The Gay Intruders (1948) User Reviews

High brow on stage is low brow off.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 30 November 2023]

While the assumption is that the fictional couple that the real life married couple John Emery and Tamara Gava are playing is loosely based upon Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, the truth seems closer to Emery and his second wife, Tallulah Bankhead. The "Alabama Foghorn" was starring onstage at the time in a revival of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" (which had starred the long married Lunts in its original production) so this seemed like a good natured jab at the former wife of the film's leading man, perhaps a valentine of sorts as they had remained friends, and Gava's character is rather grand.

At their closing night curtain call, Emery makes the mistake of thanking his wife for "supporting" him on stage, and Gava lays into him in a way that sounds like something that Tallulah would do. Both Emery and Gava get private therapists, and when everyone gathers together, it becomes a case of more than just the patients seeming like they need a head shrinker. Leif Erickson and Virginia Gregg do good jobs as their psychiatrists, and at times, it's difficult to determine who's the focus of the film. Another issue is that they all seem like they're acting out a stage play rather than being characters in a movie. As this was written originally for film, that's a rather odd aspect even though the ensemble of this is indeed very good.

Transference

[boblipton · 6/10 · 10 June 2023]

John Emery and Tamara Geva are stage stars and married in real life too. People think they are as romantic in life as they are on the boards, but as their latest play closes after two years, as soon as the door on their dressing room closes, the bric-a-brac starts flying. They each think the other is nuts, so they each hire a psychiatrist to analyze the other; Leif Ericskon and Virginia Gregg. They, in turn, get along great, but as their charges do better, they begin to quarrel....

Ray McCarey's last movie -- he would die in December, only 44 -- is a stagey farce with the leads playing flamboyantly theatrical people, full of mistaken identity and, as mentioned above, thrown crockery. It's second-ranked all the way, intended for the lower half of a double bill, but it proceeds at such a good pace that there's no reason to complain. Although McCarey never rose to the heights of his more famous brother Leo, he was a useful director, first of shorts, then of B movies, mostly comedy, one of those many journeymen whose movies came in on budget, kept the audiences in their seats happy, and produced a useful profit for the producer.

minor but amusing comedy

[myriamlenys · 7/10 · 7 January 2024]

According to the great theatre-going public, the Newberry's marriage is one long, radiant honeymoon. Sadly, in private these two famous thespians spend most of their time needling and belittling each other. Their manager, who has grown tired of their quarreling, urges them to find a good psychiatrist. Both Mr. And Mrs. Newberry follow his advice, but not together...

"The Gay Intruders" is a minor but merry comedy that pokes fun at two different professions, to wit acting and psychiatry. The movie also pokes fun at the married state, which, in life, can hardly be maintained without at least some pretending and dissembling.

"The Gay Intruders" boasts lively performances and, especially, a marvelously funny dialogue full of zingers and cutting repartee. The whole isn't particularly deep - for instance, don't expect any profound insights about the futility of mutual destruction - but it skips along nicely. It is also too short to outstay its welcome.

Cheered me up nicely.

Contrived...like an episode from a bad sit-com.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 14 August 2023]

The summary to "The Gay Intruders" is not quite right. The psychiatrists are NOT married to each other. Here's a more accurate summary:

John and Maria are very hammy stage actors who have lovely chemistry on stage...but hate each other off stage. This is a serious problem, as the pair are married...to each other. When their agent gets sick of hearing their constant bickering, he suggests they get therapy. On their own, John and Maria BOTH seek out a therapist and each soon come up with an insane idea that no real psychiatrist would agree to do. They each want their therapist to come to stay with them under an assumed identity so they can observe how awful the other spouse is! Not surprisingly, chaos and hilarity ensues (or is supposed to ensue).

It's obvious who ever wrote this knows nothing about therapy or psychiatrists. Instead, the focus is clearly on everyone being kooky...and like caricatures in the process. Badly written and hard to enjoy, this is, at best, a poor time-passer.