Tom, Dick and Harry (1941)

The greatest movie ever made..!

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Ginger Rogers is romantically impish while being pursued by three suitors in this worthy if somewhat predictable follow-up to Roger's Kitty Foyle Oscar role. Breezily directed and well paced by Garson Kanin the film conceals its comic suspense right up until the last minute as Roger's Janie wavers and weighs her decision on who would make the ideal husband.Writer Paul Jerrico's screenplay is light and witty but also trenchant and insightful as he toys with the varied qualities and foibles of each aspirant and society in general. Smart casting of B actors instead of a major star playing the boyfriends enables the film to remain balanced and offer no indication of it's outcome and Kanin skillfully evens the playing field for his competitors. George Murphy, Burgess Meredith and Alan Marshall thankfully lack the "movie star" style and looks of a Cary Grant and Randolph Scott and thus allow Roger's bright eyed and determined Janie to control the action. They are convincingly everyday. Kanin also gets some fine underplayed performances out of his other characters including all of Janie's family and especially Vickie Lester as her co-worker at the phone company. Unlike the raucous characters and slapstick found in the screwball work of Sturges and Hawks, Tom Dick and Harry avoids over the top abrasiveness and settles for a more subdued approach, well buoyed by a charming cast and a light directorial touch.

I love movies from the 40's, enjoy Ginger Rogers in both musical and straight roles (Kitty Foyle, Bachelor Mother), and romantic comedies are a favorite way to relax in the evening. This movie was bad. I am working through the AFI list, and had looked forward to this light hearted comedy.The acting was fine, as each character was played perfectly, right down to the irritating ice cream man and little sister. But there was barely enough plot to fill out a 30 minute TV episode. The premise was OK, but it took me 3 fidgety nights to just sit through it. And what were surely attempts at zany plot twists in the 40's seemed to be just unending repetition. This is definitely not "bringing up baby" or even in the same league.Sorry.

Tom, Dick, and Harry rests on thin plot - Ginger Rogers' character Janie, a telephone operator, has to choose between her steady (Murphy), a man she just met (Meredith), and a rich man she's been dreaming about (Marshall). The romances between the characters are complimented by outrageous dream sequences that are really just ridiculous, but I found them quite funny. Burgess Meredith and Ginger Rogers share a charming chemistry - especially in a scene where their kiss fantastically "rings bells"...possibly the cutest kiss scene ever, reminiscent of Mia's foot-popping in The Princess Diaries. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and laughed a lot, as should any Rogers fan, or Meredith fan for that matter, would. But, it is hard to find. I don't believe it's been released on DVD yet, but it is a rare find on VHS.

"Tom Dick and Harry", a delightful screwball comedy, features Ginger Rogers sans singing and tapping. Rogers is cast as a telephone operator living with family and the eldest of two daughters. At first she seems a bit mature for the role but turns in a good performance as the comedy and surrealistic sequences become increasingly engaging along with the social-commentary subtext of traveling in various social circles to supplement the plot: Rogers on a whirlwind-whim steps out of an unfulfilling job and pursues an ultimate soulmate/marriage/happiness. Some scenes surprisingly echo "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) in an inverted economic pearls-at-a-price manner: after an evening of mayhem lasts into wee-morning hours and before the "life-altering" event, an ultimate awakening dawns upon working-class Rogers similar to high-society Hepburn. Also, similar to TPS, TD&H has the wisecracking-realistic younger sister balancing the impulsive older sister Rogers; the supporting cast delivering the sideshow goods; and viewers getting the surprise-ending treat. Trivial tidbit: Lenore Lonergan, (the younger sister "Butch" to Rogers's "Janie" in TD&H), is cast in the original Broadway version of TPS as the younger sister "Dinah" to Hepburn's "Tracy", (however in the film version of TPS, Virginia Weidler plays the younger sister "Dinah" part).