1h 17min | Comedy | 15 June 1951
Director: Harmon Jones
Writers: Paddy Chayefsky (story), Lamar Trotti
Stars: Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, David Wayne, Jean Peters, Constance Bennett, Marilyn Monroe, Allyn Joslyn, Albert Dekker, Clinton Sundberg, Minor Watson, Wally Brown, Russ Tamblyn
Watched because I'm tracking MM's persona development. Before this, I skipped watching the entire films All About Eve ('50) and Home Town Story ('51) because someone has compiled clips of her scenes and posted them online. In ...Eve she plays a wannabe starlet escorting George Sanders to Bette Davis' party, and seeking an audition later. She is very close to her persona there. Hard to pinpoint what's missing there, perhaps the vulnerability isn't quite so raw. Or perhaps it's just that she's playing a stereotype, so there's not sufficient depth to get that vulnerability. In HTS, she's a pretty secretary at a small town newspaper who gets a near-proposal from reporter Alan Hale Jr, but she fiercely defends her fiancee (whom we don't meet). I'd say ...Eve is the closest she's gotten to the MM persona so far.
In this film, she plays an excellent executive secretary, dressed exquisitely, seemingly unfettered by sexual harassment despite looking like very decorative icing on a cake (or perhaps pheasant under glass, for a low-carb analogy). Unfettered that is, until she shows up at the country club frequented by company executives, with her boss' underling, and is seen by her boss. Then she and the junior exec scurry away, and she gets a call at home from her boss asking some very personal questions, phrased to make it clear they've discussed something like this before. So the strictly professional veneer was false, and she had some sort of personal relationship with the boss too. At any rate, this is not quite her persona, since she competently took dictation, a skill I don't associate with her.
Without MM, the film would still be recommended. This is all about ageism, with MW playing a man forced to retire at 65 with no warning (pink slip in the pay envelope). He finds a clever way to alter the rules, and makes a heroic speech about dignity for workers joined with uplifting the economy. (Was writer Paddy Chayefsky ever brought before HUAC?) In addition, he awakens some feelings in CB, who is married to MM's boss. So he improved everyone's life with his scheme.
TR is delightful (of course), playing a "former singer" with scrapbook to prove it... but not the voice. She semi-sings something as she's working around the house.
This is RT's (b.'34) 10th of 63 films already. He doesn't have a lot to do, but he does it well. He looks his age, and plays a neglected but not rebellious teen. He gives excellent reactions to the self-absorbed actions of the adults around him. Almost all the characters are incredibly narcissistic.
Recommended for this early assault on ageism, and MW's charm throughout.
Fox, dir. Jones; 7
