The More the Merrier

Amazon.com essential video

Portly Charles Coburn makes a cute if unlikely cupid in George Stevens's smart 1943 romantic comedy. Jean Arthur is girl next door and big-city sophisticate rolled up in one bubbly package as Connie Milligan, a single woman in Washington D.C. who sublets a room in her small apartment during the wartime housing crisis. Her new roommate, the deadpan eccentric Mr. Dingle (Coburn, who won an Oscar for his rascally performance), dislikes her stiff, bureaucratic beau and takes it upon himself to find her an appropriate boyfriend, namely the soft-spoken industrial engineer Joe Carter (Joel McCrea), whom Dingle puts up in his half of the apartment. Stevens takes a measured approach to comedy: The first morning with all three in the cramped kitchen turns a painstakingly organized schedule into a chaotic free-for-all that just gets funnier as the anarchy builds. Even more effective is the contrast between the charmingly effusive Arthur and McCrea's sauntering style, which creates not so much sparks as a slow simmer as they continue to spend time together. One of the finest craftsmen of Hollywood's Golden Age, Stevens shapes this lightweight screenplay into one of the most delectable romantic comedies of all time. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

An absolute favorite.......2007-05-03

I'd never even heard of this movie until I read Jean Arthur: The Actress No One Knew. The fact that she was nominated for an Oscar was enough for me to purchase it. I watched it four times the first week I owned it and I have probably watched it once a week in the months since. I laugh every time over the same things and somehow find something new to laugh at every time through. This movie also introduced me to the fabulously handsome (and what a sexy voice!) Joel McCrea, whom I've really taken a liking to. Charles Coburn, as the meddling old man, deserved his Oscar for this one. This movie is well-written, well-acted, well-directed. Romantic comedies just don't get any better.

I thought it wasn't possible for me to enjoy a romantic comedy..........2007-01-11

...but this has to be one of the best films I've seen in ages. It sounds so cliche, but truly, I laughed out loud the whole time, and I shed tears at the climactic romantic scene. Even a complete cynic like myself can get swept up in this clever work.

Good Work All Around, But It's Charlie's Show.......2006-03-30

This underrated 1943 comedy stars Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and the fabulous Charles Coburn. Set in Washington, DC during World War II, it's the story of a young woman (Arthur) forced by the drastic housing shortage to take in two male boarders. Or, I should say, she agrees to rent to Coburn, who then takes it upon himself to sublet half of his half to McCrea. The film then evolves into a question of whether Coburn will be able to orchestrate a union between Arthur and McCrea. (If the plot sounds familiar, it's because it was remade in 1966 as "Walk, Don't Run," Cary Grant's last film).

While the ending isn't hard to see coming, the ride is great fun. Joel McCrea was either immensely limited as an actor or just very subtle, but in any case his deadpan delivery serves him well here. The real star of the show, though, is Coburn. Arthur displays her trademark agitation through the entire picture, in this case no doubt because she knows Coburn is going to steal every one of their scenes together. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this, and deservedly so. With a single performance at the age of 66, he cornered the market in kindly but devious elder statesmen.

"You've Soushed Your Last Soush!!!".......2006-02-21

THE MORE THE MERRIER was one of the biggest hits of 1943 and one of the very best comedies of the 1940's. It received many Oscar nominations and won the Best Supporting Actor award for Charles Coburn as well as earning the great Jean Arthur her only nomination (a crime!) for the Best Actress Academy Award. This is a truly amazing comedy that touches on virtually every comedy genre from slapstick to romantic to verbal bantering. Coburn is great fun although I do agree with one reviewer his character at times really pushes the envelope and comes close to being out of line but fortunately the film is so light-hearted, well acted and directed the character's presumptuous edges never become unpleasant. As great as Colburn is this movie really belongs to Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea, two great stars who may have just missed being superstars by a hair but here (as on many other occasions) showing they had the talent and charisma to equal their more celebrated contemporaries. Neither of them have ever been as sexy as they are here, Jean's sloppy brushing of her teeth not withstanding. One of the most amazing things about the movie is practically a three-person play despite running 104 minutes, quite long for a comedy from the era. Richard Gaines as Jean's nerdy steady has the only sizable supporting role, everyone else virtually plays a bit part. This movie has some of the best laugh outloud gags of any film I've ever seen with a tender romance nicely bubbling under the surface.

I own the VHS release and while most of the print is quite flawless, it has many bad spots in it with lines, dirt, and scratches. I'm very disappointed to read in another review that the DVD version is not much better, perhaps the same. This seems to be a consistent problem with vintage Columbia films released on video or DVD, I've noticed similar problems with MISS GRANT TAKES RICHMOND and THEODORA GOES WILD. Hasn't it ever crossed these people's minds to use multiple prints of a film and cut out the bad bits in a superior print and splice in the same scenes that are not damaged in a second print? That would really not be much of an effort. It seems as if Columbia doesn't even screen some of the prints they use as their masters. As I said most of the picture quality is fine but there is really no excuse for poor quality scenes when you know the studio owns multiple copies of the films.

Uncommonly funny, sweet, and sexy.......2005-08-23

Since I uncovered this tragically overlooked gem in Hollywood's crown, thanks to NY Times and their list of 1000 best films ever made, I've watched it four times and it just gets better with repeated viewing. That alone is a tremendous recommendation for anyone who likes a good romantic comedy, especially if you've found yourself let down by the more mindless entries into the genre (the recent "Must Love Dogs," for example).

Some fine synopses of "The More the Merrier" can be found elsewhere on this page, so I'll not be repetitive. Let me just say how wonderful it is to find a film that perfectly captures that magical moment in time when two people have the locomotives of their lives derailed by finding each other completely by accident. Well, OK, not completely; Mr. Dingle is the engineer of this particular train wreck, the sheer joy of which is not fully clear to anyone until the final five minutes of the film, an ending that is so beautifully planned, constructed, and executed that it gives me goose bumps.

The other marvelously pleasurable aspects of this film include the realistic way the dialogue unfolds. Most films have had the life rehearsed out of them; "OK, I say this, then pause for a beat so the audience can laugh, then you say this while I wait to respond to what you've said." In TMtM, on the other hand, characters sometimes mumble, dialogue overlaps, there are scenes when two characters seem to be ad libbing at the same time, etc., just like the viewer is a fly on the wall rather than watching a polished Hollywood product. Ah, 'tis a rare and precious thing, this.

And finally, TMtM reminds us how sad it is that today's films usually substitute nudity for sexiness. I have rarely seen a sexier scene than the one where Joel McCrea is walking Jean Arthur home. He just can't keep his hands off her shoulders, neck, and face, and she half-heartedly fends him off; she has a loveless engagement to be married, and he is a distraction...but ultimately she can't withstand her own feelings for him. It's heartbreakingly sweet and sensuous, without being the least bit prurient. Beautiful work.

Obviously this has quickly moved into the top 10 of my own personal list of 200 favorite films, and it carries my highest recommendation without reservations. Enjoy!

DVD:

DVD

DVD