Rationed Romance: “The More the Merrier” (1943) with Special Guest Brandon Davis

A housing crunch, a missing wall, and one of the sexiest stoop scenes ever filmed. Join us today as we break one of Tony's favorite movies, and one of the true classics of romantic comedy, from 1943, George Steven's "The More The Merrier."

Guest host Brandon Davis, of NPR's "Front Row Classics" joins Tony for the second week in a row as they dive into this comedic jewel and discuss the genius of director George Stevens, the criminally underrated leading man, Joel McRae, the delightful  Charles Coburn (in an Oscar-winning performance) and the incandescent star Jean Arthur, a true gem of Classic Hollywood, in one of her final film appearances. 

We unpack the film’s best moments—the meticulous “morning schedule” sequence, the rooftop sunbathing that captures the communal spirit of a city in wartime,  and that legendary stoop scene where push-and-pull becomes flirtation, consent, and release.  Underneath the laughs sits the knowledge of a nation at war, and romance lands because the war makes time precious. We also trace Stevens’ career pivot, from comedies with serious undertones to postwar dramas like "A Place in the Sun" and "Shane", and argue why Jean Arthur deserves to be named alongside Davis, Hepburn, and Crawford as one of the greatest stars of the studio era. 

 Most of all, this is a love letter to performers who make it look effortless and a director who knew how to frame human truth. If you’ve never seen "The More the Merrier", this conversation is your nudge to press play—and if you have, we think you’ll notice something new.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Why aren't you married, Miss Milliken?
Well, really?
Some high tight, clean cut, niceyoung fellow.

SPEAKER_02 (00:06):
If you don't mind, Mr.
Dingle.

SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Of course, there's not many men about nowadays, but
there's always one if you're outto get one.

SPEAKER_02 (00:13):
Maybe I don't want to get married.

SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
Well, don't you?
Or maybe you do.
Well, come, come, Miss Milliken.
Make up your mind.

SPEAKER_02 (00:21):
Make up my mind.

SPEAKER_00 (00:22):
You know.
Damn the torpedoes.
Full steam ahead.
That's what Admiral Farragutsaid.
Of all times, Miss Millican,this is no time to be
indecisive.
In.

SPEAKER_02 (00:33):
If you expect to get along here, Mr.
Dingle, you'll have to learn tomind your own business.

SPEAKER_00 (00:37):
These days, Miss Milliken, everybody's business
is everybody's business.
War brings people closertogether, you know.

SPEAKER_02 (00:43):
Not you and me, Mr.
Dingle.
Good night.

SPEAKER_01 (00:50):
Hello.
I'm film historian Tony Maeta.

SPEAKER_02 (00:54):
And I'm Brad Schreib, who's just the guy who
likes movies.

SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
We discuss movies and television from Hollywood's
golden age.
We go behind the scenes andshare our opinions too.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
And of course, being the average guy, my opinions are
the ones that matter.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08):
As does your self-delusion.
Welcome to Going Hollywood.
Hey everybody, I'm back.
It's so great to be back.
Where was I going?
I wasn't going to go anywhereanyway.
It's great to be back, but I'mreally excited not to be all by
myself this week again becausefor the second week in a row,

(01:32):
I'm so excited to welcome backmy fabulous guest co-host of
Going Hollywood, Mr.
Brandon Davis.
Brandon, thank you so much forjoining me again on the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 (01:43):
Yeah.
Yeah, no problem.
No problem, Tony.
Thanks so much.
And you did you did acommendable job going solo on uh
part two of Valley of the Doll.
That's not a that's not one thatI was brave enough to do solo.

SPEAKER_01 (01:55):
It was pretty interesting.
And then I kind of thought, hmm,I kind of like this.
I don't have Brad talking backto me in some of this stuff.
So I just had, but I heard it inmy head.
I would hear his comments in myhead, and I would just say,
okay, fine, shut up, shut up.
Um, for those of you whoweren't, Brandon was with us
last week.
We we had kind of like a gettingto know you uh episode with

(02:16):
Brandon because I was a guest onBrandon's fabulous podcast,
Front Row Classics, through NPRIllinois.
And Brandon graciously agreed tocome on and help me out.
And we had a really fun chatlast week.
We just talked about anything.
Anything, mostly what ifs, butwe just talked about everything
and anything.

SPEAKER_04 (02:31):
Yeah, we talked everything from Betty Davis to
Judy Garland to yeah,everything, everything in
between.

SPEAKER_01 (02:38):
The usual suspects, the usual suspects on this
podcast.
Um, so yeah, it was a lot offun.
I'm I'm just so excited to haveyou and to talk about this with
you because another reason whyI'm very excited, besides having
Brandon here, is because we'regoing to talk about one of my
absolute favorite, favorite,favorite movies ever.
And you know, when Brandon and Iwere talking last week, uh, we

(02:59):
always find we have more andmore things in common.
And so I'm curious about thisobvious with you, because today
we are talking about The Morethe Merrier from Columbia in
1943, directed by George Stevensand starring Joel McRae, Charles
Coburn, and the incandescent,evervescent velvet foghorn

(03:21):
herself, Jean Arthur.
So thank you for talking aboutthis with me.
I so appreciate it.
I didn't want to expose Brad toit.
I just didn't want I didn't wantto risk it.

SPEAKER_04 (03:30):
Yeah, let's let's let's do a pot, let's have a
positive George Stevens uhGeorge Stevens tribute here.

SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
In all fairness, in all fairness to Brad, he did
like Giant, but he didn'trealize that George Stevens
directed Giant.

SPEAKER_04 (03:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
I think had he known, maybe not.

SPEAKER_04 (03:49):
And you know, I will give him I've I've shown people
Alice Adams, and uh some peopleare meh on Alice Adams, so he's
not alone.
I remember Mama, though, I'venever heard somebody be I
remember Mama.

SPEAKER_01 (04:02):
I don't either.
I find that's uh it's a littlelong, but you know what?
It's it's not.
Um, and I really do think, andwe talked about this too.
I think he would love this.
I think he would love thismovie.
Um I do.
I don't think it, I don't thinkit's I don't think it's
problematic.
I don't know anyone who doesn'tlove this movie, so except I
should ask you.
You like this movie, don't you,Brian?

SPEAKER_03 (04:21):
Oh, I love this movie, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (04:22):
Yeah, I love George.
Well, yeah, I don't think Idon't think there's a George
Stevens movie I dislike um ofthe ones that I've seen, but no,
this is one of my this is one ofmy absolute favorites because
it's kind of got everything thatI love.
I love I love this era offilmmaking.
I love any movie that has to dowith with uh World War II.
I just find that erafascinating.
So any movie made between youknow 42 and 46, um, I just

(04:47):
really, really adore.
And this is such a wonderfultime capsule, but I love I love
these screwball romanticcomedies from this period.

SPEAKER_01 (04:54):
Yeah, you know what what I find fascinating about
this film and and George Stevensalways is the fact that even in
his comedies, there's a seriousundertone.
You know, there's always there'sit's he's not always making a
social comment, but there'sfrequently a social comment, say
Alice Adams comedy with verydramatic, serious undertones

(05:16):
about class systems and aboutsocial issues.
And this, and the more themerrier, as I said in 1943, and
and Brenda just said wartime,there's a war going on.
And that the fact that there's awar going on in this air quotes
comedy colors every single frameof this film, and I find that so
fascinating because there's anundercurrent in this film that

(05:38):
you don't have in the the moviebefore this talk of the town
that he did with Gene Arthur,George Stevens did with Gene
Arthur.
There's other social thingsgoing on.
There's no other social messagesthan that, and it's it's
fascinating to me for thatreason.
It's fascinating to me becauseof the star, because I just feel
like when when people ask mewho's an actress that you don't

(05:59):
think people know enough aboutor people you want people to
know about, I immediately thinkof Gene Arthur.
I don't understand why morepeople don't know Gene Arthur.
She has been in some of the mosticonic films in Hollywood
history.
Mr.
Smith goes to Washington, forGod's sake, and people don't
know her.

SPEAKER_04 (06:16):
Mr.
Smith goes to Washington, Shanetalk of the town.
Yeah, I mean, she has such anincredible, wonderful um
filmography.
And yeah, I don't know what itis, why she's not listed among
you know nobody my age, really,unless you're a classic film
fan.
Exactly.
I don't get that.
I mean, I mean, in some, andeven if they haven't seen their

(06:37):
movies, I could say Betty Davisor Catherine Hepburn or Joan
Crawford, and I would say a goodthree-quarters of people my age
would probably at leastrecognize the name, but Gene
Arthur, probably not.

SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
I mean, yeah, Mr.
Smith goes to Washington, Mr.
Deeds goes to town.
I mean, these are these, um, youcan't take it with you.
These are iconic films, not toeven mention the screwballs that
she does.
You know, uh, The Devil and MissJones, Easy Living.
I mean, it's it's it's always avery astounding me.
And then once people see GeneArthur, they I think her.

(07:10):
You can't forget Gene Arthur.
She's she's memorable is noteven the right word for her.
And I remember the first time Isaw this film, I was I guess I
was familiar with Gene Arthur ina way from Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington, fromOnly Angels Have Wings, another
one she's in with Cary Grant.
A foreign affair.

SPEAKER_04 (07:27):
I love a foreign affair.

SPEAKER_01 (07:28):
Oh, I love a foreign affair too, one of my favorites.
And then I'm like, well, wait aminute.
This is that actress?
Because I feel like the reasonmaybe people people don't know
so much about her is because ofthe fact that she's kind of
overshadowed by the JimmyStewart, by the Cary Grants.
And one of the reasons I loveher in this film is that she I
don't feel she's overshadowed byJoel McRae.

(07:49):
I feel like they're perfecttogether.
I just love them as a couple,and I think that's the reason
why she stands out to me in thisfilm.
And also, hello, this woman'scareer went from 1925 way up
into the 50s, and only becauseshe retired from film, and then
she kept working on Broadway andTV.
One Oscar nomination in theentire career for this movie.

(08:12):
It's astounding.

SPEAKER_04 (08:12):
Yeah.
She and I th you know, I wasthinking about this, and I
thought, you know, she and IreneDunn both are kind of in the
same boat where they were bothhuge stars.
When you see them in movies, youcan't forget them, but I think
probably because they retiredfrom the screen somewhat
early-ish and didn't go on theway that some of their
contemporaries did.

(08:33):
Some to some to their detriment.
Um the way that some of theirthat they kind of just it was
kind of out of sight, out ofmind.
Yeah.
And so maybe because they didn'tdo television in the 60s, 70s,
80s the way that a lot of theircontemporaries did, they just
were never thought of in thatsame way.
And they weren't as they weren'tas enigmatic as Hepburn or

(08:55):
Garbo.
So yeah, it just for some reasonDunn and Arthur are kind of the
two, and yet they're so good.

SPEAKER_01 (09:02):
I that's a great point.
You know, there was never a ladyin a cage for Irene Dunn or Gene
Arthur.
There wasn't going to be a die,die, my darling, for Gene
Arthur.

SPEAKER_04 (09:10):
Gene Arthur they never showed up on the love
boat, they never showed up onhotel.

SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
No, exactly, exactly.
They weren't doing, they weren'tdoing guest bots on the Colby's.
Um, you know, it just was not inthere.
I mean, Gene Arthur barelywanted to work when she was in
her prime.
You know what I mean?
She just she was not a always ahappy woman, a happy woman.
But but we're we're gettingahead of ourselves.
I'm gonna talk a little bitabout um we'll also obviously

(09:35):
we'll give a little plot plotsynopsis of of this movie, but
it's kind of funny because withwhen I'm with Brad, since the
whole you know theme of thispodcast is air quotes film
historian, air quotes normalguy.
Um so I always feel like I haveto give all this information,
but hey, I have a film historianon with me right now.
So I don't have to do that.

(09:56):
I don't have to do that.
I don't have to do good doingthis long background because you
know, Brandon knows too, andwe'll tell you together.
But I think what I want to say,first of all, about uh The More
the Merrier as a wartime comedyis it is also George Stevens'
last film he completed before heentered World War II.
And when we were talking about IRemember Mama, I mentioned that

(10:17):
this was also his last comedycompletely, totally.

SPEAKER_04 (10:21):
His last lighthearted movie.

SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
Yes, because when he went into World War II, he
joined the Army's combatphotography unit, and he
recorded the only color film ofthe war in Europe that was known
at that time.
And he was also part of thefirst film unit to arrive at
Dachau two days after the campswere the camp was liberated by

(10:44):
the Allies, and that changed hisperspective on everything after
that, after life after that.
He couldn't, the horrors he justsaw, he couldn't imagine
creating a lighthearted comedyagain.
And that's why his films allshifted, don't you think?

SPEAKER_04 (10:59):
Oh, I think so, yeah.
Yeah, because every movie thathe makes after the war, even
something like I remember mama,which does have some
lighthearted moments, butthere's they they all have some
kind of deep, deep message tothem.
And they get, you know, a placeto the sun is very it's
romantic, but it's dark.
Um, and then and then you gointo stuff like Shane and stuff

(11:22):
like Giant and the Diary of AnneFrank.
Diary of Anne Frank.
I mean, and then he even does,you know, in the 60s, he even
does a biblical epoch.
He does uh the greatest storyever told, right?
So they all have some kind ofreally big, meaningful message
to them, and all have very, verybig dramatic weight.

SPEAKER_01 (11:41):
I feel like he flipped the script.
You know, I feel like before thewar he was doing comedies with
serious undertones, and thenafter the war, he was doing
serious films with comedicundertones, slight comedic
undertones.

SPEAKER_04 (11:52):
I mean, there's because giant has moments of
levity, Shane has moments oflevity, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (11:56):
Diary Van Frank has moments of levity.
I mean it does, you know, it'sbased on the play, of course,
but it's so yeah, it's it's justit's really interesting to see
how he developed as a filmmaker.
And as I've said, one of thethings I love most about
Stevens, and one of the thingsStevens is most famous for are
his close-ups.
He does legendary close-ups inso many films, in Alice Adams,

(12:17):
in most famously in The Place inthe Sun.
You know, his his close-ups ofElizabeth Montgomery.
Elizabeth Montgomery.
I wish he would have directedsome bewitched.
His close-ups of ElizabethTaylor and Montgomery Clift are
legendary.
And he has beautiful close-upsin this film, too.
Oh, yeah.
Gene Arthur was 42 when she madethis film.

(12:39):
42.
Think about that.
Most actresses at that time wereover the hill at 32.
She's 42 making this film, andshe looks luminous.
Now, a lot of that has to dowith the cinematographer, Ted
Tetzlav.
But again, George Stevens,that's his eye, and that's what
he's he's presenting.
This beautiful, beautifulversion of her.
I find her intoxicating in thismovie.

SPEAKER_04 (12:58):
Yeah, I think I think this is the most beautiful
she ever uh she's ever been in amovie, I think.
Uh trying to think back to herfilmography, but yeah, I just
think her wardrobe is very chicand stylish in this.
The way she carries herself isvery sexy.
Um, yeah, this is just this ispeak Gene Arthur for me.
And yeah, it's it really isamazing.

(13:19):
And there's there's there's somespecific, and I know what you're
referring to too, but somereally specific close-ups with
her and Joel McRae, especiallytoward the end, um, that are
just luminous that you can justframe and hang on your wall.
They're so beautiful.
But uh she has got thiseffervescence in this while
playing a character at thebeginning who's very sort of

(13:40):
tries to be buttoned up, butthere is a little leaf there
that she's trying to let out.
And uh, you know, Joel McCraebrings that in.
Hey, Joel McCray can bring thatin at anybody.

SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Well, she worked for the Office of Facts and Figures.
I mean, she's very rigid, she'svery regimented, is the word.
And what I love about whatStevens does in this, and uh
might be a little bit ahead ofourselves here, but uh, as far
as the close-ups, as far as thefilming, you know, I uh in the
beginning of the film, most ofthe film, for the premise, it
has to be shot this way, butStevens is also talking about uh

(14:12):
Gene Arthur's character's nameis Connie, Connie Milligan.
Um, so many shots are throughdoorways, are through windows,
are around corners, becauseConnie's life is very
regimented.
And that's what Stevens isshowing us that she's she lives
in this structure like anapartment.
Everything's very structured.
And then when she starts toloosen up and when love starts

(14:35):
to come, and in the end, ofcourse, those walls are
literally taken down.
There's less and less of thatuntil they're gone.
And I love that.
And the same thing with theclose-ups, you know, he's he
doesn't do close-ups until theystart to fall in love.
And and you know, that's that'sthe lovely thing about what
Stevens does with his close-ups.
He's very he doesn't overdothem, he gives you just enough

(14:57):
and to make his point and totell you something about the
character and to tell yousomething about the story and
where we're at, and they justthen he lets go.
It's it's sty I love Stevens.
I love Stevens.

