The More the Merrier

Plot synopsis:
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. 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 she is forced to relent because she has already spent the men's rent. Joe and Connie are attracted to each other, though she is engaged to 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 takes full blame for the incident. Connie allows Joe to remain in the apartment as he has only a few days before being shipped out to Africa. Joe asks Connie to go out with him. She is reluctant to do so, but decides to go if Pendergast does not call for her by 8. At 8, she and Joe are ready to leave, but her noisy teenage neighbor seeks her advice and delays her until Pendergast arrives. Joe spies on the two of them from the window. When the neighbor asks what he is doing, Joe flippantly tells him he is a Japanese spy.
Dingle calls Joe to meet him for dinner. Dingle bumps into the couple and pretends he is meeting Connie for the first time, forcing Joe to do the same. Dingle engages Pendergast in talk about his work, eventually maneuvering him up to his room so that Connie and Joe can be alone together.
Joe takes Connie home. The two talk about their romantic pasts and even kiss. From their separate rooms, Joe confesses that he loves her. She tells him she feels the same way, but refuses to marry him, as they will soon be forced apart. Their talk is interrupted by the arrival of the FBI, who have been called to investigate Joe for spying, thanks to the neighbor. Joe and Connie are taken to headquarters. They identify Dingle as a fellow occupant who can testify that they are only roommates. Dingle arrives, bringing Pendergast as a character witness. It comes out during questioning that Joe and Connie live at the same address. When they ask Mr. Dingle to tell Pendergast that their living arrangement is purely innocent, he denies knowing them.
Outside the station, Dingle admits he lied to protect his reputation. Taking a taxi home, they discuss what to do to avoid a scandal. Connie grows angry when Pendergast thinks only of himself. When another passenger in the shared cab turns out to be a reporter, Pendergast runs after him to try to stop him from writing about their situation. Dingle assures Connie that if she marries Joe, the crisis will be averted, and they can get a quick annulment afterwards. The couple follow his advice and wed. Returning home, Connie allows Joe to spend his final night in her apartment. As Dingle had foreseen, Connie's attraction to Joe overcomes her prudence. Outside, Dingle puts up a card, showing that the apartment belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Sgt. Carter.

Tags: comedy

Review:
And it remains a mystery how a sexy, sassy, down-to-earth and abundantly funny film such as this could ever be forgotten.In the Washington of 1943, with the housing crisis brought on by the war, single working girl Jean Arthur feels compelled to do her bit and let out half of her apartment.
Well-to do businessman Charles Coburn, who has arrived in town too early for a conference and cannot find a vacant hotel room, moves in with her, and, wanting to play Cupid, he sublets, unbeknownst to her, his half of half her apartment to a young soldier, Joel McCrea, on town on a mysterious purpose.Rumour has it that Garson Kanin, of later 'Adam's Rib' fame, wrote the script for 'The More the Merrier', but never took credit.
It is obvious that Stevens got a kick out of directing his actors in this movie, creating a many-colored carpet with all this apparently improvised dialogue, so magnificently stylish and at the same time with a looseness, a naturalness in structure that makes the movie feel like a slice of real life.But of course real life was never as wonderful as this!
Just imagine having known characters like the ones played by Miss Arthur and Mr McCrea, in one respect they are so typical and easily recognizable, and in another they are so immensely attractive, and not just in a physical sense, that you would want them for your best friends.
This movie, set in Washington, DC during the early years of the US' involvement in WWII, when DC was still a relatively small city, is sociologically fascinating: the back story is the housing shortage that occurred when everyone descended on the nation's capital in order to organize the country in preparation for war.
But the real story is the incredible script, directing (George Stevens) and, most of all comedic acting by Joel McCrea (always the tall, handsome, slightly cynical straight man (whose straightness itself can be hilarious)), Jean Arthur (whose voice I could listen to forever), and, WOW, Charles Coburn as a flustered wealthy tycoon who plays cupid while trying to help solve the country's pressing problems.
Charles Coburn justifiedly won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his scene-stealing panache as the elderly Cupid who helps steer Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea towards love.
Jean Arthur stars as a woman renting out half of her apartment because of a housing shortage in Washington D.C. Charles Coburn, who is in Washington to help solve the crisis, weasles his way into the apartment even though Arthur didn't want a male roommate.
