Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942)



The Man Who Came to Dinner is one of my favorite December movies and I look forward to watching it all year!

When cranky and acid-tongued critic Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley) slips on the stairs of a businessman 's home after visiting for lunch, he uses his injury to take over the house, along with his secretary Maggie (Bette Davis) and all of their, uh, "interesting" friends. Convicted killers visit one day, penguins are delivered another day, and Mr. Whiteside's constant jabs and meddling drive the whole family (and his poor nurse) absolutely batty!

Meanwhile, Maggie falls for cutie-pie newspaper owner Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis). Sensing he is about to lose his beloved secretary, "Sherry" Whiteside is determined to break it up through any means necessary! The result? A pretty hilarious little movie.

This performance from Bette Davis is unlike her usual roles, but even in this downplayed role, she shines. Other performances worth mentioning are Monty Woolley as Sheridan Whiteside (it's SO funny and perfect, he verbally bitchslaps just about everybody), Ann Sheridan as the golddigging actress Lorraine Sheldon, and Jimmy Durante as Banjo (enough said!). All of the actors are lovably insane, and there are so many good one-liners.




Enjoy!

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