Romancefest 2017: The More the Merrier

1941's THE MORE THE MERRIER was a great surprise. Up until now I've never even heard of this movie and I have to say I may have enjoyed more than any other movie this month, so far. This is another George Stevens flick, the 2nd of Romancefest 2017, starring Jean Arthur, also in her second Romancefest 2017 appearance. This is significant to me because one of my all time favorite films is SHANE, also directed by George Stevens and starring Jean Arthur.

Unlike SHANE, THE MORE THE MERRIER is a laugh out loud comedy. It takes place in Washington DC at the beginning of the US involvement in WW2. From the beginning of the movie, I can only surmise that it was commonly known that there was a housing shortage in the US at the time, because most of the early jokes involve how hard it is to find a place to stay in Washington DC. In fact, Charles Coburn shows up as a retired millionaire who has come to Washington DC to consult on the crisis, finds his hotel unavailable, and cons his way into Jean Arthur's room for rent that she'd rather rent to another woman. Oh, well. Too bad for her.

Or maybe too bad for him, also, since Arthur turns out to be a type A control freak who has their entire morning routine planned out down to the minute. On the bright side, this leads to one of the funniest scenes in the movie in which Coburn attempts to follow her routine, but mucks it up, as the two mismatched roommates weave in and out of rooms, bumping into each other, narrowly missing each other, and generally getting in each other's ways.

Not one day into his stay, Coburn meets Joel McCrae who needs a room before he ships out. Coburn offers to rent half of his room, unbeknownst to Arthur, and at first attempts to keep the third roommate a secret from her in another hilariously choreographed sequence of near misses in the increasingly cramped apartment.

This is just the beginning of the various misunderstandings and comedic set pieces, though, as Arthur and McCrae grow sweet on each other and things get complicated with Arthur's fiance (Richard Gaines), a bureaucrat also working on the housing crisis. I won't get into the myriad shenanigans here except to say that amidst all the hijinks, a really affecting love story does develop between Arthur and McCrae, with Coburn playing cupid along the way.

Coburn is perfect as the meddling old man, charming and innocent even as he is doing shitty stuff like scheming to read Arthur's diary, constantly resorting to offering, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead," as his over-arching philosophy in life, and excuse for everything. McCrae is not just a hunk, he also brings a lot in the comedic-timing department, and a lot of his charm comes from the way he becomes unlikely  buddies with Coburn. Arthur is in her 40s here but convincingly plays a 20-something career woman who barely has time for romance, let alone two frat boy roommates.