While it is uncommon, it isn’t unheard of for a comedy to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, especially in the early years of the ceremony. In those days, studios would often submit their most popular film for the award, and then their own employees would vote for their film. Studios with the most Academy members would often be the deciding factor on who won. So, if a comedy was the biggest hit the studio had that year, it stood a good chance of getting the nomination for that year.
This feels like the case with The More the Merrier, a popular but ultimately lightweight romantic comedy that competed in the 1944 Academy Awards for the Best Pictures of 1943. Watching it now, more than eighty years later, it seems inconceivable that this was considered one of the greatest movies of the year. It’s funny enough, and it lightly tackles a subject that was plaguing the nation’s capital at the time, but it ultimately doesn’t make too much of a commentary on the subject, nor does it have a strong finale, falling back instead on genre clichés and obvious plot points. The cast is charming enough, with Charles Coburn a particular standout, but beyond that, this isn’t a film that feels like a must-watch anymore.
The set-up is simple. Retired millionaire Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn) arrives in Washington, D.C., there as an adviser on the housing shortage in the city. He arrives two days early only to find that his hotel suite will not be available until the date on his reservation. With no other hotel in town available, he peruses the classifieds and finds an advert from Connie Milligan (Jean Arthur) who is looking for someone to sublet half of her apartment. Though she is looking for a female roommate, he convinces her to give him a chance. But Connie has a very complicated routine she insists he adheres to that quickly leaves him overwhelmed.
Shortly afterwards, Benjamin meets Sergeant Joe Carter (Joel McCrea), who is looking for temporary lodging while waiting to be shipped overseas. Without consulting Connie, Benjamin rents him half of his half of the apartment. When she finds out, she attempts to kick them both out, but because she has already spent the money paid for their half of the rent, she is forced to allow them to stay. This leads to a series of comedic moments, including her humiliation when Benjamin reads her diary out loud to Joe, revealing that she finds him attractive. This embarrasses her and Benjamin, realizing his error, moves out now that his original hotel is available. Love blossoms between Connie and Joe, but Connie is determined to marry for stability rather than love and is engaged to another man, Charles J. Pendergast (Richard Gaines), a banker who is more interested in his money than in her. But we know immediately that this relationship is doomed as she has been engaged for more than a year and still refers to him as Mr. Pendergast. The story banks on our interest in whether she will follow her heart or abandon happiness for financial stability.
Jean Arthur hated working for Columbia Pictures and especially for studio boss Harry Cohn. Their relationship had been steadily deteriorating for years, and she was looking for a quick opportunity to fulfill her contract and move on. She personally bought up the rights for playwright Garson Kanin’s short story Two’s a Crowd for this purpose. She brought with her her husband, Frank Ross, and Robert Russell, along with Garson Kanin, to work on the script. It was also her idea to bring on George Stevens to direct, as she had a good working relationship with him from their previous film The Talk of the Town.
George Stevens was soon going off to war to shoot films for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and he used some of that anticipation to add some flavor and background to The More the Merrier. It is the ongoing war that is the catalyst for the lack of available housing in Washington, D.C. and he uses this real-world situation to make a commentary on the issue. This was nothing new to the experienced director, as he often interjected social commentary into his comedy pictures, such as his examinations into social class in Alice Adams.
When this film is making those examinations, it is at its strongest. Later, when the focus shifts more towards the ongoing attraction between Connie and Joe, it feels more paint-by-the-numbers and less fresh. Making matters worse, Charles Coburn disappears from the picture for large portions of the second half, and a great deal of the comedic charm leaves with him. Joel McCrea is a fine actor and has a charm of his own, but he doesn’t carry the film quite as well as Charles.
That’s not to say this section of the film is bad, far from it. George knows how to stage his comedy and his love scenes. Just look at the scene when Joe is trying to kiss Connie, and she is pushing him away. During this scene, we get one of the first real close-ups, allowing the camera and we, the audience, in on the intimacy. While she is pushing him away, she is also holding on to him, signaling that her heart is not in on the denial.
Later, after she has kicked him out of her apartment, before she knows he is still in there, just watch her walking up the steps to go inside. You can see that, even though she told him to leave, she still wants him there and is upset, thinking he is gone. It is a brilliant bit of acting on the part of Jean Arthur. Joel McCrea is fine, too, but he was better known for his westerns and doesn’t quite look comfortable here as a romantic lead.
The ending is about what you would expect from this kind of film. We all know the two are going to end up together, it’s just a matter of how it will come to pass. The best part about this is how Charles has orchestrated things, knowing exactly what needs to be done to ensure they stay together. He is playing cupid here, righting the wrongs he did when he got her so upset with the both of them. George Stevens hides what Charles has done for a bit, allowing us to be surprised just as Connie and Joe are. It borders on what would be allowed by the Production Code while not being as brazenly obvious as the Walls of Jericho scene in It Happened One Night.
Some people really fall in love with this romantic screwball comedy. Others, like me, are charmed by it but not bowled over. It’s got a lot of funny moments, especially in the earlier scenes, but it is too long, and there are some moments in the latter half that lacked the energy to sustain the entire runtime. Still, Jean Arthur is always worth watching, and her scenes with Joel McCrea are mostly fun, especially if you read between the lines. It’s a typical love story from the era, better than most but not the best there is out there. It is sad to think that once George Stevens left for the war he left behind his comedies, shifting his focus to more serious films. Though those later films are great in their own right, the world could always use more good comedies and we lost that from him after the war ended.
Academy Award Nominations:
Outstanding Motion Picture: George Stevens
Best Director: George Stevens
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Jean Arthur
Best Supporting Actor: Charles Coburn (won)
Best Writing - Screenplay: Robert Russell, Frank Ross, Richard Flounoy, and Lewis R. Foster
Best Writing - Original Motion Picture Story: Robert Russell and Frank Ross
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Release Date: May 13, 1943
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn
Directed by: George Stevens
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