Easy Living (1937) User Reviews

Jean Arthur, Preston Sturges and Mitchell Leisen make a fine, funny screwball comedy

[Terrell-4 · 8/10 · 3 June 2008]

When an expensive sable coat, thrown from a penthouse balcony by Wall Street tycoon J. B. Ball (Edward Arnold), lands on the head of office clerk Mary Smith (Jean Arthur) while she's riding to work on the top deck of a city bus, we're off on a fine screwball comedy that nails class assumptions to the wall. (The wall being a fabulous suite of the Hotel Louis.) Ball, known as the Bull of Broad Street, threw the coat to spite his extravagant wife. Although it was a mistake, as soon as word gets around that Mary Smith has a coat from J. B. Ball, it's not long before people begin to assume that Mary must be the Bull's mistress. And although she loses her job, almost instantly all those who want a piece of the Bull are falling over themselves to make Mary happy. She winds up in the Hotel Louis in a suite that could only have been dreamed up by Hollywood designers. Clothes and jewels are delivered; a car and chauffeur show up. Mary is mystified by all this, but happily accepts. When she meets a young man who works at the automat, well...we know, of course, that the young man is Johnnie Ball (Ray Milland), son of J. B. Ball, and that he earlier had stormed out of the family mansion determined to prove he could be his own man. It all gets sorted out, but only after a new Depression may get started fueled by more loony assumptions.

Preston Sturges, who wrote the script, brings all the social satire and clever dialogue to Easy Living that he brought to the films he directed and wrote later. Mitchell Leisen, the director, gives the movie a sweet speed. The slapstick moments are like the whipped cream on top of the ice cream sundae. There is a food fight in the automat that is so witty and filled with pratfalls that it makes Animal House look like the work of...hmmm...juveniles.

Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold take above-the-title billing, and they make a compelling set of screwball actors. That Arnold's J. B. Ball is irascible is putting it gently. Yet Arnold makes the tycoon funny and human, and there's no doubt that he really cares for that wife of his. Jean Arthur, of course, makes the movie work. What a one-of-a-kind actress she was, with that air of surprised innocence and that vaguely husky voice with the hint of a squeak now and then. It's worth remembering that Jean Arthur, who was born in 1900, paid her dues in more than 50 silent films, movies with titles like Biff Bang Buddy, Bigger and Better Blondes, and Twisted Triggers. She was 35 when she hit major stardom and stayed at the top through her last movie, Shane, in 1953. That innocent sexiness, acting skill, instant likability and that voice allowed her to consistently play 10 to 20 years younger than her age. For me, Jean Arthur at 53 and playing Marian Starrett, a woman probably 20 years younger, is the real center of Shane. She gives a deep reality to what all those homesteaders stand for. And she, without saying a word, is what motivates Ladd as Shane to do what he must do. In my opinion, Arthur gives the best performance in the movie. That's something you can say about almost every movie Jean Arthur was in.

And let's not forget some fine character actors who help make Easy Living as funny as it is. Among them is Mary Nash as the Bull's wife, who really does love J. B. (as he does her). By the end of the movie we like them both a lot; Luis Alberni as Mr. Louis Louis of the Hotel Louis, who is energetically ethnic; Franklin Pangborn as Van Buren, the prissy (of course) proprietor of an exclusive hat shop; William Demarest as Wallace Whistling, gossip reporter; Esther Dale as the Bull's unimpressed and decidedly matronly secretary; and Robert Greig as Graves, the portly, imperturbable butler in the Ball household. They all have a chance to shine, and shine they do.

A zany wacky kind of 1930's film

[timmauk · 7/10 · 19 June 2001]

Just saw this one recently and loved it. Any film with Jean Arthur in it and you can't go wrong. Though there aren't alot of her films available. This Preston Sturges film is one of her/his best.

From the beginning we are entangled in a Cinderella like story that starts when working girl Mary(Arthur) gets hit in the puss by a flying Sable coat. Then she gets swept away by good fortune, OR so it seems.

Billionaire(Edward Arnold) gets fed up with his family spending. When his wife(Mary Nash) gets another fur coat, that is the final straw! Off the balcony goes the coat and down several flights to our Mary on a bus.

