The More the Merrier
Encyclopedia
The More the Merrier is a 1943 American comedy film made by Columbia Pictures
which makes fun of the housing shortage during World War II
, especially in Washington, D.C.
. The picture stars Jean Arthur
, Joel McCrea
, Charles Coburn
, Stanley Clements
and Richard Gaines. The movie was directed by George Stevens
and written by Richard Flournoy, Lewis R. Foster
, Garson Kanin
(uncredited), Frank Ross
(who was Jean Arthur's husband at the time), and Robert Russell
.
Coburn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
, while Arthur was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role
. Other nominations included Best Director
, Best Picture
, Best Writing, Original Story
and Best Writing, Screenplay.
This film was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don't Run, with Cary Grant
, Samantha Eggar
and Jim Hutton
, and was Grant's last movie.
When Connie finds out about the new arrangement, she orders them both to leave, but is forced to relent because she has already spent their rent money. Joe and Connie are attracted to each other, though she is engaged to high-paid bureaucrat Charles J. Pendergast (Richard Gaines). Connie's mother married for love, not security, and Connie is determined not to repeat her mistake. Dingle happens to meet Pendergast at a business luncheon and does not like what he sees. He decides that Joe would be a better match for his landlady.
One day, Dingle goes too far, reading aloud to Joe from Connie's private diary, including her thoughts about Joe. When she finds out, she demands they both leave the next day. Dingle accepts full blame for the incident, and Connie allows Joe to stay the few more days before he is to ship out to the fighting. Joe gives Connie an expensive suitcase as a surprise.
Due to a nosy teenage neighbor, Joe is taken in for questioning as a suspected spy for the Japanese, and Connie is brought along as well. When Dingle and Pendergast show up to vouch for them, it comes out that Joe and Connie are living in the same apartment. They are eventually released, but the story reaches a reporter. Dingle advises the young couple to get married to avoid a scandal and then have it annulled later. They follow his advice and wed. However (as Dingle had foreseen), Connie's attraction to Joe overcomes her prudence.
of The New York Times
enjoyed the film, calling it "as warm and refreshing a ray of sunshine as we've had in a very late Spring." He praised all three leads, the writers, and the director, singling out Coburn as "the comical crux of the film" who "handles the job in fine fettle." TV Guide
characterizes it as "a delightful and effervescent comedy marked with terrific performances" and praises Coburn as "nothing short of superb, stealing scene after scene with astonishing ease.
Time Out Film Guide notes that, "despite a belated drift towards sentimentality, this remains a refreshingly intimate movie."
It currently has a 100% fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes
website, certifying it as fresh.
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
which makes fun of the housing shortage during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, especially in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. The picture stars Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
, Joel McCrea
Joel McCrea
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
, Charles Coburn
Charles Coburn
Charles Douville Coburn was an American film and theater actor.-Biography:Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs,...
, Stanley Clements
Stanley Clements
Stanley Clements was an American actor and comedian.Stanley Clements was born Stanislaw Klimowicz in Long Island, New York. Young Stan realized that he wanted a show-business career while he was in grammar school, and when he graduated from college he toured in vaudeville for two years...
and Richard Gaines. The movie was directed by George Stevens
George Stevens
George Stevens was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer.Among his most notable films were Diary of Anne Frank , nominated for Best Director, Giant , winner of Oscar for Best Director, Shane , Oscar nominated, and A Place in the Sun , winner of Oscar for Best...
and written by Richard Flournoy, Lewis R. Foster
Lewis R. Foster
Lewis R. Foster was an American screenwriter, film/television director, and film/television producer. He directed and wrote over one hundred films and television series between 1926 and 1960.-Director:...
, Garson Kanin
Garson Kanin
Garson Kanin was a prolific American writer and director of plays and films.-Film and stage career:...
(uncredited), Frank Ross
Frank Ross (producer)
Frank Ross was a film producer, writer, and actor.A graduate of Princeton University, Ross began acting in 1929's The Saturday Night Kid, starring Clara Bow and Jean Arthur, whom he married in 1932. He only appeared in two more films...
(who was Jean Arthur's husband at the time), and Robert Russell
Robert W. Russell
Robert Wallace Russell was an American writer for movies, plays, and documentaries. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Screenplay on the 1943 film The More the Merrier.He died in 1992 in New York City, shortly after his 80th birthday.-...
