A classic comedy that also unbeknownst to me turned out to be sort of a Christmas
movie. Very sort of because there is very little Christmas cheer here - more
Christmas jeer - but much of it falls on Christmas Day and Eve so I guess
it counts. We are attacked for nearly two hours with a bombardment of insults,
acerbic remarks, impossible rudeness and dialogue that goes by so quickly
we are still laughing at two insults ago. It is brilliant and yet exhausting
- as much a fantasy in its way as It's a Wonderful Life but Mr. Potter is
the central character in this film. You wish people talked this way in real
life - full of wit and attitude at the speed of light skimming along throwing
out bon mots with the ease of a fast ball pitcher - but most of us are the
Stanley's of this film. We plod along and get along. This film has so much
energy and chaos that when they bring in Jimmy Durante in full form like
a mini-tornado for five minutes, you barely notice.
The wit and insults are provided by George Kaufmann and Moss Hart, two of
the great playwrights of the 1930s and 40s. They had earlier collaborated
on You Can't Take It With You that shares similarities to this film with
its frenetic pace and eccentric characters. This one was first a very successful
play that ran for two years on Broadway with Monty Woolley playing Sheridan
Whiteside in most of them. The idea for the play had come to them when for
one night one of their friends, Alexander Woolcott - a famous drama critic
and radio personality at the time - had to stay a night at Moss's house and
turned it upside down. They thought what if he had had to stay for a week
and they had their play. Except of course for the writing of it. I doubt
if a Shakespear play is as dialogue heavy as this one is. It is a constant
stream of invective from Whiteside and the rest of the characters trying
to get out of the way of it.
Wooley was not the first choice to reprise the role in the film. He was not
well known at the time. Bette Davis who plays his secretary wanted John Barrymore
badly - but he could not remember his lines - she apparently stayed angry
through the shoot for not getting him. "Better a drunk Barrymore than anyone
else". There is no way he could have done this role. They also auditioned
Laughton but he was terrible which is hard to imagine but perhaps the dialogue
was just too rapid for his style, they thought of Orson Welles but he was
busy and Cary Grant was nixed by Davis. I can't think of worse casting than
Grant as Whiteside. So they went with Woolley who is magnificent in this
and it made him a star. Though listed third in the credits behind Davis and
Ann Sheridan this is his film from beginning to end. It is very play bound
with nearly the whole film taking place in a living room with only a few
outings and Whiteside in a wheelchair treating the human race like a pin
cushion.
It is a simple enough plot. Whiteside arrives in a typical polite mid western
town of simple hard working people to give a lecture. He is to stay at the
home of one of the town's most upright families for one night. Meet the Stanley's
- played by Grant Mitchell, the always bubble headed Billie Burke and their
two children. Entering the house he slips on the icy steps and the film is
set up. He has to stay there and takes control of everything - shunting the
family into their bedrooms, monopolizing the phone, running up bills, ordering
everyone around when he isn't insulting them. The guest from hell. And suing
Mr. Stanley for $150,000. And brings in an octopus and four penguins.
Into this creeps a little drama though much of it is just Whiteside bouncing
back and forth between charm and acid. Maggie (Bette Davis) who has been
his slavish secretary for years falls in love with a local yokel reporter.
First time. The idea of losing her is too much for Whiteside so he embarks
on a plan to end the romance. Part of that is having actress Lorraine Sheldon
come to seduce Maggie's man. Played with dripping sex appeal by Ann Sheridan.
Showing up later is Reginald Gardner who does his best Noel Coward impersonation
and then Durante does Durante but his character was inspired by Harpo Marx.
I am not sure how this film plays any more. There are a ton of references
dropped from Eleanor Roosevelt to Deanna Durbin and most of those probably
mean nothing. The acting from Woolley is for todays style probably overwhelming.
It is a tour de force but for its time I imagine. Today the PC police would
nail him to a cross for being so toxic. There are no safe spaces near him.
Davis is great but her falling in love with this straight arrow apple cider
type feels all wrong and never at all convincing; a playwright trying to
introduce drama. The very stodgy one-set interior goes against today's ADS
expectations as well. But there are numerous wonderful funny scenes and you
only wish that if the occasion arose that you could be as gifted at insults
as he is.