Getting mixed up in the proceedings is a young Ray Milland as the Billionaire's son. Full of crazy supporting characters and a zany script, this is a very funny film for those who like screwball comedies. Give it a try and I'm sure that you'll love it.

A great screwball comedy written by Preston Sturges

[pontifikator · 8/10 · 18 October 2012]

A great screwball comedy written by Preston Sturges, who went on to direct many screwball comedies. "Easy Living" was directed by Mitchell Leisen, who directed a huge number of movies in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and a significant number of TV shows in the 50s and 60s.

"Easy Living" stars Jean Arthur as our lead; she's one of my favorite comedy actors, and she really shines in this movie. She's cast opposite both Edward Arnold and Ray Milland as her love interests in the typical screwball fashion of mistaken identities, mistaken situations, and mistake after mistake of epic proportions leading to a stock market meltdown and true love. Although Sturges didn't direct, we see the beginnings of his stable of actors with roles by Franklin Pangborn, Robert Greig, and William Demarest.

The gist of the story is that Mary Smith (Arthur), a working girl with nary a dime to spare (it was 1937, after all), is walking to the bus stop when she's hit in the head by a very expensive fur coat thrown from his penthouse by the very wealthy investment banker J.B. Ball (Arnold) in a snit over the expenditures of his wife. A kindly man when not having a snit, J.B. takes her to a store to get another hat (hers broke when it by the fur) and gives her the fur. She's fired from her job because a man gave her a fur, she's taken into a deluxe hotel owned by J.B. because the manager assumes she's his mistress, and she befriends J.B.'s son John (Milland -- at last a last name that's not a first name!), not knowing he's J.B.'s son. Because both are "Mr. Ball," she commits unwitting mayhem on the stock market by passing on young John's utterly unexpert comments on the market to a reporter who also thinks she's J.B.'s mistress relaying J.B.'s sage advice.

It's a very funny comedy. Sturges and Leisen both hit their respective nails on the head with great writing and direction. The supporting cast is superb in adding to and creating mix-ups galore. A glaring difference between A movies and B is the quality of the supporting cast, and that difference shows very much in "Easy Living."

wonderful

[tobybarlowny · 9/10 · 21 December 2005]

This is a classic, with one of the great slapstick scenes of all time (in an automat) and wonderful innuendo and great timing throughout the film. Jean Arthur is a splendid comedienne, just lighting up the screen with a wry innocence, and Ray Milland is perfectly cast as someone a little debonair, a little too bourgeois, but ultimately quite charming. Finally, Edward Arnold is a lot of fun to watch as he chews up the scenery. As a long time fan of Preston Sturges who was quite happy to see "Miracle at Morgan Creek" finally released on DVD, I have to say, it is A CRIME that this little gem isn't available on DVD, just ridiculous.

An Expensive Gift On A Mystery Woman

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 1 August 2009]

According to a recent biography of Jean Arthur, Easy Living only got a so-so reception from the movie-going public of 1937. Today it is rightly regarded as a screwball comedy classic from the era that invented and defined that genre. The miracle was that it got made at all.

Jean Arthur was obligated to Columbia Pictures and the dictatorial Harry Cohn and she was allowed to make outside films. But Cohn determined when and where. So Easy Living may have been a great fit for her, but it didn't fit into his plans. Jean had to go to court before the film was made and a settlement was reached.

Easy Living also gave an outlet for some unknown comic talents of Edward Arnold who usually played some serious villains in films. Arnold is a Wall Street investment tycoon whose every bit of noise be it wisdom or flatulence is recorded for posterity. One day in fit of pique against his spendthrift wife Mary Nash and wastrel son Ray Milland, Arnold throws a most expensive mink coat from out the townhouse window and on to a passing working woman in Jean Arthur. He tells her to keep the thing and count her good fortune. But folks are in the habit of recording Arnold's every move, including one bestowing an expensive gift on a mystery woman.

That starts about 90 minutes of non-stop hilarity in which the very foundations of our financial institutions are rocked due ultimately everyone misconstruing a relationship between Arnold and Arthur. One does get going however with Arthur and Milland when she finds him working at an automat because Arnold's dared him to get a job. That ends in an incredible burst of hilarity, you think Animal House had a great food fight, check the one in Easy Living out.