SPEAKER_04 (15:07):
Oh, yeah, it's incredible.
It's incredible, and also andalso going back to Gene Arthur,
I love uh George Stevens to mebrings out uh you know, and and
Capra does a little bit, but uhStevens especially brings out
the wonderful kooky side of itthat is so wonderful.
I mean, she'll do line readingsor like some of the noises she
makes.
He's gonna talk about thenoises.

(15:29):
I was thinking, I just I justwatched Talk in the Town
recently because I did anepisode on it, but um, the scene
where Ronald Coleman is about touh find out that Cary Graham is
an ex-convict in the paper, andshe throws the egg on it,
friend, and the little and thelittle noise she makes, and the
little fits she throws, and shethrows the and she makes some
wonderful, especially toward theend after the walls come down.

(15:52):
Um, an incredible noise comesout of her.

SPEAKER_01 (15:56):
The grunts and harumfs and screams and gurgles
that come out of Gene Arthur arepriceless.
Pretty amazing considering shestarted in silent film.
This is a woman and didn't evenlike her own voice.
She didn't like her voice.
I think her earliest talk is shedoesn't even have this voice.
I mean, I think she just kind oflike she either developed it or
she was suppressing it, youknow.

(16:17):
So someone who started in silentfilm who who really is like uh
another actress I think of witha voice like this, like Margaret
Sullivan, that a voice which isso distinct and so her own.
You hear Gene Arthur, you knowthat's Gene Arthur.
You're not gonna think thatain't Barbara Stanwick, that's
certainly not Catherine Hepburn,that's Gene Arthur, I think, is
what you think.

SPEAKER_04 (16:36):
Absolutely.
Well, and Margaret Sullivan, youmentioned another woman who
wasn't particularly pleasant towork with all the time.
But yeah, no, but yeah, everyyeah, yeah, such a distinct
voice, and I think it's justman, I find it so charming uh
when she talks.
There's something so there's achildlike quality to it, but

(16:59):
there's also this sort of worldweary cynicism in it.
It's got sort of everything, uhyeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Playfulness, playfulness, an orderiness, uh,
even even a sexiness to the tothe timber.
And yeah, you know, because sheworks so much with because her
films with Capra are so iconic.
Mr.
Smith goes to Washington, Mr.
Deeds goes to town.
I but I really honestly preferher with Stevens.
I think there are some actorsand actress who's just who just

(17:26):
click with each other.
I think I feel that way aboutDavis and Weiler, I feel that
way about Hepburn and Qcor, andI feel that way about Arthur and
Stevens.
I think he brought something outin her that nobody else did, and
it's individual and it's uniqueand it's perfection, in my
opinion.

SPEAKER_04 (17:42):
Oh, I agree.
I agree, absolutely.
There is just a spark that hebrings out of her and just this
sort of effervescence.
I mean, she's she's able to itin the Catherine movie, she's a
little more tailored, which Ithink fits some of those
characters, right?
But she she is able to reallyjust let out and be almost

(18:06):
almost method in herperformances in these movies.
It's got this kind of um, shejust she she knows these
characters and she can dig in alittle bit more and not have any
inhibitions about herwhatsoever.

SPEAKER_01 (18:18):
That's wonderful.
So let's tell you a little bitabout what this movie's about.
Now, we're not gonna do plotpoint by plot point.
We know we don't do that here.
Um, but we should I do want togive you an overview of this
film.
You know, as we said, it takesplace during World War II at the
height of the war in Washington,D.C.
And because it's wartime, thereis an extreme housing shortage,
and everyone is being um notpersuaded, but everybody's being

(18:41):
encouraged to help ease thehouting shortage by renting out
spaces they may have.
And Gene Arthur plays ConnieMilligan, who very, very
patriotically decides to rentout half a room in her apartment
in Washington, D.C.
And she puts an ad in the paperfor a room.
And at that time, now I don'tknow if he's a millionaire or

(19:03):
not.
I've heard he's a millionaire, Iheard he's not a millionaire, I
don't know, but anyway, CharlesCoburn, who plays Mr.
Dingle, I love that name,Benjamin Dingle answers the ad
and through machinations ends upher roommate.
She's not too happy about havinga man live there, but it's the
wartime and she needs to do herpart.
And while the next day, aftershe rents it, the next day he

(19:26):
sees Joel McCrae on the streetcarrying a propeller, walking
down the street in Washington,D.C.
carrying a propeller.
And he gets the patriotic urgetoo, because Joel McCrae's
looking for a place to stay fora few days.
So he rents his half of his roomto Joel McCrae.
So it's a half of a half of anapartment which is rented by

(19:49):
Gene Arthur, Gene Arthur'sapartment.
And as you can imagine, mishaps,comedy, and romance ensue.
So that's my like five five centuh synopses of it.
Is there anything you want toadd to that?

SPEAKER_04 (20:03):
No, I think you know, I would, and that plot
synopsis alone would make mewant to go see it because it is
it's three incredibly likablepeople just uh in in in a movie.
And all you have to do really isjust throw them together and let
the situation happen from thecharacters.

(20:23):
And it just works so well.
But what I love so much, and Iwas talking earlier about this,
I just love movies that give youkind of a time capsule into what
life was like because you knowit's like why it's why I love
movies like Since You Went Awayor uh Tinder Comrades or
something like that, where whereyou see what life was like, you
know, going to the grocery storeor free you know, doing uh you

(20:46):
know Freedom Gardens or youknow, tire drives or things like
that, rubber drives and fortire, you know, it's it was how
everyone kind of bandedtogether, but also told you like
some of the um some of theissues that we were having on
the home front and the housingshortage was one of them.

SPEAKER_03 (21:02):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (21:02):
And so this is one of those movies that sort of
just jumps you right into theaction of that time.
And it's just, I mean, from fromthe get-go, it's so as Charles
Coburn walks on screen and youjust you fall in love with this
movie.
Charles Coburn.
He he is remarkable.
And I think I I I'm what Itexted you was for some reason,

(21:23):
Charles Coburn, Klon Reigns, andSydney Green Street could play
equally lovable and equallydespicable at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 (21:32):
Yeah, the thing I love about Charles Coburn, yes,
yes, and the thing you'reabsolutely right about that.
And one of my Charles Coburn'sfavorite, one of my favorite
performances of Charles Coburn,I have a very favorite, which
I'm gonna quiz you and see ifyou can guess what it is.
Yeah, but I love him in In ThisOur Life with Betty a very
under, in my opinion, a veryunderrated Betty Davis, Olivia

(21:52):
De Havilland film film directedby John Houston.
Probably her most evil.
Her most evil, probably her mostevil.
She runs over a kid and thentries to blame it on you.
I mean, it's crazy.
And he plays her incestuousuncle, you know, who's who's
definitely got designs on her.

SPEAKER_04 (22:08):
And he's it is very uncomfortable, the scenes
between the two of them.

SPEAKER_01 (22:12):
It's very uncomfortable.
And you're like, this is thatadorable Mr.
Dingle from the more themerrier, the guy, the cupid.
And here he is, kind of thislecherous old man putting the
moves on his niece, Betty Davis.
It's a highly underrated moviedirected by John Houston.
I love In This Our Life.
I think it is such great trash.
One of my favorites.
I love him in the Lady Eve.

(22:33):
I love him in The Devil and MissJones, The Devil and Miss Jones.
That's a different movie, TheDevil and Miss Jones.
Hello.
The Devil and Miss Jones.
Again with Gene Arthur.
But you know what my very verycan you guess what my very, very
favorite performance of his is?

unknown (22:47):
Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 (22:49):
This is one of your favorite musicals.
I mean, I don't know you thatwell, and I already know this is
one of your favorite musicals.

SPEAKER_04 (22:54):
Well, are you are you him as Piggy and Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes?

SPEAKER_03 (22:58):
Yes!

SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Piggy! I love him and Gentlemen Prefer Blonde.
He's like almost 80 years old.
Yeah, this guy.
Oh, but he steals the moviealmost.
And he steals he's flirting withMarilyn Monroe and with the
Tiara, and oh Piggy.

SPEAKER_04 (23:17):
But he and yet he's not, and yet he's more
interested in the diamonds thanhe, you know, and that's he is.

SPEAKER_01 (23:24):
He's it's such a sweet, endearing performance.
Yeah, he's you know, and theonly Oscar winner in this movie.
And he's also movie.

SPEAKER_04 (23:31):
Well, and then he's he's despicable in uh King's
Row.
Um yeah, oh yeah.
I mean he could just go back andforth, but no, he and then I
also love I I mentioned to youmy favorite though is um uh
David Niven's father and uhBachelor Mother with Ginger
Rogers, where you know he justhe wants to be a grandfather
more than anything, and hedoesn't care that it's not his
son, so he just still wants tobe the grandfather.

