Product Details

• Actors: Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Edmund Gwenn, Spring Byington
• Directors: Sam Wood
• Writers: Norman Krasna
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: RKO Radio Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 8, 1988
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300208176
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,888 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Comedy > By Year > 1940-1949

Editorial Reviews

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In one of those plot devices so dear to writers of romantic comedy (in this case, the venerable Norman Krasna, of Wife vs. Secretary and Mr. and Mrs. Smith), financier Charles Coburn goes undercover as a shoe salesman in a Manhattan department store that's a tiny part of his portfolio, hoping to discover why the employees hate him so much. He has the luck to be assigned to the counter next to Jean Arthur, rasping out one of her inimitable hard-nosed working-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold performances, who befriends Coburn and introduces him to her boyfriend (Robert Cummings)--the leader of the labor unrest. Directed by the stodgy Sam Wood (King's Row), the film flirts with '30s radicalism but settles for prudent class reconciliation: turns out that all the employees want is a little bit of gratitude and respect. Coburn got his first Academy Award nomination for his gruff but ultimately lovable coot (and won the Oscar two years later, opposite Arthur in The More the Merrier), a part he was to play for much of the rest of his career. Some startling deep-focus effects suggest that cinematographer Harry Stradling may have been spying on Citizen Kane, shooting just down the hall at RKO. Ultimately, though, it's Arthur who gives the film its authenticity and tremulous charm. --Dave Kehr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jean Arthur is a delight in this wonderful comedy!, April 18, 2005

By	Dave (Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Devil and Miss Jones [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Charles Coburn plays J.P. Merrick, the wealthy, sinister millionaire and owner of his own department store, where the overworked and underpayed workers, led by Joe O'Brien (Robert Cummings) are protesting. In order to eliminate all the ringleaders of the employee protest movement, Merrick, who's face isn't known by any of the employees, changes his name to Tom Higgins and becomes an employee in his own department store. While working in the dreaded shoe department, Higgins meets the charming Mary Jones (Jean Arthur), who takes pity on Higgins and befriends him, not knowing that he's her evil boss.

Higgins, when not gathering the names of protesters in his organization, also falls for one of his "co-workers", Elizabeth Ellis (Spring Byington). Higgins is faced with a problem however, when he discovers that Mary Jones' boyfriend is none other than Joe O'Brien. Yet over time Higgins' unlikely friendship with these people makes him forget about his sinister original plan and he becomes a new man who cares for his employees.

Now that the equally great comedy with Charles Coburn and Jean Arthur, "The More the Merrier", has been released on dvd, why can't this underated classic get a dvd release? Sure, some of the dialogue is dated and corny, but that's just part of the charm with an old-fashioned comedy like "The Devil and Miss Jones". Jean Arthur was terrific and absolutly charming as usual, but Charles Coburn really stole the show with his great performance. Charles Coburn was an incredible actor who could play very likable characters, or the worst of villians, as in "Kings Row". Robert Cummings was good in this as well, although his speech at the police station was vomit-inducing. The supporting cast, especially Spring Byington and Edmund Gwenn (who plays the grouchy section manager of the shoe department where Higgins works) is wonderful. Surely we won't have to wait too much longer before this great comedy is released on dvd!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jupiter comes down to Earth..., December 11, 2002

By	Linda McDonnell "TutorGal" (Brooklyn, U.S.A) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Devil and Miss Jones [VHS] (VHS Tape)

in this very funny story of how the richest man in the world decides to go undercover as a shoe salesman in a store he forgot he owned until labor agitators hang him in effigy. It's Charles Coburn's intention to infiltrate the labor movement and bring these "wrongdoers" to justice or at least unemployment. He doesn't bargain on what happens when he begins to rub shoulders with the hoi polloi, and how meeting with the peppy Miss Jones (Jean Arthur) will change his outlook on labor and ultimately life.

Jean Arthur is very appealing as this working class heroine, but it's Charles Coburn who runs away with the picture. His transformation from a Rockefeller-type cold as ice businessman into a tuna popover eating funlover is aces, especially in his dealings with the surprisingly unpleasant Edmund Gwenn as the manager of the shoe department. Ironic that Gwenn returned to the department store scene a few years later to buck authority himself as Kris Kringle in "Miracle on 34 Street". A point worth noting is that much of the dialogue concerns the misunderstanding about Coburn's true identity, and his consequently being abused as an older worker with limited skills in an emerging modern world. Although 60 years ago, this still rings true today, and gives us some food for thought.

This picture has only two things going against it: First is its terrible title. Not only does it not really make any sense given the plot of the film, but it later got co-opted as the title of a famous porn film, "Devil IN Miss Jones", so that even the librarian where I took this out gave me the once over, thinking I was taking out a smutty film. I'll bet few people ever do rent this movie because of its dubious monniker. The second thing that's not so hot is a police station scene where Robert Cummings tries (and fails) to be a Capra-esque "ordinary man" hero bucking authority by appealing to the Founding Fathers' principles. The scene is so bad it brings the movie to a complete standstill; I was afraid it would be downhill from there, but it picked up again. My advice is that should you ever rent or buy this film, as soon as Cummings enters the station, fast forward to the next scene to save yourself some grief.

Other than those two points, "The Devil and Miss Jones" is a real winner, and I still give it five stars for a funny script and Coburn's marvelous performance.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, February 13, 2006

By	Fernando Silva "fedo" (Santiago de Chile.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Devil and Miss Jones [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Among the Classic Film couples, there are Garbo and Gilbert, Gable and Crawford, Tracy and Hepburn, but I have discovered that there is also Arthur and Coburn, an unlikely couple, but nevertheless one of the most engaging.

Two films: "The More the Merrier" and the one I'm reviewing now, "The Devil and Miss Jones" are the testimony of the great chemistry and rapport that existed between this two great comedians, Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn.

Last night I watched this wonderful Comedy for the first time and believe me, I hadn't seen a Comedy of this quality and class, in a long time. It's so perfect that it's difficult to really describe the effect it had on me.

The plot of the film tells the story of what happens when a millionaire (Coburn), who among many, many assets, owns a Department Store in New York, arranges to be infiltrated into the Store as a simple Shoes (more precisely "Slipper") Salesman, in order to investigate who, among its employees, participated as agitators and were responsible for the hanging of his effigy, when protesting against the Store's policies regarding workers, working conditions and Unions.

Among the employees of the Store, Coburn meets fellow Shoes Saleslady, Jean Arthur, who befriends him, not only believing he's an employee, but also a poor, almost destitute old man.

Coburn is delightful as the millionaire; I'd dare to say that it's his best role ever, along with the one he played in "The More the Merrier". Jean Arthur plays much more a "human" character than a plain-comedic one and Bob Cummings is also very good as her boyfriend and the main "agitator", getting to play together a couple of very believable love scenes.

An excellent supporting cast includes among others, Spring Byington as Arthur's sweet friend and co-worker, Edmund Gwenn as the rather nasty Head of the Shoe Department and S.Z. Sakall as Coburn's butler.

Kudos to Norman Krasna for his excellent screenplay and for the handling of social issues regarding Labour, which are timeless and still very pertinent.

This film ought to be on DVD.