Directed by Mitchell Leisen and written by Preston Sturges, Easy Living has all the earmarks of a Preston Sturges directed movie, in fact Sturges's stock company was somewhat assembled here if you look down the supporting players. My favorite is Luis Alberni whose white elephant of a hotel finally gets going due to some accidental rumors.

We're the richer for Easy Living being made even if Jean Arthur had to take Harry Cohn to court to do it.

Glossy comedy, typical of the 1930's.

[Cajun-4 · 14 November 2000]

Although EASY LIVING makes no claim to realism it does somehow capture the flavor of New York in the thirties.

Directed by Mitchell Leisen from a screenplay by Preston Sturges it has all the hallmarks of Leisen's style, the gleaming, high style sets, the magnificent cathedral ceilinged apartments and also, unfortunately the tendency to allow scenes to run on just a little too long. The slapstick scene in the automat is a prime example, just a few pratfalls too many. If Sturges directed as well as written the film might not have been as sumptuous looking bit I think it would have been tighter.

Minor details however, the film is a delight, especially Jean Arthur and a very capable supporting cast giving it their professional all.

Highly recommended.

Fur Flying

[Lejink · 6/10 · 13 June 2017]

Another enjoyable screwball comedy from Hollywood's Golden Age, written by soon-to-be writer-director extraordinaire Preston Sturges and starring the always watchable Jean Arthur and the beginnings of Sturges' stock supporting cast. Edward Arnold gives his usual blustering performance as the Warren Buffet-type financier who sets off an unlikely chain of events when in a fit of pique he throws his wife's most recent expensive fur coat purchase out the window of their penthouse apartment right onto the head of ordinary average gal, Arthur, with a suitably every-woman type name of Mary Smith.

Coincidence follows coincidence and misunderstanding isn't far behind either as, suspected of being the rich old grandee's young mistress, she sees herself elevated to the executive suite of a swank hotel which needs a favour from Arnold's J B Ball character. At an automat where rather like buffet restaurants today, you pick, pay and collect your meal of choice, she encounter's Ball's son, slumming it in a day-job to prove his independence from his father. Played by a very young Ray Milland, unsurprisingly they become romantically entwined and from there the film rolls along uproariously to a happy ever after conclusion and a cheeky throwback in the final scene to the original catalyst for all the craziness that followed.

Likeable as it is I wouldn't put in the top-bracket of its type. There are few killer one-liners and much of the humour is of the slapstick variety, fine for the riotous automat scene but less so when it's repeated at the final denouement in Ball's office. Sturges' identifiable traits of overlapping dialogue, outrageous chance events and lots of physical humour are all present and correct but require more finessing than they get here. Arnold and Arthur are fine but Milland mugs and pratfalls too much. Director Mitchell Leisen does so with flair, keeping up with the fast-moving action, although for me there was probably too much of it in this particular movie.

Another wonderful movie featuring Edward Arnold.

[PWNYCNY · 9/10 · 3 May 2008]

This is an amusing, entertaining Hollywood antique featuring a number of actors who became Hollywood icons such as Jean Arthur, Ray Milland, and Edward Arnold. Before Ed Asner there was Edward Arnold. Mr. Arnold was one of the greatest actors in Hollywood history. His performances were consistently great and through him a weak script became good and good script great. He was one of those actors who dominated the screen and could play a wide range of roles opposite some of the most famous Hollywood players. As for Jean Arthur, she specialized in a style of acting that established a precedent for Lucille Ball, except that Ms. Arthur did not have to act goofy. Movies from the 1930s were made in a certain style that was unique to that period. Black-and-white, simple, engaging, upbeat stories, lots of action, and optimistic about life - all this during the Great Depression. This is another Preston Sturges gem and definitely is worth watching.

Delightful screwball comedy with Sturges at his best...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 22 April 2008]

JEAN ARTHUR as a down on her luck secretary (who pays $7 a week for an apartment) is suddenly blessed with a luxurious hotel suite and a sable coat thanks to the whims of fate in this delightful '30s-era comedy co-starring EDWARD ARNOLD (a bit too bombastic for my taste) and RAY MILLAND (charming and debonair as the romantic lead).

