Always more, always happier

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Movie
German title Always more, always happier
Original title The More the Merrier
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1943
length 104 minutes
Rod
Director George Stevens
script Robert Russell ,
Lewis R. Foster ,
Frank Ross ,
Richard Flournoy
production George Stevens for
Columbia Pictures
music Leigh Harline
camera Ted Tetzlaff
cut Otto Meyer
occupation

More and more the Merrier (OT: The More the Merrier ) is an American comedy film of George Stevens in 1943 with Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea in the lead roles.

action

The millionaire Benjamin Dingle comes as an advisor to the government against the rampant housing shortage in Washington, which is completely overpopulated because of the Second World War . There he suddenly finds himself without accommodation. His reserved hotel room won't be vacant for two days, so Dingle is forced to look to the vacant housing market. In response to an advertisement, he applies to sublet Connie Milligan, a government employee. Connie is initially skeptical about accepting a male houseguest, but the rent prepayment for two weeks convinces the young woman and she lets Dingle two of her four rooms. The next morning, Dingle meets young Sergeant Joe Carter, who has not yet found suitable accommodation. Dingle feels sorry for the likeable Joe and he rented out one of his two rooms without letting Connie know. When Connie learns of the arrangement, she first wants to throw both men out of the house. Dingle demands his rental prepayment back in return and since Connie has already spent the money, things stay as they are.

Gradually, Joe and Connie find each other more than just likable, but things are complicated by Connie's two-year engagement to Charles J. Pendergast, a rigid bureaucrat. Joe asks Dingle for advice and Dingle drily quotes Civil War officer David Farragut : “To hell with the torpedoes. Full speed ahead. ” Benjamin Dingle tries to couple the two, but he reads from Connie's diary in the presence of Joe. The injured Connie throws both men out of the apartment, but Dingle takes full responsibility and goes alone so that Joe can stay. After Joe gives her a suitcase and they spend the evening together, they fall in love. A curious boy from the neighborhood ensures that the FBI suspects Joe of being a Japanese spy. By chance, Mr. Pendergast becomes a participant in Joe's interrogation and learns that his fiancée Connie and Joe live in the same apartment. The suspicion against Joe finally clears up, but a reporter learns of the story. To prevent the scandal of an unmarried woman living together with another man, Dingle arranges for a quick marriage between Joe and Connie. That's why Joe and Connie come together in the end, not least because of Benjamin Dingle's more or less skilful leadership.

background

George Stevens had risen through his first successes at RKO to a renowned director who was at home in every genre. The third film he shot for Columbia Pictures on the basis of a very lucrative contract was always more, always happier . Studio boss Harry Cohn was looking for a successor for Frank Capra and in 1940 granted Stevens almost complete creative freedom in addition to profit sharing. The first two films, the 1941 melodrama Chords of Love, starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, and the political comedy Witness to the Prosecution , which released in 1942 with Jean Arthur , Cary Grant and Ronald Colman , were great financial and artistic successes . John Oller describes in his biography Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew that it was Jean Arthur and her then husband Frank Ross who came up with the idea for the film. Arthur lived in constant quarrel with Harry Cohn and continuously refused the offered roles. In order to find a reasonably sustainable basis for the remaining term of their contract, the couple looked for a suitable comedy material. They asked the author friend Garson Kanin , Ruth Gordon's husband , to write a screenplay. Kanin took up the acute housing shortage in completely overpopulated Washington, which was circulated in all the media at the time, and wrote the script under the working title Two's a Crowd . During the filming, which lasted from mid-September to mid-December 1942, there were quite a number of other titles, such as Washington Story , Full Steam Ahead and Come One, Come All . The film had some problems with censorship. The Production Code administration expressed concern about what they consider to be a frivolous basic idea, according to which an unmarried woman lives under one roof with two men and only has to share one bathroom. There were also concerns about the use of the word damn , which Charles Coburn used when he made his famous quote when he saw the statue of Admiral David Farragut: Damn the Torpedoes. Full speed ahead.

Immediately after the rental, The More the Merrier became the studio's greatest financial success up to then. Critics praised the chemistry between Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea, although it was Charles Coburn who received the greatest praise for his lovable portrayal of a philanthropic millionaire. Arthur and Coburn had worked together in the 1941 comedy Mary and the Millionaire . Arthur and McCrea knew each other from filming Adventures in Manhattan in 1936. For Joel McCrea, the film would be the last comedy role of his career. He had particularly shown his talent for the genre under the direction of Preston Sturges in Sullivan's Travels and Breathless to Florida . After more and more, more and more cheerful , he shot almost exclusively westerns . The great success of the film prompted Paramount Pictures to bring a thinly laminated version under the title Standing Room Only with Paulette Goddard and Fred MacMurray for distribution in 1944 . A remake was made in 1966 under the title Not so fast, my boy with Cary Grant and Samantha Eggar and took the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as the background.

In Germany and Austria, the film was also shown with the title Everyone helps himself as he can .

Theatrical release

With a comparatively low production cost of $ 878,000, the film ended up grossing $ 1,800,000 in the US alone.

synchronization

The dubbed version was produced by Bavaria Film for the West German television premiere in 1975.

role actor German Dubbing voice
Connie Milligan Jean Arthur Brigitte Grothum
Joe Carter Joel McCrea Thomas Danneberg
Benjamin Dingle Charles Coburn Curt Ackermann
Morton Rodakiewicz Stanley Clements Niko Macoulis

Reviews

In his review for the New York Times , Bosley Crowther wrote warm words of approval on May 14, 1943:

“ Always more and more happy is as warm and refreshing as a ray of sunshine […]. It's Mister Coburn who makes the movie and he does a really good job. As a retired millionaire, he follows the famous Admiral Farragut motto and always falls under full steam. You will just love Mr. Coburn as Benjamin Dingle when you have one heart in your chest. And you will love more and more, more and more happily , if you have a spark of humor in your body. Against all odds, the film even manages to turn Washington into an attractive place. "

The film service refers to the film as one

"Neat, turbulent Hollywood comedy."

Awards

Oscar

The film went to the 1944 Academy Awards with five nominations and won one of the awards:

There were also nominations in the following categories:

NYFCC Award

  • 1943: Best Director - George Stevens

literature

  • Marilyn Ann Moss: Giant: George Stevens, a Life on Film.
  • John Oller: Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew . ISBN 978-0-87910-278-4 .
  • Lexicon of international film 2000/2001. (CD-ROM)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ More and more, always happier with the German dubbing index
  2. ↑ The More the Merrier , […] is as warm and refreshing a ray of sunshine […] But it is Mr. Coburn who really is the comical crux of the film and he handles the job in fine fettle. As a 'well-to-do, retired millionaire,' he follows the dictum of Admiral Farragut and barges blithely into jams 'full steam ahead.' You'll love Mr. Coburn's Benjamin Dingle if you have a heart in your breast. And you'll love The More the Merrier if you have a taste for fun. It even makes Washington look attractive — and that is beyond belief.
  3. ↑ More and more, always happier. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 17, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used