The scene on the porch between Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea is very romantic and funny at the same time.
This is where this film gets the idea for this confusing, frustrating and romantic tale.Picture pretty little Connie(Jean Arthur) living in the fair city of Washington DC.
The main characters are funny and likable (Joel McCrea is one of the forgotten great romantic comedy leading men of the '30's and '40's), the dialogue is wonderful, and the sense of the period is exact.
Two great scenes: 1) McCrea and Arthur on the steps of her apt., he groping her, she fending him off without turning him off--hilarious and sexy; 2) At a factory, a long, long line of women workers is clocking out of work, a male worker (apparently there weren't many) walks toward them, becoming more apprehensive and walking faster as he runs the gauntlet of the women's hoots and hollers (talk about turning the tables)--no revisionism needed here, a primary source for the depiction of the  burgeoning of feminism during WWII..
It was the first of a series of victories that helped change President Abraham Lincoln's certain defeat to reelection victory in November of that year.I know that it is odd to begin a discussion of a World War II comedy with a brief explanation of a Civil War battle some eighty years earlier, but Farragut's quote is frequently mentioned in the course of THE MORE THE MERRIER - indeed it is sung at one point in an old song by the real star of the picture, Charles Coburn.
He'd been in Hollywood five years by then, but his real beginning in film was here - and it was a fine beginning.It was Coburn's second movie comedy with Jean Arthur (the first was THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES), and they certainly play well against each other.
Charles Coburn is irresistible, and Jean Arthur gives one of her best performances; the chemistry between Joel McCrea and Arthur is athing of beauty..
The scene with Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea on the steps of the apartment is more erotic than anything you will see in an "R" rated film today, or probably even an NC-17 film.
In her one and only recognition of sorts from the Motion Picture Academy, Jean Arthur got a nomination for Best Actress for The More the Merrier, a screwball comedy based on the housing shortage in Washington, DC.
There are all kinds of Jean Arthur stories about her running and hiding from fans, her getting physically sick before shooting a scene and then giving a great performance, her total non-cooperation with the press that covers the film industry.
This one however was a winner in every way for him.Best scene in the film is after Coburn as sublets half of his half of Arthur's apartment to McCrea and they haven't broken the news to Arthur yet.
Charles Coburn, too, after the comic-strip cackhandedness of the first scenes, grows into an enjoyably human old rascal and Joel McCrea, blasé and hardbitten to begin with, develops into a fine romantic hero.
What he witnessed there kicked the humour clear out of the man.Jean Arthur and Joel Mccrae are amazing in this, ably abetted by Charles Coburn who got an Oscar for best supporting actor.The premise is the very real housing shortage in Washington during the Second World War and how Jean Arthur sublets a portion of her apartment to Charles who in turn secretly sublets his sublet to Joel, almost on a whim.Jean is a very organized person and one of the many jokes in the film centres around her schedules, bathroom, showering, coffee making, etc.
This is a wonderful comedy that uses the housing shortage in war-time Washington, D.C. to comic advantage.Jean Arthur won her sole Academy Award nomination for this performance, and my only quibble with that is that she was only recognized by the Academy once.
She runs her apartment with military precision, and the movie's highlight is the scene in which Coburn tries earnestly to stick to the morning schedule given him by Arthur the night before and ends with his pants getting stuck in a tree (you have to see it).
Of course there's more to Coburn than meets the eye, and the plot thickens when he rents half of HIS half to a good-looking single man (Joel McCrea) and begins to play matchmaker.This is a delightful movie directed with a sure hand by George Stevens.
The movie (TMtM) doesn't explain this, but I assume WWII-era Washington, D.C., had a housing shortage (exaggerated here for comedy?) because the capital required more people working in the government on war matters.
Thus we have the amusing premise of elderly Benjamin Dingle, a public housing expert of some sort who's arrived in DC too early for his reserved hotel room to free up, wheedling his way into renting half an apartment owned by young Constance Milligan, who patriotically wants to reduce the housing shortage but didn't expect a man to be her roommate.Besides Milligan's act of patriotism, there are other interesting traits of wartime DC/America.
Dingle, and the actor Charles Coburn who plays him, are lower-key than I was led to expect, but the film provides great humor for most of its running time.