Arthur has never been more personable and inhabits her role with a good deal of personal charm and warmth, perhaps attributable to director Mitchel Leisen who always seems to coax good performances from his female stars. (Claudette Colbert in "Midnight", Carole Lombard in "Hands Across the Table", Olivia de Havilland in "Hold Back the Dawn" and "To Each His Own", Barbara Stanwyck in "No Man of Her Own".) Arnold is a hot tempered man who throws a fur coat over the rooftop during an argument with his frivolous wife (MARY NASH), a coat that lands on top of Jean Arthur, riding in a double-decker bus in New York City. The plot thickens when a hotel owner (LUIS ALBERNI) facing bankrupt with his fancy but vacant building, decides that Arthur will be the perfect publicity gimmick since he believes she was given the coat because of an affair with Arnold. He allows her to reside in a luxurious suite (Leisen goes a bit overboard on set decoration here), and therein the fun begins. Seems he has a rich playboy son who is just as down on his luck as Arthur is and is working in an automat, the kind of fast food restaurant that existed in NYC during the '30s and '40s.

In fact, the automat scene, where Milland finds a way to give Arthur a free meal, is expertly staged with every pratfall so perfectly executed that it remains the highlight of the film. But even after this highlight, the film never lets up in pace and is irresistible entertainment for fans of screwball comedy. Among the standouts in the supporting cast are FRANKLIN PANGBORN and WILLIAM DEMAREST, actors director Leisen would use to great effect in other comedies.

Edward Arnold tends to overact the part of the wealthy hot-tempered tycoon, but everyone else has a fine time with the witty lines and situations. Highly recommended, brisk and very amusing, with Arthur in one of her most appealing roles.

A great screwball comedy

[in2flyingfilms · 10/10 · 31 July 2005]

Easy Living ranks among the funniest screwball comedies of all time. It is Preston Sturges at his best with manic energies and surprising twists galore. This delightfully original comedy of misunderstandings pays homage to Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Sheridan with a touch of P.G. Wodehouse thrown in for good measure. All of the characters, even the peripheral ones, are richly rendered with motivations we can instantly understand and empathize with. The principals -- Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, and Ray Milland -- are perfectly cast and have a field day with their roles. Arthur in particular is adorable as, bewildered but good hearted, she deals with an inexplicable turn of events that throws her life upside down. Just as exquisitely acted are the supporting roles of legendary character actors like Luis Alberni and Franklin Pangborn. The net result is an uproarious film that makes you laugh all over again when you think of it after the fact.

Nice Screwball Comedy - Easy Living

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 1 August 2019]

I generally do not care for average screwball comedies; they are too much like slapstick comedy; a little bit is fine, but an hour and a half of it becomes a bit tedious. This film, however, holds up for the hour and change because of the wonderful performances of Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, and Ray Milland. When that trio is at the top of their game, you are bound to have a good film. The only weakness in the film is the direction, which is a bit heavy-handed and unnecessarily over the top. The pace of the film is about 100 mph, which is fine if you are short on time. However, there are so many good moments in the film that should have been stretched out, and some opportunities for genuine character exploration were lost. Arthur's character, however, is wonderfully developed, thanks to screenwriter Sturges, who is one of the best. He does have trouble, however, trying to gain sympathy for the rich and spoiled. We are really happier when Arnolds' character, Mr. Ball, is losing his shirt. We have almost zero empathy for Arnold;s spoiled wife, and only a tad more empathy for his son, whom Milland plays to the hilt. The rich and snooty are amusing only for a few moments at a time, and then their wealth becomes a point of annoyance. Fortunately, Arthur is there to pull us back into the world of the everyday man, and the film succeeds despite its ridiculous pacing.

Sentiment plus Sophistication

[Stracke · 9/10 · 11 January 1999]

One of the best film moments of the 1930s occurs just after the beginning of the film when wealthy J. B. Ball, exasperated by his spoiled family's spending habits, tosses the wife's new sable coat from a window high in their 5th Avenue mansion. As if with a mind set on its own destiny, the falling coat spreads out on the air and lands like an enchanted parachute on the head of the Mary Smith, the working girl who will be our main character (Jean Arthur), and who is riding on the upper deck of a double-decker bus. What is a double-decker doing in New York City? No one asks; the coat just does its magic and the enchanted plot is underway. Best of all, screenwriter Sturges balances the magic and sentimentality with his usual crisp, witty, no-nonsense approach to dialogue and character. This "yin / yang" harmony is similar to what he achieved in directing "Sullivan's Travels."

cute

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 20 December 2013]

Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, and Ray Milland star in "Easy Living," a 1937 comedy written by Preston Sturges and directed by Mitchell Leisen.

