The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)

My Review

“The Man Who Came to Dinner” is a screwball comedy about a radio critic who slips and falls while visiting at the home of an Ohio family, and insists on recuperating in their house over the Christmas holiday. Director William Keighley (“Brother Rat” 1938) successfully adapted this film from a 1939 stage play of the same name. Screenwriters Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein put together a witty and fast-moving movie, not a dull moment in the 112 minute running time.

The cast includes Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Wooley, Jimmy Durante, Billie Burke, Reginald Gardner, Richard Travis, Grant Mitchell, Elisabeth Fraser, John Ridgely, and Russell Arms and Mary Wickes in their motion picture debuts. The laughs come hot and heavy in “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” a solid box office hit for producer Hal B. Wallis and Warner Bros. Pictures.