Together Again (1944)

Director:

Charles Vidor

Writers:

Virginia Van Upp (screen play) and
F. Hugh Herbert (screen play) ...
(more)

Release Date:

22 December 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A prim and proper widow who has succeeded him as mayor of a provincial Vermont town hires a worldly New York sculptor for her husband's statue.

Plot Keywords:

Mayor | Vermont | Widow | Small Town | Father In Law

Cast

Irene Dunne	...	Anne Crandall
Charles Boyer	...	George Corday
Charles Coburn	...	Jonathan Crandall Sr
Mona Freeman	...	Diana Crandall
Jerome Courtland	...	Gilbert Parker
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Jessie
Charles Dingle	...	Morton Buchanan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bob Alden	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Charles Arnt	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin	...	Witherspoon (uncredited)
Brooks Benedict	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Virginia Brissac	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Paul E. Burns	...	Workman (uncredited)
Jimmy Carpenter	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Janis Carter	...	Miss Thorn (uncredited)
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Perc Mather (uncredited)
Nora Cecil	...	Woman at Recital (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Man with Woman in Leonardo's (uncredited)
Dudley Dickerson	...	Train Porter (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Fern Emmett	...	Lillian (uncredited)
Charles Ferguson	...	Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Woman with Man in Leonardo's (uncredited)
Jody Gilbert	...	Fat Woman Fleeing Nightclub Raid (uncredited)
Fred Howard	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Adele Jergens	...	Gilda LaVerne (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Workman (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Policeman in Nightclub Raid (uncredited)
Jimmy Lloyd	...	Master of Ceremonies (uncredited)
Ann Loos	...	Young Woman Fleeing Nightclub Raid (uncredited)
Billy Lord	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Charles Marsh	...	Man fleeing Nightclub Raid (uncredited)
Carole Mathews	...	Young Woman Fleeing Nightclub Raid (uncredited)
Nina Mae McKinney	...	Maid in Nightclub Powder Room (uncredited)
Edwin Mills	...	Potter Kid (uncredited)
Frank Mills	...	Annoyed Customer (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Cabby (uncredited)
Pat Parrish	...	Hattie (uncredited)
Frank Puglia	...	Leonardo (uncredited)
Adele Roberts	...	Young Woman Fleeing Nightclub Raid (uncredited)
Wally Rose	...	News Cameraman (uncredited)
Virginia Sale	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Rafael Storm	...	Artist (uncredited)
Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer	...	Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Ferris Taylor	...	Townsman (uncredited)
Shelley Winters	...	Young Woman Fleeing Nightclub Raid (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Vidor

Writing credits
Virginia Van Upp		(screen play) and
F. Hugh Herbert		(screen play)
Stanley Russell		(story) &
Herbert J. Biberman		(story) (as Herbert Biberman)

Produced by
Virginia Van Upp	....	producer

Original Music by
Werner R. Heymann

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Otto Meyer

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson		(as Stephen Goossón)
Van Nest Polglase

Set Decoration by
Fay Babcock

Costume Design by
Jean Louis		(gowns)

Production Management
William Mull	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Milton Feldman	....	assistant director
William Mull	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Lodge Cunningham	....	unit mixer (uncredited)
Russell Malmgren	....	re-recording and effects mixer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Victor Scheurich	....	second camera (uncredited)
Ned Scott	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (as M.W. Stoloff)
Sidney Cutner	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Duning	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
John Leipold	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Mel Ferrer	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Thelma Hoover	....	research director (uncredited)
Juanita Lopez	....	research director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1944) (USA) (theatrical) (chronological)
• M.P.E.A. (1948) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Included in "Icons of Screwball Comedy: Volume 2")

Also Known As:

Runtime:

93 min | USA:100 min (re-edited American version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 16, 1949 with Irene Dunne reprising her film role.

Quotes:

Anne Crandall:[Defending her life] It's comfortable
Jonathan Crandall Sr:You're too young to be comfortable.
Anne Crandall:I have, you, you miserable old reprobate!
Jonathan Crandall Sr:I can think of a couple of things you haven't got.
Anne Crandall:What?
Jonathan Crandall Sr:Well, tou're a widow!
Anne Crandall:Yes?
Jonathan Crandall Sr:And, uh, don't be so darn difficult.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Cosby Show: Together Again and Again (#5.1)" (1988)

Soundtrack:

Listen to the Mockingbird

Even Dunne couldn't rescue this material

Even one of the most gifted and effervescent comediennes of Hollywood's golden era can't rescue the weak, silly (and sexist) script. Yet again Hollywood of the 1940s insists that a successful woman isn't complete, and can't be happy, unless she has a man - and invariably the plot is going to demand that she give up her career, because a relationship with a man is the only thing that matters. It's a premise that becomes increasingly hard to swallow as we get further and further away from the 1940s and 1950s. Charles Boyer plays the bohemian sculptor (who dresses like Saville Row) who she enlists to duplicate a statue of her husband, with graces the small town where she is Mayor, having succeeded her husband, who died. Charles Coburn is reliable comedic support, as her father-in-law, who relentlessly insists that her first womanly duty is to loosen up - in later years they'd say that she should get laid - and go for the man. There's a subplot about her precocious teen daughter, who falls for Boyer, and the daughter's lanky boyfriend, who then falls for Dunne. It's a duplicate set-up of an I Love Lucy episode a few years later. The film is forced, far-fetched, silly, basically unfunny. The stars struggle to bring a levity and wit that are simply missing from the dialogue, situations or premise. Dunne is so fetching, physically lovely, at the height of her beauty, and could deliver a line, arch an eyebrow, tilt her head, laugh, and make every man just fall in love with her, me included. She transcends an inferior script, not exactly enough to make the movie enjoyable, since it's mindlessly silly and predictable, and beneath the talents of the principal cast, but she is simply captivating. Charles Vidor also manages to inject some sparkle with his deft touch, to a sparkle-less script.