Arthur, McCrea and Coburn are all in top form and have a lot of meat to chew in this zany comedy-romance.The country is at war, and the nation's capitol is short on living space and long on eligible young ladies.
Jean Arthur plays one such girl who wants to do her patriotic duty and lease half of her spacious apartment to some other young lady in need of a place to stay.That's great in theory, but when a jolly, resourceful, don't-blink-twice retired millionaire (played by Coburn) finds himself unable to secure a hotel room a couple days in advance of his reservation, Miss Milligan (Arthur) finds that he is a tough customer to dissuade.
And when Dingle (Coburn) runs into a patriotic young man (McCrea) working on a secret wartime assignment and in need of a room...What follows is great comedy and an engaging romance.
McCrea fills in any remaining gap with another solid performance and good material to work with.Aside from the story and the actors, the cinematography, direction and a carefully planned set combines to form a couple unforgettable scenes between Arthur and McCrea.
Through a series of comic misadventures brought on by a very humorously devious Charles Coburn, Jean Arthur ends up sharing her apartment with Coburn & Joel McCrae in Washington D.C. during a WW2 housing shortage.
One of a suite of major movie hits (along with "Woman of the Year" & my all-time favorite starring Cary Grant & Jean Arthur, "Talk of the Town") directed by George Stevens before he joined the U.S. Army and headed a combat motion picture unit during WW2.
The film was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Jean Arthur (although she didn't end up winning that year) and Best Supporting Actor for Charles Coburn, who very much deserved the statue he received for this picture.
Great acting my Ms. Arthur and her supporting actors Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn.
The combination of complete wackiness (Charles Coburn) and pratfalls (watch for people on wet surfaces!) and the sexy interchange between Joel McRae and Jean Arthur is terrific.
Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, and Joel Macrea display an on-screen chemistry that keeps me watching the movie--and I have seen it repeatedly.
It may have been good for the men overseas at the time , to see that the civilians were having problems with the war too.The film has a great Director, George Stevens, and a great cast, including Charles Coburn, an elderly "newcomer" to cinema who won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award.
Personally, I thought it worked best until the point where CHARLES COBURN (in his Oscar-winning supporting role) was booted from JEAN ARTHUR's apartment over reading her diary.From that point on, the screwball situations became less amusing and the film stretches credibility a bit too far when the comic situations include McCrea suspected of spying on government buildings with his binoculars.The best moments come early in the film, when Arthur insists on clockwork timing to make getting up in the morning (with a roommate) workable.
The frenzied rush to keep to her schedule makes for the most amusing moments in the story, thanks to the artful playing of CHARLES COBURN who is delightful as Mr. Dingle, the man who thinks that she deserves a nice, clean-cut young man rather than the stuffy fiancé she's engaged to.
Along comes McCrea, and the rest of the plot has Coburn managing to bring the two lovebirds together.Amusing spoof of manners and morals of the period, with JEAN ARTHUR and JOEL McCREA shining in the leads and Coburn doing a nimble job of the cupid-playing Dingle with tricks up his sleeve.The last twenty minutes get a little tiresome, but overall it's a cheerful comedy well worth viewing..
After seeing this film for the first time, I'm amazed that after being a classic movie buff for more than twenty years I have never seen it -- I have really missed a treat.First and foremost is that I have an entirely new admiration for Jean Arthur.
I had never seen him pull off such zany comedy before and he's hilarious.The only movies that I had seen Jean Arthur in prior to this one was "Shane" and of course "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" but after seeing this gem, I have made more attempts to watch out for her other movies when they come on TV.
I think some of the reason I like this film so much is that it re-pairs Charles Coburn and Jean Arthur--who starred in the magnificent little comedy, THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES.
Joining them is the ever-capable Joel McCrea and together they make a terrific cast in this little comedy about the war-time housing shortage in Washington, DC.
I've seen this film perhaps 20 times in the past 25 years, and it is the best romantic comedy out of Hollywood in the 1940s..
While Coburn is a cute old guy, i guess, & Joel McRae is fine, it's Jean Arthur who makes the movie come alive.
Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) moves in and he, in turn, invites hunky Joe Carter (Joel McCrea) to move in.
It does have lots of things going for it: Arthur is just wonderful--and beautiful; Coburn is a delight (he won an Oscar for this); it's well-directed and some of the romance works.But I never believed the story for one second and I didn't find this that funny at all--I thought most of the jokes fell flat.
