The Man Who Came to Dinner: William Keighley

My biggest problem with William Keighley's The Man Who Came to Dinner isn't the problematic character of Sheridan Whiteside, a blusterous, self-centered radio personality who becomes confined to an Ohio household after slipping on their front porch one winter. Instead, it's the fact that the entire plot could have been resolved in one scene with one sentence. Allow me to explain. After Whiteside assumes a tyrannical control over the hapless Stanley household, the main focus of the film is on his attempts to foil the budding relationship between his assistant Maggie Cutler (Bette Davis) and local newspaperman Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis). At one point Whiteside brings in a bombshell actress named Lorraine Sheldon (Ann Sheridan) to seduce Bert. But Maggie wisely manages to get one of her friends to impersonate Lorraine's suitors over the phone and propose, thereby forcing her to leave Ohio. However, Whiteside discovers the plot and gleefully demolishes Maggie's ploy. Here's the problem: this all happens in a single room with Maggie, Lorraine, and Whiteside grouped together. Why doesn't Maggie just honestly tell Lorraine that Whiteside is manipulating her for his own selfish ends? I'll tell you why: the creators wrote themselves into a corner and had to keep the usually outspoken Maggie silent so she wouldn't break the plot in two like a dried twig. And that sums up a good portion of the film's philosophy: mad-cap absurdity for the sake of mad-cap absurdity. The antics might not be plausible, but we are so far beyond the realm of the plausible that it doesn't matter. The film is still solid fun. Whiteside is a great villain that you love to hate until he kinda sorta redeems himself. Of course, the film is definitely a product of its time. The Man Who Came to Dinner operates under the assumption that sexual assault is hilarious and that rubes deserve to be taken advantage of. Keighley's direction is also quite blasé, forcing the film to be carried by its writers and actors. But there still is enough in The Man Who Came to Dinner to warrant a recommendation.

7/10