The More the Merrier (1943)

During the World War II housing shortage in Washington, two men and a woman share a single apartment and the older man plays Cupid to the other two.

Director:

George Stevens

Writers:

Robert Russell (screen play), Frank Ross (screen play)

Stars:

Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Charles Coburn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jean Arthur	...	Connie Milligan
Joel McCrea	...	Joe Carter
Charles Coburn	...	Benjamin Dingle
Richard Gaines	...	Charles J. Pendergast
Bruce Bennett	...	FBI Agent Evans
Frank Sully	...	FBI Agent Pike
Donald Douglas	...	FBI Agent Harding (as Don Douglas)
Clyde Fillmore	...	Senator Noonan
Stanley Clements	...	Morton Rodakiewicz

Storyline

It's World War II and there is a severe housing shortage everywhere - especially in Washington, D.C. where Connie Milligan rents an apartment. Believing it to be her patriotic duty, Connie offers to sublet half of her apartment, fully expecting a suitable female tenent. What she gets instead is mischievous, middle-aged Benjamin Dingle. Dingle talks her into subletting to him and then promptly sublets half of his half to young, irreverent Joe Carter - creating a situation tailor-made for comedy and romance.

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Plot Keywords:

screwball comedy | dating | fertility | marriage | sibling rivalry | 

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Taglines:

"Did you say'Tingle.?" - "No, 'Dingle'...D-I-N-G-L-E!" (original Card B poster)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Merry-Go-Round

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Features Jean Arthur's only Oscar nominated performance.

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Goofs

The Capitol building is not visible from the purported apartment address of 1708 D St NW. The Capitol is over 1.5 miles from the address, and the line of sight passes through numerous Federal buildings lining Constitution Avenue. Those buildings were there in 1942.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Our vagabond camera takes us to beautiful Washington, D.C., the national capital of our United States, situated on the broad banks of the Potomac River. Living is pleasant and leisurely... for it is a city of formality and custom. Manners and courtesy are responsible for the well-ordered conduct of its daily affairs. The many fine restaurants of Washington are the delight of the epicurean and the gourmet, where one may enjoy to the full the rare dishes of the old south. ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Five Came Back: Combat Zones (2017)

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Soundtracks

Don't Try to Steal the Sweetheart of a Soldier
(1917) (uncredited)
Music by Gus Van and Joe Schenck
Lyrics by Al Bryan
Played and sung by off-screen voices

User Reviews

The romance is stronger than the comedy

This starts unpromisingly (or was I just in the wrong mood?) with slapstick banana-skin-style gags which, however well done, show their age. Jean Arthur looks unassuming compared with her strong-girl tomboyish appearances in the Capra classics. But come Joel McCrea and the burgeoning love (at first resisted) between him and Arthur, and she shows a vulnerability and a range of expression that round out our knowledge of an already well-loved artist.

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. The ending (will they, won't they?)recalls the end of the Cary Grant/Irene Dunne classic "The Awful Truth", and if I say that McCrea and Arthur do not pale by comparison, then I could hardly give higher praise than that.