Stream Leading Ladies (When There Were Leading Ladies) VI

Jean Arthur

The Devil and Miss Jones 1941 Directed by Sam Wood. A tenderhearted comedy. Tycoon John P. Merrick (Charles Coburn – pitch perfect) is miffed to learn employees of Neely’s Department Store (one of vast holdings) have hung him in effigy. When a private detective seems bumbling, he decides to go undercover himself using the P.I.’s name, Thomas Higgins, to ferret out troublemakers. Merrick is assigned to the shoe department run by imperious Mr. Hooper (Edmund Gwen.) Clearly awkward, he’s “adopted” by saleswomen Mary Jones (Jean Arthur) who assumes he’s friendless and poor.

Mary’s boyfriend, salesman Joe O’ Brian (Robert Cummings) leads the uphill effort to unionize. There are reasonable grounds, but employees are afraid of losing their jobs. Merrick spends time with the couple and begins to listen. Added to the mix is and Mary’s friend, fellow employee Elizabeth Ellis (Spring Byington), whom she sets up as a plausible mate to her new protégé. The millionaire’s humanizing is nicely handled. Both Coburn and Arthur reflect successive surprises without being obvious. Byington is a gem.

Frank Ross and Norman Krasna decided to produce a movie together starring Jean Arthur (Ross’ wife) based on a story by Krasna. The three formed a partnership and borrowed $600,000 from a bank to finance the film. Rent on Amazon Prime.

The More the Merrier 1949 Directed by George Stevens. Satirizes the WWII housing shortage in Washington, D.C. Bubbly. Another great Charles Coburn turn. Millionaire Benjamin Dingle (Coburn) arrives in D.C. to find his hotel room unavailable for two days. He talks reluctant Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur) into subletting half her apartment, then sublets half of his half to Sergeant Joe Carter (Joel McCrae) who’s about to be sent overseas. Connie wants to throw them out but has spent Dingle’s rent. The young people are attracted. Opting for security, however, she’s engaged to a businessman.

Dingle meets Pendergast at an event, decides Carter is a much better choice for Connie, and begins to manipulate things towards that end. When Joe is suspected of being a spy, things get complicated. Thoroughly enjoyable. Other considered titles for the film included Full Steam Ahead, and Merry-Go-Round, which actually tested best with audiences. Washington officials objected to the title and plot elements that suggested “frivolity on the part of Washington workers.” The film was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don’t Run with Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar and Jim Hutton. Stick to the original. Rent on Amazon Prime.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 can be found in Stream Selected Films of Jimmy Stewart

Only Angels Have Wings 1939 can be found in Stream Films of Cary Grant

The Talk of the Town 1942 can be found in Selected Films of Ronald Coleman

Gene Tierney

Heaven Can Wait 1943 Based on the play Birthday by Leslie Bush-Fekete. Directed by Ernst Lubitch. When elderly Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche) dies, he’s met in reception by “His Excellency” (Mephistopheles) and questioned as to eligibility. Having been told innumerable times to Go to Hell and lived what he believes to have been a dissolute life, there’s no question in Henry’s mind he’s in the right place. He relates his story beginning with birth in 1872. Van Cleve was, in fact, a selfish, spoiled womanizer, but not so dastardly as he seems to think. A shaken snow globe period piece. Rent on Amazon Prime.

Laura 1944 Based on the novel by Vera Caspary. Directed by Otto Preminger. An intriguing melodrama with a spectacular Clifton Webb and a beautiful Gene Tierney too innocent a femme fatale. NYPD Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is investigating the shotgun murder (a blast to the face) of advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). Captivated by the portrait over her apartment fireplace and character descriptions by newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), who personally engineered her rise, he begins to fall in love.

From everything he’s heard, McPherson doesn’t understand the young woman’s engagement to vapid playboy Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), companion to her Aunt Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson). Flashbacks provide Laura’s story. It turns out, however, that the victim is not Laura. Who then, why, and how to smoke out the murderer ?

Fox casting director Rufus LeMaire and Zanuck both objected to Webb because of his effeminate mannerisms, which were exactly what Preminger felt suited the character. The director filmed him delivering a monologue from a Noel Coward play, and Zanuck agreed that Webb was perfect for the role. Rent on Amazon Prime.

The Razor’s Edge 1946 Based on the Somerset Maugham novel. Directed by Edmund Goulding. After WWI, pilot Larry Darrell (Tyrone Power) returns to fiancé Isabel Bradley (Gene Tierney) and her Chicago country club set. Traumatized, he refuses a stockbroker job from the millionaire father of friend Gray Maturin (John Payne) in favor of using a modest inheritance to look for meaning in life. Though she doesn’t understand, Isabel agrees to postpone the wedding for a year. Also at the party are childhood friends Sophie Nelson (Anne Baxter – deserved Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress) and her boyfriend, Bob MacDonald (Frank Latimore) from Larry’s side of the tracks.

The veteran chooses Paris in which to start. Elaborate plans to introduce him to the right people by Isabel’s expatriate uncle Elliott Templeton (Clifton Webb) are ignored. Instead, Larry attends lectures at The Sorbonne and lives among students in a cheap neighborhood. A year later, when Isabel and her mother visit, she realizes his search is far from over, disdains the way he “inexplicably” lives, and breaks off the engagement.

Larry’s odyssey finds him traveling, working manual labor, then looking for enlightenment in India. When years later he meets Isabel in Paris, she’s married to a mentally frail Gray. Also in the city is Sophie who’s gone off the rails due to personal tragedy. Larry takes it upon himself to help his dear friend which makes Isabel deeply jealous. Repercussions are ugly and fatal. A good book, a good film – if visually dated. The character of Somerset Maugham (Herbert Marshall) is represented as a wise family friend. Tierney is perfectly cast and chilling. Rent on Amazon Prime.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947 can be found in Stream Fantasy Films II: 1940s/50s

Feature photo: Public domain publicity photo with autograph of Jean Arthur, 1937.