.
Coburn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, while Arthur was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Other nominations included Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
, Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Writing, Original Story
Academy Award for Best Story
The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1957, when it was eliminated in favor of the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay, which had been introduced in 1940.-1920s:...
and Best Writing, Screenplay.
This film was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don't Run, with Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
, Samantha Eggar
Samantha Eggar
Samantha Eggar is an English film, television and voice actress.-Early life:She was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in Hampstead, London to an Anglo-Irish father and a mother of Dutch and Portuguese descent...
and Jim Hutton
Jim Hutton
Dana James Hutton , usually credited as Jim Hutton, was an American actor in film and television probably best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name.-Early life and career:...
, and was Grant's last movie.
Plot
During World War II, retired millionaire Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) arrives in Washington, D.C. as an adviser on the housing shortage and finds that his hotel suite will not be available for two days. He sees an ad for a roommate and talks the reluctant young woman, Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur), into letting him sublet half of her apartment. Comedy ensues when the two clumsily get in each other's way while arising and preparing for work. Then Dingle runs into Sergeant Joe Carter (Joel McCrea), who has no place to stay while he waits to be shipped overseas. Dingle generously rents him half of his half.When Connie finds out about the new arrangement, she orders them both to leave, but is forced to relent because she has already spent their rent money. Joe and Connie are attracted to each other, though she is engaged to high-paid bureaucrat Charles J. Pendergast (Richard Gaines). Connie's mother married for love, not security, and Connie is determined not to repeat her mistake. Dingle happens to meet Pendergast at a business luncheon and does not like what he sees. He decides that Joe would be a better match for his landlady.
One day, Dingle goes too far, reading aloud to Joe from Connie's private diary, including her thoughts about Joe. When she finds out, she demands they both leave the next day. Dingle accepts full blame for the incident, and Connie allows Joe to stay the few more days before he is to ship out to the fighting. Joe gives Connie an expensive suitcase as a surprise.
Due to a nosy teenage neighbor, Joe is taken in for questioning as a suspected spy for the Japanese, and Connie is brought along as well. When Dingle and Pendergast show up to vouch for them, it comes out that Joe and Connie are living in the same apartment. They are eventually released, but the story reaches a reporter. Dingle advises the young couple to get married to avoid a scandal and then have it annulled later. They follow his advice and wed. However (as Dingle had foreseen), Connie's attraction to Joe overcomes her prudence.
Cast
- Jean ArthurJean ArthurJean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. As James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
as Constance Milligan - Joel McCreaJoel McCreaJoel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
as Joe Carter - Charles CoburnCharles CoburnCharles Douville Coburn was an American film and theater actor.-Biography:Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs,...
as Benjamin Dingle - Richard Gaines as Charles J. Pendergast
- Bruce BennettBruce BennettBruce Bennett was an American actor and Olympic silver medalist shot putter. During the 1930s, he went by his real name, Herman Brix .-Early life and Olympics:...
as FBI Agent Evans - Frank SullyFrank SullyFrank Sully was an American film actor. He appeared in over 240 films between 1934 and 1968.-Film:Sully was often cast as a heavy or villain throughout his career. Modern viewers will recognize Sully in his appearances in several late Three Stooges films such as Fling in the Ring, Pardon My...
as FBI Agent Pike - Clyde Fillmore as Senator Noonan
- Stanley ClementsStanley ClementsStanley Clements was an American actor and comedian.Stanley Clements was born Stanislaw Klimowicz in Long Island, New York. Young Stan realized that he wanted a show-business career while he was in grammar school, and when he graduated from college he toured in vaudeville for two years...
as Morton Rodakiewicz - Jean Stevens as Dancer (as Peggy Carroll)
Reception
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
enjoyed the film, calling it "as warm and refreshing a ray of sunshine as we've had in a very late Spring." He praised all three leads, the writers, and the director, singling out Coburn as "the comical crux of the film" who "handles the job in fine fettle." TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
characterizes it as "a delightful and effervescent comedy marked with terrific performances" and praises Coburn as "nothing short of superb, stealing scene after scene with astonishing ease.
Time Out Film Guide notes that, "despite a belated drift towards sentimentality, this remains a refreshingly intimate movie."
It currently has a 100% fresh rating on the Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
website, certifying it as fresh.