Together Again (1944)
Anne Crandall is the mayor of a small town in Vermont. Her deceased husband had been the mayor for years and when he died, she was left to carry on and to raise his daughter from his first marriage. She lives with the daughter, her father-in-law and a housekeeper. In the town square, there was a statue of her late husband and every year since his death, they have an anniversary celebration there. This year during a thunderstorm, the statue is hit by lightning and the head falls off. The daughter insists that a new statue be erected instead of patching the old one. Mayor Crandall is sent to New York to interview the prospective sculptor, George Corday.
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The Worst Film Ever
Highly Overrated But Still Good
A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Some fun big names in this one... Charles Coburn (Jonathan) was awesome in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes".... Anne is played by Irene Dunn, who had made a whole bunch of films with Cary Grant. Lots of talking right at the beginning, and we hear how Mayor Anne Crandall has always been the straight arrow, putting others' needs before her own. This story has quite a bit in common with "Key to the City" from 1950. Small town mayor goes traveling to the big city, makes unwanted headlines, the troubles begin... although "Key" was MGM, "Together Again" was Columbia Pictures.. AND it came first. Although, honestly, "Key" was much more zany and fun. "Together" is much more sedate, calm, and collected. Boyer and Dunn are both stealing every scene, and we don't feel the chemistry we see in "Key to the City". Directed by Charles Vidor, who would also direct "Gilda" a couple years later . "Together Again" is pretty good. If you haven't seen "Key to the City", try to see that one too!
I almost gave up on this film after the first 15 minutes...talk, talk, talk...too much dialog that was not that interesting. I'm glad I stuck with it, because it developed into a pretty decent comedy.It's sort of "The Bachelor And The Bobby Soxer" X 2, although that is not the main gist of the movie...which is widowed town mayor (Irene Dunne) falling in love with suave sculptor (Charles Boyer), which simply won't work in that small town...or will it.Dunne is quite good with comedy, and demonstrates that here. Boyer does nicely, too...in fact considering that I am not a fan of his, I rather enjoyed him here. The real hoot of the picture is that scene stealer -- Charles Coburn! The other actors do their jobs, and this is quite a watchable film after the first little bit. While not one of Dunne's best films, it is worth watching...at least once...though it may not end up on your DVD shelf.
Yes, I know it was hyperbole saying that Satan made her hat, but I kept thinking only someone very evil could create such an ugly and god-awful hat. Yet, oddly, she bought it to make herself more attractive. This was a miserable failure! As for the film, Irene Dunne plays a very emotionally constricted widow who is the mayor of a small town. Since her husband's death, her life has been her job and her father-in-law (the wonderful Charles Coburn) wants her to live a little--date and have some fun. But she is a seemingly hopeless case and carries her husband's memory around like an albatross around her neck. By chance, she has a meeting with an artist (Charles Boyer). Boyer is a French romantic and she is obviously bothered by him. Very crazy things ensue and the ultimate result is pretty predictable but fun. Not a great film but a fun one.While the film was silly and enjoyable, one problem with it was the annoying character played by Mona Freeman. She was one-dimensional and impossible to believe as a real human being and the first 10 minutes she was in were the worst. Fortunately, she was just a supporting character--and a badly written one. But, on the other hand, Charles Coburn played a most delightful character--full of wonderful quips and easy to love. He made a career out of playing sweet manipulative guys like this (such as in his Oscar-winning performance in "The More The Merrier") as well as gruff old goats. I make it a point to see him in everything and I am never disappointed! He managed to breath some life into this otherwise ordinary film.By the way, in the elevator scene, look at the elevator operator. That's Alfalfa Switzer--of the Li'l Rascals fame. Also by the way, if the plot from this movie seems familiar, it was later re-worked on an episode of "I Love Lucy"!
Fun teaming of Dunne and Boyer in a nice little comedy with good performances by all.Dunne plays a widow who is mayor of a small Vermont town. She goes off to New York City to interview a sculptor (Boyer) for a town project but gets involved in a nightclub raid after she is mistaken for the stripper. Back in Vermont Dunne tries to forget Boyer but he shows up and moves into her garage to sculpt.Dunne is goaded into "life" again by her father-in-law (Charles Coburn) and dramatic teen step-daughter (Mona Freeman). This get funny when Freeman thinks Boyer has proposed to her. To get even Dunne traps gawky teen (Jerome Courtland) into proposing to her. The four spar back and forth with Coburn get more and more confused until things finally straighten out.Good support from Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Dingle, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens, Carl Switzer, Nora Cecil, Nina Mae McKinney, and Hobart Cavanaugh. Shelley Winters has a bit part.Dunne and Boyer had great chemistry and three made films together.