Customer Reviews

Tom; Dick & Harry

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What kind of movie do you like to have on hand for repeated viewings? The answer to that question will determine whether or not buying Tom, Dick, and Harry would be a good idea. I have a fairly extensive film library, but I don't watch the films with equal regularity. Many acclaimed films like Citizen Kane collect dust. They're too serious, too challenging. I watch repeatedly those films I found entertaining when I saw them for the first time. Some are acclaimed: African Queen, Singing in the Rain. Others are simply entertaining. Tom, Dick, and Harry belongs in this third category. While not a great film, it is a great movie to have on hand for repeated viewings. It is amusing, engaging, and thoroughly delicious. It's one of my favorites. I do watch it often and am glad I own it.

Paul Jarrico wrote this in 1941, ten years before he was blacklisted for "taking the Fifith" before HUAC, but that's the history hook for me. Jarrico said he had intended this as political satire, but in later life thought it was actually a romantic comedy. I found the story a piece of delightful froth and there was a message if you look for it.

Janie (Ginger Rogers), a perky telephone exchange operator, has the choice of three men to marry;

Tom (George Murphy) the upwardly mobile middle-class go-getter,
Dick (Alan Marshall) the urbane rich man and
Harry (Burgess Meredith) a poor but streetwise noncomformist.

The film has fantasy comic dream sequences where Janie acts out married life with all three men. In the end Janie makes her choice and if you understand Jarrico's view of life you can guess which one she drives off with. The interplay between the three men for Janie's hand was bright and funny and Jarrico is consistent with his perspective in showing that poverty does not rob a man of wit or smarts.

It was interesting for me to see Ginger Rogers with an energetic screen image indepenent from a Fred Astire dance partner.
I was surprised to see Phil Sivers, the pushy ice cream seller at lovers' point, showing much of his ensuing "Sargeant Bilko" sparkle - a TV show that Paul AND his wife Silvia wrote for as well.

Take the film as 1941 style humor any enjoy it for what it is.

girl next door. She's willing too but hung up on three guys. Tom (George Murphy) is a hard working stiff, ambitious, a good provider but a bore. Harry (Burgess Meredith) is not boring, he's fun somewhat unreliable & poor. Dick (Alan Marshall) is simply incredibly rich. Dates & a dream sequence ensues with each & I wondered for a time who'd she'd pick. Every time I see Ginger Rodgers I like her better without that dancing fool. Fourth review without a spoiler. Nice going, but pretty obvious.

As a long-time fan of Ginger Rogers, I was extremely disappointed in this film. Ginger plays Janie, a telephone operator searching for the man of her dreams. In her desperate search for the perfect husband she accepts the proposals of three different men. The character of Janie is written and played as a shallow, empty-headed girl who is obviously meant to be much younger than Ginger's nearly 30 years. Given that Ginger played such smart, sophisticated women in her earlier work, this performance is particularly jarring and the script is clearly not worthy of her talents.

Janie's suitors are largely one-dimensional and uninteresting. George Murphy plays Tom, a stable, boring, upwardly-mobile car salesman. Alan Marshal plays the terribly underdeveloped role of the playboy millionaire, Dick. One never really gets a sense of what his character is all about. The one good thing about this film is Burgess Meredith, playing the carefree and charming mechanic Harry. Although one doesn't usually think of Burgess Meredith as a heartthrob, he truly steals the film and made me believe in him as a leading man.