrong people!" after asking James Stewart why he doesn't kiss Donna Reed instead of talking her to death, plays a very funny heckler here when viewing a play starring Ms. Drake and Goodwin. Oh, and it's funny to me when the Goodwin character mentions giving jokes to Al Jolson (the film takes place just after World War I ended) since he was just in The Jolson Story a year or two previous.

I first saw So This Is New York in my teens on the Million Dollar Movie hosted by Ted Steel on WOR TV New York in the early 50's. I loved this film. At that time the Million Dollar Movie would show the same movie every night for a week. I watched every night! It is a wonderful satire on several levels; including marrying for money, small town folk going to the "big city", ham actors, show business, gamblers and infidelity war profiteering. The cast was wonderful. The writing is top notch with some great lines that sound even better because of the wonderful Henry Morgan. He was the perfect actor to play the part of the beleaguered husband. I hope this comes out on DVD.