It's a funny premise: furious with his wife (Mary Nash) for spending so much money, J.B. Ball, a Wall Street financier, throws his wife's sable coat over their terrace. It lands on Mary Smith (Arthur), who works at a magazine for young boys. As she attempts to return the coat, Arnold rushes outside and insists that she keep it, and then gives her a ride to her office, stopping along the way to get her a hat to match the coat. When her employer disbelieves her story of how she came by the coat, she lies and says she purchased it in a store. He calls the store. She did not buy it there for $152.00. Assuming that her moral code is not up to the magazine's standards, she's fired.

Mary has no money for rent and not much for food, but her luck is about to change. The hat merchant spreads the word that J.B. Ball is supporting her, and she's offered a magnificent suite in a struggling hotel, with the hope that J.B. will bring more people to it. She's offered clothing, jewels -- she has no idea why.

Meanwhile, Ball's son (Milland) is trying to make good on his own and is working at the automat, when he meets Mary and, thinking she's rich, tries to flirt with her. After a long slapstick scene during which the automat is just about destroyed, he loses his job and she brings him back to her place to get some rest. The situation goes from convoluted to more convoluted.

Very funny movie with maybe a little too much slapstick, but the acting is wonderful, especially from Arthur and Arnold, who are great. Ray Milland in his early films was very charming and had a light touch and is very enjoyable.

I don't actually consider this Sturges' best effort, but it is a fun movie and well worth seeing. And I loved seeing the automat.

Movie didn't live up to positive reviews

[mysterv · 5/10 · 3 April 2010]

I agree with the minority reviews that this film didn't quite click. Scenes were too long. The pratfalls too frequent. The plot and characters too flimsy. I found the hotel owner to be more irritating than amusing. Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold were solid but not great. Ray Milland did not make much of an impression. Franklin Pangborn probably was the highlight of the acting. I love slapstick but this film just didn't quite work for me. With all the talent in this film it should have been much much better. Read a couple of the less positive reviews which give more detail about the shortcomings of this film. Unfortunately they are right.

This film is magic

[argento-4 · 1 June 2000]

The pleasures of a Preston Sturges film are many, and even his poorest are miles above the competition. I know, you're saying that Mitchell Leisen directed this and that it was based on a play but after hearing that incredible dialogue and seeing those broadly drawn characters, imbued with a warmth not found in most comedies, you can't tell me that this isn't a Preston Sturges film. Sure, there is evidence of Leisen's restraining hand that you can't find in, say, Miracle of Morgan's Creek, but it's Sturges, all right. But for me, the real joy is seeing my favorite actress from this period, Jean Arthur, work with material, from my favorite writer from this period, Sturges. She fits this material so well that it is a shame they never worked together again. Another real strength is the work of the character roles, always so good in Sturges films and we see a few of the actors who will later become part of the 'Sturges stock company'. So, if you want hilarious situations, laugh-out-loud dialogue and strong comedic characters, I heartily recommend this great film.

A Fine Comedy by Mitchell Leisin and Preston Sturges

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 12 October 2006]

Although it has become part of a legendary case of sour grapes, EASY LIVING is one of the best "screwball" comedies of the 1930s. The plot is very easy - Jean Arthur is a working woman - the youngest editor at a boy's magazine - who is walking along Wall Street when she is hit by a falling object - a mink coat. It has been thrown off the balcony of a large office building, which is the headquarters of one J. B. Ball, "the bull of Wall Street". This is Edward Arnold, here doing a great spoof of all his tycoon parts. Arnold's wife (Mary Nash) bought the expensive coat without getting his permission (he's rich, but he does not want his family to get soft, and considers the mink a needless luxury). Arnold does not realize what happened when he threw out the mink. Besides angering Nash (who packs up and goes away threatening to divorce him), his blundering to try to get back the coat (to return it, of course) publicizes his connection to Arthur, so that soon people think Arnold gave the coat to Arthur (i.e., she's his mistress).