SPEAKER_01 (23:53):
He's so delightful, and he steal he he I don't want
to say he steals this moviebecause I love Gene Arthur so
much in this movie, but he comesabout as close as you can get to
stealing this movie because he'sjust his character, uh he's just
such a delight.
The minute you're right, theminute he walks on screen, the
minute he walks on screen, he'sjust a delight.
And I I feel like we weretalking about the fact that this

(24:13):
is set in wartime, and that'swhat I love about this is that
you're right, life is different.
The stakes during wartime are somuch higher than they are in
real life because these peopledon't know what the next day
will bring.
No, I don't necessarily knowwhat the next day is gonna bring
here either in this world, butanyway, but they really didn't
know it then, and I love thefact that this film could not be

(24:35):
set in another time because ofthe fact that's the
justification.
The justification of renting outhalf of my apartment to this old
man and being okay with it isbecause we're in a war, the
stakes are high, we thesituations are different, so
it's also like a justification.
So you see why, and it's alsowhy these two people eventually

(24:56):
fall in love so fast becausethat's it's like the clock.
Have you you know the clock withJudy Garland and Robert Walker?

SPEAKER_04 (25:02):
Yes, I love that one.

SPEAKER_01 (25:03):
You know, 48 hours, uh, a romance in 48.
That's what this is.
They they they have such alimited amount of time before
he's gone, and so everything'sheightened, and you get that
from this movie, you get thatfrom the way Stevens films it,
you you get that from theperformances.
Everybody is living at a higherlevel of intensity because of
when it's set and because ofwhat's going on.
And I think Stevens illustratesthat beautifully in this film.

SPEAKER_04 (25:26):
Yeah, because you know that he has to uh leave for
Africa soon, Joel McRae'scharacter, and uh, you know, and
uh you it's always in the backof your mind about what could
happen when some when a when ayou know soldier gets shipped
off at that point, and so whoknows that they're gonna come
back?
And so um, you know, everythingkind of changes once Gene Arthur

(25:46):
realized, you know, she's aboutto kick him and Charles Coburn.
Well, she's already kickedCharles Coburn out for reading
her diary.
She's about to kick him out,too.
And then she goes, Oh, well,it's just two more days, you
know, you know, and so and thenonce she realizes sort of the
weight of that, that's wheneverything kind of starts to
turn.
But you're right, everything isso heightened, even in these
comedies, and that really thatreally drives it home.

(26:08):
But that sometimes heightens thecomedy too, because everything
is so big and so grand and justimmediate.

SPEAKER_01 (26:15):
Oh, yeah, it is.
No, it's totally it the stakesare so much higher in wartime
than they are during peacetime,if you will.
Absolutely.
But I love the fact that thismovie came about just because
Gene Arthur wanted to get thehell out of our Columbia
contract.
She's like, I am so done withyou, Harry Cohn.
I am so over you.
Now, for you know, I know youknow, Harry Cone ran Columbia

(26:38):
Pictures, which was uh one ofthe poverty row studios.
You know, he wasn't one of thebig ones, he wasn't an MGM, it
wasn't an MGM, it wasn't aWarner Brothers, it wasn't um a
Paramount.
Exactly, exactly.
It was poverty row, but they hadone amazing asset, they had
Frank Capra.
And Frank Capra kept that studiorunning.

(26:59):
Columbia never had stars, thatwas the thing.
That's why Gene Arthur was theironly star, really, in the 30s
and early 40s, and then whenRita Hayworth came in, and then
they kind of picked up.
But so she but Harry Cohn wasfamously.
I mean, if we're gonna talkabout despicable moguls, Harry
Cohn was the despicable of thedespicable.

(27:20):
I mean, the moguls hated HarryCohn.
You know what I mean?
He was a reprehensiblecharacter, a reprehensible
character.
But he also, because he had solittle, um, so few stars and so
few names under contract, theones he did have, he usually
treated pretty well or at leastgave them their head, gave them
a little bit of a lead.

(27:41):
But actresses, not so much.
So I think Gene Arthur had beenworking with him now for I can't
remember how her originalcontract I think started in 35
with him, and she was just readyto go.
And she was put on suspensionyet again.
She was always being put onsuspension because she refused
to do a film because the womanbasically was not crazy about
working, to be perfectly honest.
And she found this story.

(28:02):
Do you know who the story is bythe original story of uh The
More Than Marrier, the story bycalled Tuce Company?
Or Toos Toose a Crowd.

SPEAKER_04 (28:11):
Oh, it's Garson Canaan.

SPEAKER_01 (28:12):
Yeah, Garson Kane.
Isn't that crazy?
Yeah.
Gars and Canaan.

SPEAKER_04 (28:16):
It's it's got a lot of yeah.
Every great screwball comedy isby Garson Canaan.

SPEAKER_01 (28:20):
I know, right?
That's what I'm thinking.
And then you have the whole bornuh the whole born yesterday
thing that would happen withGene Arthur later, which we'll
get to.
So yeah, the story is calledTo's a Crowd.
Gene Arthur and her husbandbought it, and he brought it to
Harry Cohn as her next projectto get her closer to I think her
contract was up in 44, so thenext year, and then she was
gonna retire.

(28:40):
And she actually did retire.
I mean, she came back to do acouple movies, but she was
pretty much done.
So this is very near the end ofher career, and she wanted, you
know, as you know, she wanted toreunite with uh they wanted her
to put her with Grant againbecause they just didn't talk of
the town, but he wasn'tavailable, so she suggested who
did she suggest, Brandon.

SPEAKER_04 (29:00):
Oh, you got me stumped.
Wait a second.

SPEAKER_01 (29:03):
No, the the who's who's that who's in this movie
with her.

SPEAKER_04 (29:05):
Oh, Joel McRae.
I'm sorry, I thought for asecond.
I thought I'm sorry, I'm gonnapull a brat.

SPEAKER_01 (29:11):
I'm pulling a brat on you here.
Like, who is a brad?
Tell me.
He's like, What?
You're the film historian,buddy.
Joel McCray.
Joel McCrae, the fabulous JoelMcCrae.
And you said to me theunderrated Joel McCrae.
Absolutely, absolutely.
He, you know, and for someoneelse who's been in some iconic
films, Sullivan's Travels.
I mean, you know, he's the PalmBeach story.

(29:32):
The Palm Beach story, PrestonSturge's go-to man, and yet he
loved making those westerns.
And everyone just pretty muchknows him as the Western guy.
But I love his chemistry withher in this.
I think it's fabulous.

SPEAKER_04 (29:46):
It's what well, he always has great chemistry with,
you know, no matter who it is,whether it's Veronica Lake or
Clint Colbert or you know, her.
He always because he doesn't,it's like you said, he doesn't
overpower his leading lady.
But he always but he doesn't letthem sort of emasculate him
either, the way that you knowsome of the uh Davis Crawford

(30:07):
leading men could beemasculating.

SPEAKER_01 (30:09):
Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 (30:11):
He always he always has his power, but never
diminishes the power of hisleading ladies, which is what's
great.
And I think that he's sowonderful because there is just
this sort of human quality tothe two of them, which is
fabulous.
And and they both um, you know,once again, Joel McCrae, I think

(30:32):
you and I talked about the lasttime.
I talked about certain peoplewho you could pull from a movie
of any time and put them in amovie today, and they would
work.
Joel McCray's one of thoseactors.
You could pull a 1943 movie, puthim in a movie today, his
performance wouldn't feel out ofdate.

SPEAKER_01 (30:47):
He's got a very contemporary quality, and he's a
very laconic quality.
And what I love about him withher is he grounds her.
He grounds her.
I love her with Cary Grant.
I think she's wonderful in CaryGrant, but Cary Grant has a bit
can have a bit of a manic energytoo.
And so does Gene Arthur.
But Joel McCrae grounds GeneArthur, kind of kind of brings

(31:08):
her down where she's a littlecalmer and a little sweeter.
Um, and I love that chemistrybetween them.
I feel like the three of themtogether, Coburn, they're like
they're like the three Stoogesin a way.
Coburn and Arthur and McRae,they just bounce off each other
and play off each other sobrilliantly, independently, and
together.
And that's what makes this filmwork.