Arthur and Coburn tried but McCrea (never a good actor) just could not do comedy.
During World War II there was a housing shortage in many big cities, particularly Washington D.C. This is the backdrop for the film's zany plot that has retired businessman Charles Coburn renting half of Jean Arthur's apartment, then turning around and renting half of his half to soldier Joel McCrea, and trying to play matchmaker for McCrea and Arthur.Jean Arthur has rarely been more cute and more likable than she is here.
The quintessential acting trio - Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn, in director-producer George Stevens' gem of a romantic comedy to delightful perfection.
Jean Arthur is Connie Milligan, the centrifuge of attention; Joel McCrea is Joe Carter the unexpected distraction; and Charles Coburn is Benjamin Dingle, the ultimate Mr. Cupid connection.
What a threesome to watch.The comedic tempo is at its prime impeccable timing as the circumstance on how Arthur's Connie discovers a third party when she came home unaware of McCrea's Joe being in the apartment, as he was simultaneously unaware that the place belongs to a woman landlord, as Coburn's Mr. Dingle did not mention such 'inconsequential' detail when he sublet his rented room to Joe. Adding to the amusing situation is the rhythmic music that anyone (yes, viewers included) would want to swing to anywhere: in the room waiting to use the bathroom, in the hallway just coming out of the bathroom, in the doorway 'hair-raisingly' watching the consequential moment to occur.
The leads (Jean Arthur as Connie, Joel McCrae as Joe, and Charles Coburn as Mr. Dingle) all give good performances.
While the film drags in places, it's worth seeing for the delightful performances of Charles Coburn and Jean Arthur.
I feel it's important to mention some caveats before I start gushing about this movie: I don't enjoy every single scene of The More the Merrier, the last comedy George Stevens ever directed.
"The More The Merrier" (1943) starring Jean Arthur and Joel McCrae Is A Wonderful Stage Play Comedy Made Into A Stagey Movie.
DC war industries worker during "Rosie The Riveter" times.Arthur was in her 40's when she made this movie, and passes easily as a lovely 22 year old girl prettier than most other 22 year old girls.Her acting is flawless.She gets great help from Joel McCrae and Charles Coburn.This movie is like hearing great opera singers perform the best arias from the most famous operas (Largo Al Factotum, Celeste Aida, Un Bel Dei, etc.) It's all about performer talent, and the great George Stevens direction allows this to be an actor movie with plain Jane set decoration....the dumb small apartments working people always lived in...no frills.Great little movie....all Jean Arthur movies are great, and so are all Joel McCraie movies.See it!___________________ Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor.
Joel McCrea is sullen, Jean Arthur snobbish, and Charles Coburn does a great many devious acts, albeit in a good cause.
I've been watching a lot of Golden Age romantic comedies of late (think "The Palm Beach Story", "Bachelor Mother" etc) and McCrea and Arthur have as good a chemistry in this film as any other pairing.
Arthur is especially wonderful as the lovely, super-organised yet rather lonely schoolteacher who decides to lend out one half of her flat in the midst of a WW2 housing crisis in Washington D.C. But she gets more than she bargained for when both Charles Coburn (delightful) and Joel McCrea (sexy as hell) move in.We know were this one is headed from the outset, but the fun is in getting there.
While Connie's off to work the next day, Dingle rents half of his half of the apartment to a young man, Joe Carter, played by Joel McCrea.
This superior romantic comedy features Charles Coburn and Joel McCrea as short-stay transients in wartime Washington, D.C., looking for a place to bed down for about a week.
The World War 11 housing shortage in Washington, D.C. served as the basis for this rousing 1943 comedy.Both Charles Coburn and another guy soon share an apartment with the perky Jean Arthur, who is engaged to a diplomat.Arthur, a perfectionist, has a working schedule that just doesn't work out and Coburn was so hilarious in those scenes that he was rewarded with a best supporting actor Oscar for the year.
Amazing to me that he was able to win in a year with Akim Tamiroff in "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and Claude Rains for "Casablanca," were both in the running.As the other guy, who Coburn rents out his apartment to, Joel McCrea gives a restrained, quiet performance as the guy who quickly falls for the Arthur character.The ending might be somewhat inane, but the fine direction by George Stevens, and the characters themselves, blend for a memorable film..