Arnold's son (Ray Milland) is actually trying to prove himself without any aid from Dad (he doesn't want to be a junior partner in the bank yet). So he is going through all sorts of jobs, with less than middling success. Arnold is not impressed - he can't figure out why his son is such a mediocre worker. Milland meets Arthur accidentally, when he is working in the auto-mat (which will lead to the best known sequence in the film). In the meantime, Arthur is approached by two men, Mr. Louis Louis (Luis Alberni) who is the owner of the Hotel Louis - the most glamorous hotel in the world - and Mr. E.F. Hulgar (Andrew Tombes) who is a leading stock investment adviser. Both men believe that Arthur is Arnold's mistress. Alberni wants Arthur to live in the Hotel for a pittance: he feels her presence may cause other socialites to use the hotel, which is facing bankruptcy. Tombes is willing to pay Arthur a fee if she hears anything (pertaining to rumors concerning Arnold's latest efforts to corner the steel market).

I won't go into the plot more, except that Sturges script has real fun about the unreality of Wall Street. Arnold's brilliant investment banker may plot a steel corner (which nearly backfires), but he has difficulty doing simple mathematics regarding fractions and percentages (the hopelessness in his face counting a percentage differential with his fingers is priceless!). Alberni, who was a hotel chef with grandiose ideas, can't see that building the world's greatest luxury hotel was not a good idea in the Depression (Sturges, by the way, based this idiocy on the building of the second, current, Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the early 1930s - it was a flop initially). That brilliant investment adviser, Mr. Hulgar (whose name is an obvious swipe at E.F.Hutton) pays for tips which are basically gossip, and passes these onto his customers.

Sturges (like Billy Wilder) would later make nasty comments about Leisin, both future directors claiming Leisin ruined their satire and spoofery in the films he directed from their scripts. As I mentioned elsewhere, Leisin was not as cynical as they were, but he certainly had a good sense of humor, and he had a sense of art composition (he had assisted Cecil B. De Mille as an art director in the early 1930s) that far outshone Sturges or Wilder. One looks at the suites of Hotel Louis and they are quite stunning. One can't imagine Sturges or Wilder doing as well with decor (although Sturges might have added some comic defect in it). In EASY LIVING, the best known sequence was added by Leisin - a piece of classic slapstick. In the middle of an argument with his bosses at the auto-mat, Milland causes the doors of all the windows containing food to open at one time without money being used to open them. Suddenly every bum and hobo in New York City runs in to grab free food, and food is being thrown around by fighting hobos covering everyone in sight.

Not a bad moment of comic cinema - and Preston Sturges was not responsible for it at all. Mitchell Leisin should be better known today for his best films. He was not as great as Wilder or Sturges but he was not a hack.

Jean Arthur and all is right with the world.

[dstanwyck · 10/10 · 5 September 2015]

She's a little bit of heaven right here on this crazy territory called earth. She sails and soars and delights - her glances, her shyness, her awkwardness in love, the voice of a skylark. Perhaps you can tell: I'm a little bit in love with Jean Arthur (and Ingrid Bergman - but she's not here at the moment). For me, in the realm of screwball comedy, no one compares. Loy and Colbert and Russell (when she's not hamming it up) and Lombard (when she doe not over use her importuning screech) are all fine and wonderful and Jim Dandy - but I'm not in love with them. All that romance aside - this is a delightful film of absurdity. Or screwballism, I guess you might say if you wanted to coin a word. From mink coats dropping from rooftops onto the head of a passerby in a double-decker bus (and I remember them from when I was a kid in the very city it takes place) and automat pies (I remember them, too) and luxury hotel rooms for your dreamy pleasure and Edward Arnold bellowing and blustering as only he can (never even nominated for an Academy Award! Him and Ed. G Robinson and Myrna Loy for that matter. Now that's really absurd!) Mitchell Liesen was an under-rated director. And Franklin Pangborn and Mary Nash (not evil for a change) and Ray Milland just beginning his foray into light-weight comedy and good at it, too. These movies don't have to make sense; there is too much of that going on in a world that is totally nonsensical. Laugh out loud and bring out the popcorn and give your favorite squeeze a squeeze. Amen!

Clothes maketh the woman.

[brogmiller · 7/10 · 28 October 2022]

Not to be confused with 'Easy Living' from 1949(definitely not) this is scripted by Preston Sturges from a story by Vera Caspary. Sturges was finally given the chance to direct three years later and here the proceedings are managed by Mitchell Leisen, variously referred to as 'the hairdresser director' and an 'interior decorator'. He had begun as an art and costume designer and although not a director of the first rank, he recognised the potential of Sturges' script and must be credited with incorporating the slapstick that punctuates the verbal humour, especially in the inventive food riot scene in the Automat.