(31:30):
You know, the chemistry betweenthem.
And, you know, we didn't mentionthat, you know, Gene Arthur's
character, Connie Milligan, whorents out her apartment to these
two men, is also engaged toCharles Pendergast, who's that
Ralph Bellamy character who justnever seems to get the girl in
the end.
But you don't want him to getit, you want Joe McRae to get

(31:52):
the girl in the end.
Um, so what happens in the movieis that they find themselves for
a time all living together inthis house for a very short
time, a couple days, and they'reout sunbathing on the roof,
which I love that they're, youknow, Washington, D.C.
in the summertime, sunbathing onthe roof, and Mr.
Dingle, Connie goes downstairs,and Mr.
Dingle starts to read her diary,which she has left there, which

(32:14):
you just don't do, people, toanybody, let alone Gene Arthur
in this film.
So the the trio are broken up,but Dingle had a hotel room
ready for him anyway, so itdidn't really matter.
The only person who's in troubleis Joel McRae, because he really
doesn't have any place to stay,and he's being shipped off to
Africa.
Yeah.
So he she comes home and he'sstill there.
And I love the fact when shecomes home, did you notice when

(32:34):
she's walking up the stairsknowing that she kicked them
out, how slowly and sad she iswhen she's walking up the stairs
because she knows they're notthere?

unknown (32:42):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (32:42):
I I I love that.
I love that.
You see, you read that in her inher body language.

SPEAKER_04 (32:46):
Yeah, absolutely, because it's like you don't even
have to read her diary becauseyou can tell through her body
language how she feels aboutthese two men.

SPEAKER_01 (32:53):
Yeah, exactly.
And then she goes up to thehouse and she finds he's still
there.
And and that's when he gives herthat traveling case.
God bless him, he's such aheterosexual man.
It reminds me of those thingsyou you don't remember these,
but back in the 70s, there wasthis thing called the everything
bag that women would get, and itlike was had all these

(33:13):
compartments, and then you couldunzip the middle and it could
flip it around, and it would bea whole new thing, it's crazy
stuff.
And that's what this is.
This, I think you could probablyhas a writing desk in it, has a
makeup mirror, and she's beingso magnanimous, but you see how
genuinely moved she is by thisgift, and that's the first clo
that's the first close-up.
When they're looking at the umwhen they're looking at the

(33:35):
makeup case, it's the first timeStevens goes in for a full
close-up, and you see you see itin their eyes.
You see how they feel about eachother in their eyes, and that's
where the romance starts.
And for me, that's I mean, I getgoosebumps talking about it.
So it's such a beautifully feltscene.

SPEAKER_04 (33:50):
Yeah, and you're just rooting for them the whole
time.
Oh, you are, you are just wantthem because they're both really
just good people, and they'rejust, you know, the
circumstances of the war and thecircumstances of her past are
just you know trying to keepthem apart, and you're rooting
for them, and then you know, andthen they have that you know
thing about Pendergast is gonnacall for her at eight o'clock.

(34:13):
And so she's she said she said,Well, if we wait another 30
minutes that he has a call, thenit's fine for me to go out with
you.
And then they have all thoselittle stumbling blocks of you
know, the her neighbor, yourlittle kid neighbor coming at
asking for advice, and then andthen he Pendergast shows up.
Yeah, it's just all these littlestumbling blocks, and you're
just like, How much longer is itgonna take for them to get

(34:34):
together?
And it's man, it's but it'swonderfully set up by George
Stevens.

SPEAKER_01 (34:40):
It is wonderfully set up.
I and you you just you get fromGene Arthur she does not want
that phone to ring.
No, she knows if that phonerings, she can't go out with
Joel McCray, you know, and shethey're just praying for 80802,
you know, because he calls ateight.
And if he doesn't call by eight,then it's safe because sometimes
he gets caught in meetings, it'ssafe to go out.
And then the phone rings becausethat kid put it back on the

(35:02):
receiver back because she tookit off the hook.
She took the receiver off thehook so it wouldn't ring.
And then that kid, her neighborcomes in and then puts it back
on the hook, thinks he'sthinking he'd help her, he's
helping her out, and of course,that pendergast calls and they
have to go out on a date.
But what I what I think is soyou know, pendergast is is just
the obstacle that's thrown inthere.
Obviously, she's not gonna endup with this guy.

(35:22):
They've been engaged for 22months, and she still calls him
Mr.
Pendergast.
I mean, it's just so funny.
Um, but what I always thoughtabout Connie is is that like I
had I have envisioned thisbackstory of Connie that she had
a very she had a tragedy, ayoung tragedy, perhaps.
She lost a boyfriend or she lostsomeone she was very close to,
maybe at the beginning of thewar.

(35:44):
And so she's kind of put herselfinto this safe relationship
that's secure and she's notgoing to get hurt as badly as
she was.
I always thought of someone whowas hurt very badly, and she's
just and um Joel McCrae, JoeCarter, his character, brings
her back to life with the helpof this cupid, this cherubic
cupid named Mr.
Dingle, um, and who brings themtogether.

(36:06):
But what I always findfascinating about this is so
what happens is really quickly,um, so they she goes out uh with
Mr.
Pendergast, but wouldn't youknow it?
Mr.
Dingle and Joe end up at thesame restaurant.
Dingle realizes who Pendergastis.
They know each other throughtheir work.
He takes him off to bring Connieand Joe together, and that's
where the romance really kicksin.

(36:26):
They have one of the sexiest uhlove scenes on the stoop of her
apartment building where he justkeeps nuzzling her neck and
kissing her, and she keepspushing him away.
But as she pushes him away, sheholds on to his hands.
Everything she pushes away, sheholds on to, which I think is an
incredible.
That's that's that's that's agreat little choice there.
You know what I mean?

(36:47):
It's like I'm not pushing, she'snot pushing him away because if
he was gonna push him away, shepushed him away and take her
hands back.
She pushes them away, but sheholds on to him.
And then they have that kiss inthe middle of her phrase.
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
She's she's she's talkingtalking nonsense because she's
trying to distract herself fromthe fact that she's so turned
on.

(37:07):
And he grabs her and kisses her,and when they they un um when
they stop kissing the clinchelements, she finishes the
sentence she was saying.
And then she grabs him andkisses him.
I love that.
It's so sexy.
Don't you love that scene?

SPEAKER_04 (37:23):
Oh, it's a fantastic scene, and it's what it's what I
was talking about in terms ofhow George Stevens even his love
scenes, I love, because they'renot typical to what you would
think.
And the way that, like you said,she stops mid-sentence and then
she grabs him.
It's all, you know, the the theblocking, the staging,

(37:43):
everything is just not somethingyou would expect in a 1943
movie, and it just works.
And it is, I mean, it's likelife, it's what happens in life.
And George Steele's films arealways sort of like life in that
way.
And so, yeah, every yeah, everylittle bit of it is just
fabulous.
And it's just um, it justabsolutely works, and it feels

(38:03):
human.

SPEAKER_01 (38:04):
It does feel human, it does feel human because this
whole time when he, you know, Iwas thinking about this too.
I'm like, is this you know, fromour from our whatever our 2025
perspective, is he being alittle too aggressive here with
her because she's kind ofdancing around him and putting
away, she is engaged after all,yeah, and she's trying to be
respectable, but she's fightingherself at the same time so
much.

(38:24):
And when he when she's talkingthis nonsense, he's not paying
any attention to her, and shekeeps asking him about his
background, about the girls hedated, she doesn't really care,
she's not really listening,she's just trying to stave off
the inevitable, which is thatthey will kiss.
Yeah, and then when you know shesays she's talking about a
mature viewpoint, and that'swhat gets broken up.
She goes, if you had a moremature, and then he kisses, he

(38:44):
grabs her and kisses her andpulls away and she goes,
Viewpoint.
And then she grabs him by thehead and kisses him, and it's
it's so beautiful.
It's beautiful as it is so sexy,and they say goodnight, except
they realize they live in thesame house, you know.
They can't really say goodnightto each other, but they're so

(39:05):
respectful of each other, theydo not cross that line.
They realize he's being shippedoff very shortly, but they will
not, they are going, she'sthey're not gonna do it, they're
not gonna sleep together,they're not gonna do it, it's
not gonna happen.
Um, and then ridiculous thingshappen and they end up being
exposed, and there's apossibility of a scandal, so

(39:27):
they have to get married toprevent a scandal, and that's
how they end up together havingto be married.
But I did want to talk to youabout another scene.
And if you have a scene you wantto talk about, please jump in.
Absolutely.
But but probably my favoritescene um in the entire film is
the morning schedule.
I think it's one of the mostbrilliant, brilliant scenes.

(39:48):
Do you want to tell the people alittle bit about what the
schedule is?

