Everybody Does It

Fox's remake of their own 1939 comedy "Wife, Husband and Friend" (both versions produced and written by Nunnally Johnson, working from James M. Cain's story "Two Can Sing") is a faltering marital comedy which generally fails to stay the course. Paul Douglas is wonderful as a newly-discovered baritone singer who ends up on the concert stage under an alias, however society wife Celeste Holm (who fancies herself a professional soprano) treats her working-stiff spouse like a cuckold, and allows her pretentious mother to openly patronize him. When Holm finally hears Douglas sing at a party, she becomes furious and leaves him; Douglas' response is to get drunk and disappear for four days. Johnson certainly had the makings of great comic material here--and the perfect leading man in Douglas--but he allows the principals to come apart too easily, and spends too much underlining Holm's irrational nature. As such, the finale (meant to bring the marrieds back together) is self-defeating. **1/2 from ****

Most viewers who discover this totally-unexpected satirical 'send-up" of opera, social snobbery and several other human pursuits simply find it hilarious. I love it because of the inexorable logic of its line-of-development--and because its humor is so infectious. This is adult humor, not compulsive misbehaviors being committed by parodies of human character (as in too-many TV "sitcoms" and badly-scripted comedies); here everyone tries his/her best and does pretty well considering that the scheme of things" is against them all. Doris Borland, played charmingly by Celeste Holm,, is married to nice-guy wrecker Paul Douglas, who has a partner, Millard Mitchell. Her parents, Charles Coburn and especially Lucile Watson, encourage her singing aspirations; Dougals as Leonard Borland isn't interested. The final shove to the family's already-tilting applecart--her side is wealthy, he just runs a business--occurs when Douglas discovers that he has a magnificent operatic singing voice. Encouraged by gorgeous Linda Darnell, a singer herself, and coached for stardom, Douglas reveals his talent to his astounded in-laws and his furious wife; then he goes onstage for his debut--only to be undone by unforeseeable bad luck. The entire script's development, from a James M. Cain story via Nunnally Johnson and director Edmund Goulding, derives every bit of humor possible from what is fundamentally a two-line joke about upper-class snobbery and lower-class down-to-earth realism. Kay Nelson's costumes are unusually fine; the competent music is by Afred Newman. But this is an actors' film. Douglas and Mitchell are wonderful together and separately; Darnell is lovely and right for a difficult part; Holm nearly steals the film by her ladylike reactions to goings on; Coburn and Watson add to the proceedings, as always. Others in the cast are John Hoyt as a music professor, fine actor George Tobias and Leon Belasco. The climactic scene of the film, Leonard Borland's operatic debut, is probably worth the price of admission alone. But the ending, which I won't reveal, is arguably the perfect commentary on the entire experience everyone has suffered. I recommend this humorous surprise of a film to everyone I know who isn't deceased--for the laughs.

This is one of the best post war comedies. The performance of Paul Douglas is perfect against Linda Darnell. It has been said that Celeste Holm had to learn how not to sing, in order that she carry out this role.

One of the all time sleeper... I cant tell you how super this little movie is. But it is a super LITTLE movie. What was called a B movie. What a laugh. The problem is its out of print and its not shown on TV any more... Paul Douglas is a man with a rich wife. He runs a wrecking company in NY and his wife wants to sing on stage. So he has to rent a hall and force all his friend to buy tickets. And she cant sang. At a party at the rich in-laws, he sings and breaks the mirror. Wonderful. But the wife is fit to be tied because she didn't know he has an opera quality voice. So she goes home first and gets a golf club out and stands on a chair in the dark to club him as he comes in. One of the ladies at the party is an opera singer and wants to get it own with him and talks him into taking lessons to refine his voice so she can take him on the road with her. But he is reluctant but does it lying to his wife about what city he is in and that he is looking for wrecking business. And then the big chance at the Met. He is a little sick and everyone gives him "their" best medicine to fix him up but it only cause him to become drunk.. and then he goes on stage..drunk..but it is what the wife needed to see, him in trouble in front of the world...The production is first rate as is the script and acting. Just a wonderful little movie. I have my TIVO set on Paul Douglas to see if I can catch this little movie and for the last 15 months no luck...but I will keep trying.

Paul Douglas is magnificent communicating his frustrations trying to placate his headstrong and self-deluded wife -- portrayed marvelously by Celeste Holm -- who persists in pursuing singing endeavors despite everybody's best efforts to let her know that she just doesn't quite have the talent. Enter sumptuous diva Linda Darnell with designs on ruggedly handsome (!?!) Douglas -- especially when she learns, to everyone's surprise, that he has a powerful voice. Charles Coburn and Lucile Watson lead an immensely talented supporting cast. The script delivers sophisticated yet rapid-fire wit while the direction conveys all the nuances perfectly, but still manages to deliver a couple of belly-laughs. I highly recommend watching Everybody Does It.