Thoroughly despised Whiteside


I understand what his character was supposed to be however I found the character to be repulsive. The Stanley's were a perfectly nice couple and he did nothing but meddle in their affairs from the moment he tripped himself on their front steps. The character was a complete jerk who treated everyone with contempt and rudeness yet everyone was expected to treat him with kid gloves. How Sarah & John (the maid & butler) thought he was nice is beyond me. Bette Davis' Maggie was wasted and Ann Sheridan's Lorraine was over-the-top. I found it hard to believe Bert was so naive that he didn't know what Lorraine was intending. As for the way Sherry blackmailed Mr. Stanley made me want to slap him senseless.

I've been wanting to see this but now that I have, I wish I hadn't. Davis is still one of my favorites but I'll be skipping this from now on.

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"A transplanted Rebel" Vicki

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I think Mr. Stanley showed his true colors by the way he dismissively spoke to his wife and the way he attempted to dominate his children's lives. Sarah and John were always treated well by Whiteside so there is no reason they shouldn't like him, and if the Stanley's were such excellent bosses, they wouldn't have been so willing to lead. I agree Better Davis was wasted, but at the time she was on a down more in her career and took what she could get. Ann Sheridan was deliberately over the top as she was doing a bit of "Gertrude Lawrence" as a parody of the Broadway diva. I don't think Whiteside is supposed to be a figure to admire, rather it's play intrudes that public figures who are revered are a bit different behind the scenes.

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Bette Davis was at the peak of her career in 1942 at her home studio. She took the role because she wanted a change from the usual overly bad or overly good characters she generally portrayed. She handed the movie to Sheridan just as she handed "The Great Lie" to Mary Astor.

The decline in her box-office would not arrive for a few more years.

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Ohhh! Then that explains Miss Davis' willingness to lurk in the backdrop even with top billing - I see.

Monte is generally a major draw even in a small role - and he makes you keep wondering how much hotter he'd look without that beard - but here - his character takes a turn for extreme selfish, repulsive, cringe-worthiness.

In fact, they waste plenty of famous and very talented performers in this very stagy, irritating and thoughtless script - which casts a negative light on Classic Hollywood. - Just glance back through that cast list to see how many otherwise great actresses and actors are lost when you forget that they're actually in the cast because most of the annoyance focuses upon Ann and Monte at their very worst.

Oh well - I'd have to avoid another revisit also - but then there's Richard Travis - who really looks hot at every turn.

Miss Davis does turn in a couple of good readings here - especially the one beginning with that "Shall I say this" line - but at times you even forget that she's headlining this horrid film - which may be the other reason for her exiting rooms and hiding off stage a good bit of the time, right?

 Mellow Salutations!

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I do agree with you overall. I'm always at odds when I see this film because it's hilarious but, as you said, Whitehead is insufferable. No one deserves him as a houseguest. Of course he's not intended as an endearing character, but still...

There always was a bit too much of New York snobbery and elitism in the script as well. The premise of putting all these sophisticated 1940's New Yorkers - and not just any New Yorkers but the kind you might find at the Algonquin or having cocktails at the Bennett Cerfs' - into a Small Town American home can't help but sneer a bit at the provincial ways of the local rubes. At least it always struck me that way.

But still, I always enjoy it.

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"There always was a bit too much of New York snobbery and elitism in the script as well."

Meh. It played well here. I am no fan of snobbery and elitism, but sometimes it can be played for comic effect. I am not a fan of provincialism, either.

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I agree on the whole. I've never quite been able to understand why the servants liked him. i think my favourite bit is where the nurse walks out on him.

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Whiteside does not suffer fools. He seems to despise phonies (Mr. & Mrs. Stanley, the doctor with his book, etc) and treats them accordingly.

Based on the way Mr. Stanley treats his family, it's safe to assume his employees are probably not treated/compensated as well as they should be. The cook and maid seem like decent well-meaning people, they'll do better employed by Whiteside.

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Since whiteside treats the nurse so badly though, i wonder why he is assumed to treat his servants well. it doesn't seem very consistent.

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Not sure about any service staff he has back in NYC, probably none since he hires the Stanley's former maid and cook.

As for the treatment of the nurse, I assumed he was so rude to her because she got on his nerves. Unlike the other staff, Stanley children, etc she and the doctor are constantly in his face. He treats the doctor as badly as he does the nurse, but the poor guy is too dense to figure it out.

Plus, in being nice to the staff and children, Whiteside scores bonus irk points against Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, so there is that.

As for consistently, Whiteside is very snarky to everyone, which some people can't process well.

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I understand what his character was supposed to
be however I found the character to be repulsive.


Man, do I agree with this sentence 100%. For me, I blame Monty Woolley. There are certain characters in films that you can love to hate, but I hated to hate Whitside. I kept having a "oh great him again" attitude everytime he showed up. He had absolutely no charisma. I could picture somebody like a Walter Huston in the role who could have done a better job.

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Well, I feel I disagree with you about the Stanley's being a nice couple; I see them as small-minded, small-town Babbitt's (him much more than her), unaware of the world around them and tremendously self-centered, not to mention snobbish.

The Stanley's may or may not be intelligent, but they've chosen to be uneducated outside their own bordered world. When the Chinese delegation are sitting down in the dining room, it's Whiteside who zeroes in on Mr. Stanley's prejudices by mentioning this delegation had visited the White House, where they were allowed to use the bathroom. (For a more recent use of the non-white-using-a-private-bathroom trope take a look at the 2011 film The Help.)

As to the maid and the butler, Whiteside was extremely nice to them as he appreciated their professional skills and manner, and took an interest in them as individuals as well. We aren't shown much of how the Stanley's treated their staff, but I suspect the word to be used would be "snobbishly", which is never a pleasant experience.

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