SPEAKER_04 (39:51):
Uh, you go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 (39:52):
Okay.
So Connie worked at the Officeof Facts and Figures.
Yeah.
So she has everything, shethat's how she lives her life.
That's how contained she is,that's how regulated she is.
And um Mr.
Dingle's first night in theapartment, she says, here's the
morning schedule.
And she's like, he says, themorning schedule?
She goes, for the morning whenwe're in, you know, when we get
up.
Yeah, it goes from 7 a.m.

(40:13):
to 7:30, and every single minuteis taken care of.
You put on your shoes and takeoff my eggs, and then 7.02, I go
in the bathroom and you can goout and get the paper.
And 7.03, you I mean, she has itdown, it's hysterical.
And to see to see CharlesCoburn's face as she's telling
him this, and she just, I wasthinking, that is a long
monologue that Gene Arthur hadto learn.
Yeah, and it's so intricate andit's so detailed.

(40:36):
And then, of course, when thealarm goes off at 7 a.m., it's
pandemonium.
Because Charles Coburn can'tremember what he's supposed to
do and when he's supposed to doit, and she keeps saying, the
schedule, Mr.
Dingle, the schedule, theschedule.
It's such a fun, fun scene.

(40:57):
It's I think it's my favorite.
Because, and if you notice too,and I don't know if you notice
this, so much of that scene whenthey're actually doing what they
need to do is silent.
It's all it's silent.
Yeah, that's George Stevens.

SPEAKER_04 (41:08):
Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (41:09):
George Stevens' silent film training.
You know, it's like um in Womanof the Year, the last the
breakfast scene in Woman of theYear.
He he doesn't he likes to usethose silences because that's
comedy gold to him.
That's comedy gold to him.

SPEAKER_04 (41:24):
Yeah, well, and his use of his use of character too.
I mean, I love the way that thethe you know the body language
and the sounds and the way thatuh Charles Coburn and Joel
McCrae bond in the movie, andjust their little uh the just
the little um um signs that theydo to each other.
And then also I love, you know,you talked about the sunbathing

(41:46):
scene, and that is one of myfavorite scenes because uh just
to see everybody else out doingit and how communal everything
was at that time.
It's a totally different time.
We don't live in that timeanymore.
And how um you know, I thinkabout when he's going after her
after she's read the diary, andyou've got the two kids across
the way who are making those gunnoises, right?

(42:07):
And Charles Coburn does it rightback to them, and they pretend
to fall over and die, and hefalls over.
It's just you feel this moviefeels lived in, and that's what
I really love.
It does, yeah.
And you feel like you know everyedge of that apartment by the
end of the movie, too.

SPEAKER_01 (42:22):
You do, and it because yeah, because he shows
us so much.
I mean, it it all makes so muchsense where everything is.
You can see where her where sheusually sleeps and where she's
sleeping now because she'srenting out her half of her
apartment.
And I think that you know, asthey slowly start to fall in
love, and um and you realizethat Charles Coburn he starts to
do some questionable things tokind of machinate them together.

(42:45):
Is that a right word?
Machinate.
He does some machinations.

SPEAKER_04 (42:48):
He's full of machinations in this from the
very beginning.

SPEAKER_01 (42:50):
He's full of machinations in this.
He is literally cupid bringingthem together.
Um, they end up having to fly,they have to get married to
avoid a scandal because therewas a reporter in the cab who
heard this whole story about herliving with two men in her
apartment.
Yeah, and in order for herfiance, Mr.
Pendergast, not to be made afool of, she has she and Joel
McCray have to get married.

(43:11):
So they fly to South Carolinabecause you don't need a blood
test, apparently, get married,yeah, and they come back, and
he's leaving the next day, andyou know they are aching to be
together.
They're aching to be together.
They have to spend one lastnight in this apartment.
They said, Look, this marriageis just in name only, in name
only.
You know, you can go ahead andget it annulled unless you do

(43:32):
something that makes itimpossible for it to get
annulled.
And they're like, no, no, no,only in name only.
It's only in name, name only,name only.
But you know they want to, youknow they want to.
So uh they've been basically thebedrooms are right next to each
other, and there's a wallbetween them.
And the way George Stevensshoots it, you see a lot of
scenes through the windowsoutside the apartment building

(43:53):
as they're talking to each otherin their separate bedrooms.
And that's what's going on whenthey finally get upstairs to the
bedroom to say goodnight to eachother, and they've already told
each other they loved eachother, and he's worried about
her, and she's worried abouthim, and it's a beautiful,
beautiful scene.
And Joel McCrae starts talkingto her about the things he wants
her to do while he's away inAfrica, and he starts opening

(44:14):
the windows, and he goes to thewindow in his room, and he goes
to the second window in hisroom, and then suddenly he's in
her room lifting up the window,and this goes on for a few
seconds before they stop andthey turn and they look and
they're looking directly at eachother because the wall is gone.

SPEAKER_04 (44:33):
And that's when Jean Arthur makes her wonderful
grunt.

SPEAKER_01 (44:38):
Oh my god, she makes the best noises because she
knows it's her wedding night.
So, somewhere while they were inSouth Carolina, Dingle came in
and took down the wall betweenthe two bedrooms because he knew
that when they came back fromSouth Carolina, they would have
to be together.
And if they sleep together,they're not getting an
enrollment.
So it's a really I that when Ifirst saw that, what was your

(44:59):
reaction when you first sawthat?
Do you remember?
Because I was like, oh my god,that's amazing.
That because he goes from oneroom window to the next to the
next.

SPEAKER_04 (45:06):
Oh no, oh no, no.
I thought I thought it's soclear.
Well, the choreography is sowonderful.
Yes, just from going one to fromthe one to the room, from one
room to the other, and then andthen yeah, the minute you see
the wall down, it's just likeoh, it's perfect.
I mean, it's perfection.
And it's perfection.
And then and then when you seethat you know, Charles Coburn
and Dingle has hired all theseguys from below to come and take

(45:31):
down that wall, and of course,then it brings it all back, you
know, the damn the torpedoesfull speed ahead, yes, which has
been a constant running themethroughout the movie, constant
running gag.
Um, yeah, it's just it's it itreally, yeah, it all just falls
together.
And uh, you know, and I was I Iwas I was thinking and I was
like, you know, is it in 2025terms, is it a little bit

(45:53):
creaky, maybe, but I I find itcharming and I find it
believable.

SPEAKER_01 (45:57):
No, I think, yeah, well, we have to, again, like
you said earlier, you gotta putyourself in the mindset of not
only is it a wartime, but it'sWorld War II.
Yeah, different mores, differentvalues.
And you know, today we'd belike, what's the big deal?
Sleep together, who cares?
Oh, no, there wouldn't therewouldn't be a scandal, but
there's got to be some way tobring them together.
I always thought it was a bitcontrived that they got the FBI

(46:19):
involved because Connie'sneighbor thinks that Joe McRae
was a Japanese spy, was aJapanese spy.
I was like, that's a bitstressed, but yeah, you have to
have a reason to get them out ofthe apartment and having to get
married so Dingle can take thewall down.
I also thought that was prettyballsy of who the hell does this
guy think he is?
I mean, it's it's so funny.
He's like his apartment.

(46:40):
It's not his apartment.
He puts it, he invites this guyto live with this woman he just
met who's good enough to sharehalf of her apartment with him,
and then he invites a strangerto move in.
Different time, yeah, differentera, and this is how this is how
these romantic comedies work.

SPEAKER_04 (46:54):
I mean well, and from the very beginning, I love
the way that he worms his wayinto the apartment to begin
with.
Everyone is waiting to andeveryone is waiting for the
empty room, and he just turnsthem all away saying he's
alright and giving it away.
It's just great.

SPEAKER_01 (47:08):
He's like Helen Hayes in the airport.
He is you got you got to bewarea senior citizen with an agenda
because they will charm you andconnive you, and the next thing
you know, you're like, hey,what?
You're on this plane?
Wait a minute, how'd thishappen?
Where's my wall?
You know, it's just like youjust destroyed my apartment.
But what what I love about theway Steven shot that too is is

(47:28):
when they're before the wallcomes down and they're talking
to each other, uh, they'retelling each other that they,
you know, he asks her if she ifshe loves him.
And he says, Turn your head, shesays, if you turn your head
away, I'll tell you.
But there's a wall between them,yeah.
But she still has to know thathe's not looking at her when she
says, I love you.
And it's it, and he tries to healmost get out of bed, and she's

(47:50):
like, Don't do it, don't do it,you know.
And now the wall is gone.
So there's nothing that andthey're married, so there's
nothing, there's no reason whythey can't be together anymore.
And it's such a it's such asatisfying, it's such a
satisfying end.
I really think it's I think it'sa beautiful it wraps it up
beautifully.
It wraps it up beautifully.
It's not perfect, but it wrapsit up beautifully.

