 |
My Review of The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Movie Title: The Man Who Came to Dinner The Man Who Came to Dinner is available for streaming or downloading. |
Nurse: You shouldn’t eat chocolates, Mr. Whiteside. They’re dreadful for you.
Whiteside: My vast aunt Jennifer ate a box of candy every day of her life. She lived to be 102, and when she had been tiring, three days she looked better than you do now.
Buy,Download, Or Stream The Man Who Came to Dinner! Click Here
Based on the stage hit by Kaufman/Hart and adapted for the conceal by Julius and Philip Epstein (who also did some thing called “Casablanca”), “The Man Who Came to Dinner” may be one of the ten funniest pictures ever made. In a thinly disguised caricature of Alexander Woolcott, Monty Woolley is Sheridan Whiteside, an acerbic Recent York critic and lecturer who breaks a leg while in a little town and is forced to live temporarily with an uptight local couple (Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke) who aren’t at all gay about their unusual guest. Whiteside proceeds to capture over the house, recede in his secretary (Bette Davis), endlessly berate his nurse (Mary Wickes), re-direct the lives of the couple’s children, have all manner of visitors, and generally reek havoc.
Some knowledge of the literary and theatrical figures of the 30’s and 40’s helps in appreciating all the in-jokes, but even without that foreknowledge this is composed a hilarious film. Woolley was reprising his role from Broadway, and he so dominates the proceedings that Davis, at the height of her powers and popularity, is almost superfluous. Guest appearances by Ann Sheridan and Jimmy Durante (a veiled interpretation of Harpo Marx) liven up the stagey interpretation, and there’s an humdrum subplot about Davis and the local reporter, but for the most fraction it’s Woolley’s explain. Hart and Kaufman had both worked with the Marx Brothers, and it shows: The script is an endless string of stinging one-liners and retorts. For anyone who enjoys classic comedies, this is not to be missed.
Buy,Download, Or Stream The Man Who Came to Dinner! Click HereThe film version of Kaufman and Hart’s hit Broadway comedy “The Man who Came to Dinner” is a first rate Warner Brother’s production of 1941. While Monty Woolley gets third billing to Bette Davis and Ann Sheridan, clearly for box office reasons, the film centres around his ferrocious performance based on Alexander Woollcott.
The tale is simple. An egocentric celebrity arrives in a runt town in Ohio, fractures his hip on the cool steps outside the house of one of the town’s emminent citizens, threatens to sue and moves in to recuperate. In doing so, he takes over the household with his entourage and the film follows the resultant mayhem. The film has an ensemble cast supporting Woolley and everyone has their moment. There are endless references to the “in crowd” of 1941 and the film requires numerous viewings to purchase up all the one liners because the jokes are mercurial and indignant. The direction is featureless and the film is static but it is the dialogue which counts so the slow direction doesn’t really matter.
Davis takes a supporting role as Woolley’s secretary and demonstrates her claim that she did NOT always have to consume centre stage if the script was valid. She is silly and sardonic and in her romantic scenes, nobody could be as relaxed and comfortable as she was on the conceal, almost convincing us that such a sophisticated woman could descend for a hick newspaper man, the elegant Richard Travis. Ann Sheridan is tart, sexy and devastatingly handsome as Lorraine Sheldon, said to be based on Gertrude Lawrence. She was filming “King’s Row” at the same time and always said she did not care about this film because King’s Row was considerable more distinguished. Nevertheless, she certainly enhanced her stardom with this hilarious performance. All the others are terrific – Mary Wickes as the bewildered nurse, Billy Burke as the scatty mother, Jimmy Durante as Harpo Marx and Reginald Gardiner as Noel Coward etc etc. Special mention of Grant Mitchell as the harried father of the household, a wonderful foyle for Woolley’s vitriol and with a memorable final moment in the film.
The print is obliging and the extras include the current trailer, with evidence of a scene slash from the film, a worthwhile short commentary and a terrific short containing Six Hits and a Miss harminising “You gotta know how to dance”, a song from the 1936 musical “Colleen” with the dance by Ruby Keeler and Paul Draper interpolated from that film.
It is extraordinary that this film is finally available on DVD, whether as fraction of the Davis Collection Volume 2 or on its contain.
Belfast Printing