The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)

Directed by William Keighley. Starring Monty Woolley, Bette Davis, Richard Travis, Grant Mitchell, Billie Burke, Ann Sheridan, Elisabeth Fraser, Reginald Gardiner, Jimmy Durante, Mary Wickes, Russell Arms, Ruth Vivian, George Barbier, Nanette Vallon.

Spirited translation of the hit Broadway play about snobbish, acid-tongued radio critic Sheridan Whiteside (Woolley) breaking his hip after slipping on some ice outside Burke and Mitchell’s suburban Ohio home; it’s there that he recuperates over the Christmas holiday, and immediately takes over the entire household with his self-centered demands and lawsuit threats. Carrying over his performance from the stage play, Woolley couldn’t be better for the role (in the “worst” way possible), a tricky one considering how intolerable he must be without fully losing the audience; Davis was eager for a comedic change of pace at that point in her career, but doesn’t get much to work with, and she’s romantically paired with an aspiring playwright (Mitchell) who has the air of a Ralph Bellamy schmuck. A handful of characters are, of course, based on real celebrities, with Whiteside representing savage commentator Alexander Woolcott, and Gardiner doing a crafty spin on Noël Coward, but Durante is a poor substitute for Harpo Marx (even without the “Ha-cha-cha-cha”). Goes on too long, even though it never slows down. Screenplay adaptation by Julius and Philip Epstein.

71/100