SPEAKER_04 (48:08):
No, I also love the scene in uh when they're in
South Carolina and crying andthat and that guy and then and
and and the extra, the guy whois uh with his incredible
accent.
What's going on?
It's so great.

SPEAKER_01 (48:23):
He's an Alice Adams.
He's an Alice Adams, yes, yeah.
He's the one that CatherineHepburn, the the mama's boy that
that Catherine Hepburn danceswith.
Yes, yes.
He is he's a George Stevensregular.
Yeah, I think that's I I lovethat so much.
I love the fact that, yeah,there are you know, there are
certain things where you, if youlook too closely at it, you're
like, that doesn't really makesense.

(48:44):
That doesn't really make sense.
But uh that's the hallmark ofthese wonderful romantic
comedies is you know, you justyou you go with it and you go,
okay, that kind of makes sense.
I love the fact that that thatbreakfast scene after they've
been married, it happened sofast, suddenly they realize
they're married.
When did they change theirclothes?
That's what I understand.
They were in the taxi on theirway to the airport, and they're

(49:05):
in she's in a wedding outfit,and they changed their clothes
somewhere online, and all shedoes is cry on her wedding day.
Yeah, all she does is cry.
And the way Gene Arthur cries isunlike the way anybody else
cries in movie history, I think.

SPEAKER_04 (49:19):
Yeah, yeah.
My uh the the only other thing Iwas thinking of as I was
watching at this time was thethe one thing that makes it a
little bit more of a timecapsule and kind of negates that
would negate it in 2025 is youknow, two two men and a woman
living together isn't asscandalous.
So it's not gonna besmirch theirreputations anymore in 1925.

(49:41):
That's the one thing that reallyI think sets even you know, just
as much as the World War IIstuff.
And I'm just like, yeah, that'sthe that's the one thing where
you've really got to setyourself in that time period
because otherwise the the plotdoesn't work anymore.

SPEAKER_01 (49:54):
If that if that was the point, no, it doesn't.
It doesn't, it's either it'sit's wartime and it's 40s
wartime.
I mean, that's the thing.
That's the thing.
So this film was a big hit.
Um, it really was was nominatedfor six Oscars.
Um, and it was what bestpicture, best director for
George Stevens, best actress.
Gene Arthur's only best actor,I'm gonna say that again.

(50:15):
Her only Oscar nomination isbest actress.
Amazing to me.
Her only uh best writing, bestwriting screenplay, best writing
original motion picture story,and Charles Coburn, best
supporting actor, and he wonBest Supporting Actor.
George Stevens won the New YorkFilm Critics Award for Best
Director for this.
And yeah, when it was, and itwas a hit, and when they when as

(50:35):
soon as George Stevens finishedthis, he went off, as I said,
into the war, and he never,ever, ever made another comedy.
And you know, it's funny,Hepburn.
I remember seeing Hepburn wasinterviewed one time.
I think it's in the uh his son'sdocumentary, uh Filmmaker's
Journey that George Stevens Jr.
made about his father.
And she said, you know, I andHepburn said something along the
lines of, I respect a place inthe sun, I respect Giant, I

(50:58):
respect the Diary of Anne Frank.
She goes, but I think it's sucha shame that your father never
made another comedy becausenobody could make comedies like
your father could.
And I so agree with that.
There, his comedies, as we said,there's always an undercurrent
in his comedies of somethingelse going on.
And that's what makes the comedyso funny because of this because
of the stakes, but it's alsowhat gives it an extra, it gives

(51:20):
it substance, it gives it agrounding that I love
screwballs.
I love my man Godfrey, Godknows.
We talked about I love bringingup baby, but you don't have the
sense of import that you havewith these 40s comedies, like
Talk of the Town, like The Morethe Merrier, like the
Philadelphia story.
You know, there's a real womanof the year.
Or woman of the year.

(51:41):
I mean, there are there are realissues at play here which ground
these comedies.
And I love that.
I love that about this.

SPEAKER_04 (51:47):
Yeah, there's real in this era, as you get into the
40s, there really is a depththere that um I think it well,
and then it ended up going bythe wayside in the late 40s.
I feel like because if you lookat like uh Hepburn and Tracy,
um, you know, Woman of the Yearhas such depth, and then I love
Adam's Rib too, but Adam's ribis a little more silly.

(52:11):
And uh Woman of the Year has alittle more pathos and gravitas,
but it does have issues.

SPEAKER_01 (52:15):
Women women Adam's rib does have some issues.
I love Adam's Rib.
We might have to disagree aboutthat one.

SPEAKER_04 (52:20):
Uh yeah, well, I love Adam's Rib too.
It just shows what I was sayingis it shows you the difference
between Q Cor and Steven.

SPEAKER_01 (52:26):
Oh, true, true, true, very true, very true.
Yeah, and also shows you thetime era, the the change in the
era, you know, after the war,realism came in, but also
silliness came in.
I mean, you had things likemonkey business with Marilyn and
Cary Grant.
I mean, Cary Grant was doingnotorious, and then he's doing
well, that was actually afterthe film, scratch that.
Cary Grant was doing PennySerenade, or he was doing um

(52:49):
even even Gunga Din has hasanother George Stevens, has
grounded uh motivation or it hasa depth to it.
That the things he was doing,like Mr.
Blandings builds his dreamhouse, like uh Bachelor, not
Bachelor Mother, uh Every GirlShould Be Married.
It's silious.
This it's gone, you know.

(53:09):
It the the heft that are inthese films, the undercurrent.
And maybe that's another reasonwhy Stevens didn't want to go
back to comedies.
He's like, they're not makingthe kind of comedies I like to
make.
You know, I like comedies withimport that say something.
Maybe that's what that is.

SPEAKER_04 (53:22):
Yeah, well, and I it's interesting because you
would think we became morecynical after World War II,
which ushered in things likefilm noir and things like that.
You would think people wouldwant something, but maybe maybe
people wanted everythingcompartmentalized a little bit
more and they didn't want theirgenres mingling anymore, and so
they wanted comedies to besilly, and that was it.

SPEAKER_01 (53:43):
They don't want their genres mixing, no mixing
of genres here until BillyWilder came along and Billy
Wilder's the exception toeverything.
He is the exception toeverything, he is the
exceptional and the exception toeverything.
Um, now have you ever seen theremake of The More the Merrier?

SPEAKER_04 (54:01):
Walk Don't Run with Kerry Grant.

SPEAKER_01 (54:03):
Walk Don't Run.
Have you ever seen it?

SPEAKER_04 (54:04):
Once once, once, yeah, and I thought it was
charming, and it was uh I alwayswish that Kerry Grant had gone
out with maybe a differentmovie.
Um I think but I think it's it'sfine.
It's fine.
It's like it's like when you andI were talking about uh how
great something's gotta give buta bit of the move over darling,
it's fine, it's fine, it'spleasant, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (54:26):
So, listener, so uh the film The More the Merrier
was remade in 1966, a very goodyear.
Um, and the title of the remakewas Walk Don't Run, and it takes
place because they had to havethe same kind of uh housing
shortage, it takes place duringthe Tokyo Olympics, and there's
a housing shortage in Tokyo, andSamantha Eger, I think it's

(54:48):
Samantha Eger, yes, she rentsout half of her, she rents out a
room to uh the Mr.
Dingle character who is CaryGrant.
Now his name wasn't Mr.
Dingle in Log Talk Running.

SPEAKER_04 (54:59):
Carl Coburn, Cary Grant, interchangeables tomato
tomato.

SPEAKER_01 (55:04):
He's a knight, he's a sir now.
He's Sir William William Rutlandis Cary Grant's name in that.
So, yes, Cary Grant has morphedinto Charles Coburn.
And Jim Hutton, uh, an actorthat I think uh sadly died way
too young, and we talked abouthim a bit when we talked about
ordinary people, he was TimothyHutton's father, plays the Joel
McRae part.
But what I love about Walk Don'tRun is the walls because they're

(55:28):
those paper walls in theJapanese houses, right?
So it's so it makes so much moresense that those walls would
come down as opposed to CaryGrant wasn't gonna get a bunch
of guys and tear down a wall inthis house.
So I love that twist.
I love the fact that they usethat.
I think it's kind of cute.
I like it too.
Yeah, it's pleasant.
It's pleasant.
Look, in my opinion, nothing,nothing can top this.

