As I pointed out in this thread (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033533/board/thread/166627387?d=166641118 &p=1#166641118), it is my opinion that poor Mr. Coburn was robbed. He was a solid lead in my opinion and I find it really sad that he was billed, instead, as a supporting cast member.
What do you think?
I agree! He carries the whole movie, it is his point of voice from which the story is told.
shareI think his character is undoubtedly the lead in the film however Jean Arthur was a marquee name that would guarantee people would go see the film.
Charles Coburn was a great character actor but did not have the box office pull that a leading man of his era had.
Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn and Joel MacRae make an excellent trio in "The More the Merrier" (1943). If you liked them in this one, that ones also great.
Woohoo! I already had that in my DVD queue at Netflix, guess I'll bump that one up. That's exciting too, because I love all three of them.
Thanks for sharing!
Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O
Ironically, I only watched it BECAUSE Coburn was in it. I was delighted to see that his third billing was just studio nonsense and that his character was the main character in the film. No offense to Robert Cummings but...well...it's just Robert Cummings.
Take a look at The More The Merrier. One of those "three-lead" movies and obviously Joel McCrea gets higher status than Charles Coburn. Ironically, the remake, Walk Don't Run, has Cary Grant in the Charles Coburn role. You can bet that role got top billing in the remake.
Now when it came Academy time, I've actually seen all 8 movies that had actors nominated for best actor and supporting actor. As much as I like him, I don't think Coburn had a chance in either category.
That's the same movie oldmotem suggested, above. I'm looking forward to it! Also, I added the remake that you told me about. It'll be interesting to see them both.
Thanks for the comments! :)
Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O
I had the misfortune to see Walk Don't Run first. The More The Merrier is infinitely better. Incidentally, with Walk Don't Run it became obvious that he simply wasn't young enough to be a lead again. Grant's feelings were if he couldn't be a lead, he was done. True to his word, he didn't act again (20 years).
One of many problems with Walk Don't Run is that the role is made for a Charles Coburn type. No matter what age Grant was, he was charismatic, a ladies man, etc... NOT a Charles Coburn type. So the role was slightly changed and some campy (or lame) '60's humor is thrown in and the film suffers for it. Hopefully you haven't seen Walk Don't Run yet and I just helped you save two hours of your life ;-)