(55:50):
This is this is pure.
Like I said, it's one of myvery, very favorite movies.
Um, for all these reasons thatwe talked about.
I find it just an intoxicating,wonderful, wonderful time.

SPEAKER_04 (56:01):
I think it's yeah, I think it's absolutely charming,
and I think that you know,watching it again, um, it's just
remarkable how effortlessperformers like Gene Arthur and
Joel McCrae and Charles Coburncan make that scene.
Because if you put a differentcast in this movie, I think it's
a different movie.
Um, I think that these threewere the right choices.

(56:22):
Um and I think that it justeverything about it, just from
the from the way that GeorgeStevens choreographs everything,
the way that you really feellike you've lived in that
apartment, um, the way thatyou're rooting for Arthur and
McCrae to get together, um, andjust putting it within the

(56:43):
context of the world that was in1943, it just heightens
everything, like you said.
And it makes the comedy evenmore sweeter, it makes the
romance even more sweet.
And you're just you you likethese people, and you really are
glad that you spent an hour and40 minutes with them.

SPEAKER_01 (57:01):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, I just I find them socharming and so delightful.
And what I also love about it isthe fact that these aren't the
usual suspects, you know.
Gene Arthur and Joel McRae andCharles Coburn, you know, you
don't see them over and over andover again.
Like, God knows I love them morethan anything in the world, but
like you see, Carrie Grant, likeyou see Catherine Hepburn, love
them, love them, love them.

(57:21):
But I love the fact that we havethese actors, these other actors
who are maybe not quite so wellknown for this, or quite well so
well known, period.
Yeah, and they they have thisincredible opportunity to s to
shine.
To me, I think what I love mostabout this movie is that it was
an undiscovered jewel.
Yeah, I was like, oh wow,because it's not because it's
not this, it's not woman of theyear, it's not the Philadelphia

(57:44):
story, it's it's not it happenedone night.
It's this little gem of a moviefrom this little studio that I
think is just dazzling, just abrilliant little diamond.
Yeah, that's the way I feelabout it.

SPEAKER_04 (57:53):
Columbia, it's amazing for being a poverty
roast studio.
They made some incredible workand from from the late 30s
through the mid-40s, and somereally timeless work that
really, you know, compared tosome of their contemporaries,
holds up even better in somecases.

SPEAKER_01 (58:10):
Oh, I think so.
I think so too.
Yeah, they didn't have the theydidn't have the onus that MGM
had to be glamorous, or theydidn't have the onus that
Paramount had to besophisticated.
You know, they just werechurning out the best they
could.

SPEAKER_04 (58:21):
Or the Warner Brothers grittiness, which you
know, some which I love, but itdates a little bit just like the
MGM glamour sometimes.
So it just absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 (58:32):
Yeah, so I if you guys, if you have not, if you're
not familiar with Gene Arthur, Imean one of the reasons why I
wanted to do this episode isbecause I want to shout the name
Gene Arthur, because afascinating woman, a incredibly
complicated, yes, a littlecrazy, but so so talented and so
unique, so unique in thepantheon of actresses of the

(58:53):
golden age, and really, reallyneeds to more people need to
know Gene Arthur, more morepeople need to know her work,
and not just the Capra stuff,but stuff like this stuff like
The Devil and Miss Jones, stufflike Easy Living, A Foreign
Affair, which is one of the twomovies she made after her
retirement, and then she didShane, which is serious, but
anyway, it's still a greatmovie.
Um, you know, people need toknow her because she truly was

(59:14):
an original, a true original ina sea full of many, many copies.
And I I feel that way about JoeMcCrae, too.
Total original.
Not enough people know him ifhe's not on a horse.
He did a lot more than being ona horse, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (59:27):
Yeah, well, and he, I mean, Joel McCrae is someone
who continued to work you knowlonger than Jane Arthur did, but
still was just always a relying,you know.
I think he's wonderful, and uh,he and Randolph Scott and Ride
the High Country are wonderfultogether.
Yes.
Um, that's a wonderful like sortof capsule cap on his career.
Um, but but no, just always,man.
I mean, Joel McRae, I could Icould watch it anything because

(59:50):
he's just real and he doesn'tput on any sort of pretense.
It's just it's just he's livinglife and he is so good.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:00):
What's the famous the story about Joe McCrae is
when someone asked hisoccupation, he said rancher, and
they said, Do you have anyhobbies?
And he said, Yeah, acting.
Yeah.
That tells you everything rightthere.
That's what he thought about it.
I love that.
I love that.
Yeah, I act a little bit.
Okay.
Over a hundred movies.
So anyway, well, this was somuch fun, Brandon.
Thank you so much for sharingthis movie with me and for

(01:00:22):
coming on and and and talkingwith me about it.

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:25):
Yes, thank you for having me.
Anytime, anytime.
And I will be uh you'll bejoining me on my show again
before two o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:32):
I am, I am.
I'm excited about that.
We're just going back and forth,people.
We're just sharing there.

SPEAKER_04 (01:00:37):
It's like it's like two kids who've discovered they
lived across the street fromeach other.
Now they want to go over to eachother's LCD.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:42):
Exactly.
Let's let's go out and play.
Let's go out and play.
What do you think of this movie?
What do you think of this movie?
Um, for people who who aren'taware who didn't listen last
week, please also check outBrandon's podcast, Front Row
Classics.
Uh available anywhere you canlisten to podcasts like this
one.
Uh, it's from M, it's with NPRIllinois, and he has some of the
most insane, wonderful guests,besides me.

(01:01:06):
Yes, as I said, I'm blown away.
He has film historians, he hasdirectors, he has actors and
actresses, he's everyone fromLorna Loft to the cast of the
Love Boat.
I mean, it's it's insane.
It's insane the people you geton there.
And tell the people a little bitwho maybe didn't hear last week,
uh, just a little bit about thepodcast and how they can find
you.

SPEAKER_04 (01:01:23):
Yeah, so it's a uh I I just celebrated 10 years back
in June uh doing this.
So it's uh it's I I started iton my own with a group of
friends.
We have a whole network ofshows.
Um, but I do the classic filmversion.
We were um we luckily becamepart of NBR Illinois in 2019.
Um and then it has just beengoing strong ever since then.

(01:01:47):
But uh half of my episodes areusually me and friends
discussing movies, and thenother times I do interviews, I
chat with film historians, we dothings about, you know, I
interview them about books,about different film topics.
So you never know what you'regonna get, but uh I it's a train
that just keeps going, and I'mglad to be on it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:08):
Well, it's a great ride, and I know what you're
gonna get.
You're gonna get a damn goodtime.
That's what you're gonna get.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 (01:02:13):
But just like we can find it, but you can find it
anywhere you find your podcastSpotify, Apple, Amazon,
anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:18):
And today, right next to us.
So please check that out andfollow if you don't subscribe.
Also, hey, how about thispodcast?
Do follow, subscribe.
See, Brad always does this, soI'm just like, what does he say?
Because I never really listen tohim when he does this.
Um follow, subscribe, ratereview.
You guys know the drill.
Thank you so much for stayingwith me as we continue to
traverse through this unchartedterritory of uh Tony with guests

(01:02:43):
and on his own sometimes.
I appreciate it.
I also appreciate the reallypositive feedback I got from my
solo uh Valley of the Dollsepisode.
That was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun.
I don't know that I want to doit again so soon because it was
a lot of work, but it was a lotof fun.
So thank everybody, thank youeverybody who reached out to me
and told me that I appreciateit.
And next week I will be backwith another guest.
I'm not gonna tell you who.

(01:03:03):
You're gonna have to tune in.
Do people tune into podcasts?
You're gonna have to hitdownload in order to find out,
but it's gonna be a lot of fun.
It's gonna be a kind of a changeof pace for us.
Um, I'm excited about that.
So, well, Brandon, uh, do youhave anything else you want to
say to the people before wefigure out a sign-off on this
thing?

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:20):
Oh no, just yeah, like you said, uh spread the
word about Gene Arthur, about uhGeorge Stevens, too.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:27):
I mean, man.
Oh, please, please, yeah.
Don't don't Joel McRae, yeah.
And Joel McCray and CharlesCoburn.
Get them all in there, get themall in there, and go watch the
More than Merrier, I guaranteeyou.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:37):
And then go watch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

unknown (01:03:39):
Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 (01:03:40):
Oh, Piggy.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:42):
Well, then I guess uh there's only one thing left
to say.
But Brandon, I've had so muchfun with you these past two
weeks, I don't want to say it.
So let's not say goodbye.
Let's just say, damn thetorpedoes, full speed ahead.
That's stupid.