Paramount's glossy production values are again exemplified by Ted Tetzlaff's cinematography and the costumes of Travis Banton whilst the splendid sets, particularly the stadium sized Imperial Suite, are by Hans Dreier and Ernst Fegté.

The magnificent Edward Arnold as the aptly named 'Bull of Broad Street' goes from one financial fit to another and is in keeping with Sturges' belief that 'millionaires are funny'. His son is played by Paramount contract player Ray Milland, required only to be engaging at this stage of his career but possessing that indefinable something extra. Supporting players William Demarest, Robert Greig and Franklin Pangbourn were to become members of Sturges' stock company.

Suffice to say the lynchpin or what one critic has referred to as 'the eye of the storm' is the wondrous Jean Arthur whose character's rise from rags to riches would be echoed by that of Claudette Colbert in 'Midnight' for the same director. Miss Arthur had no less than six films released between 1936 and 1937 and is on loan here to Paramount. An immensely appealing artiste whose combination of shyness, subdued sexuality, inimitable voice and razor sharp comedy timing mark her out as one of Hollywoodland's finest.

Apart from Miss Arthur, the film's fascination actually lies in its being the precursor of what was to come from Sturges as writer and director and in this, to quote film historian David Thomson, 'we feel his naughty hand treating the stock market like a wobbling blancmange'.

Perfect combination for a smash hit comedy

[SimonJack · 10/10 · 2 May 2014]

"Easy Living" is one of several outstanding film comedies that had a perfect combination of screenplay, direction and actors. This is an early brilliant and witty script by Preston Sturges. It has numerous scenes with running dialogs of witty and funny lines. And, when the dialog dies down, it's punctuated by slapstick, mayhem or sight gags that leave viewers roaring with laughter. What a marvelous film with multiple scenes of repartee and malapropisms.

Jean Arthur shows once again why she was considered one of the finest comediennes who ever lived. Her Mary Smith is a likable, somewhat naïve character who is just right for the exchanges with a host of opportunists. She never really knows what all the fuss is about, or what others are talking about. None of the main characters know what all the opportunists think they know, so this bounces along from one hilarious situation to another.

The supporting cast includes some of the best comedy characters in Hollywood at the time. Luis Alberni as Mr. Louis Louis utters some riotous malapropisms. "Oh, Mr. B, what a sight for an eye sore." Ray Milland, as John Ball Jr. is hilarious in his exchanges, especially with his father. But I think Edward Arnold as J.B. Ball, tops every scene he is in. How the man could keep a straight face, and maintain his grumpy posture throughout the film, is beyond me. It must have required many takes to put this comedy on film.

I think this movie, like most very clever comedies, has a subtle message of satire. Here it clearly is high society, the spoiled nature of the rich, and the opportunists who pander to such society. They are a part of it, in that they live on the fringes and are welcomed in only because they are the willing servants and caterers to the society – by choice. Franklin Pangborn as Van Buren is the epitome of such people. And he plays the part perfectly.

Watch for a long scene in the food automat after Ray Milland (Johnny) meets Jean Arthur (Mary Smith). The pandemonium and mayhem that break out make this one of the longest slapstick scenes I can remember. What a riot.

Here are a few funny lines from the movie to whet your appetite. J.B. Ball says to son, John: "Oh, pooh! I was a banker's son, and up until I was 26 yeas old, I was just as dumb as you are." Graves, the butler, has been standing by and chimes in: "Yes, indeed, sir." Ball continues: "But after a while, all the fat fell off my brains and I… Say, how old are you?" Later in the conversation, John says to his dad: "I'm gonna make you eat those words." Ball: "That's all you'll be eating." John: "Possibly!" Ball: "Probably!" John: "Right! Yeah!" Ball: "Right! Yeah" John: "Yeah!" The butler, Graves: "Yes sir!"

Mary Nash as Jenny Ball: "Well, you want me to look nice, don't you? After all, the wife of the fourth biggest banker..." Ball: "I beg your pardon. The third biggest banker. Well, I guess you've got me, Jenny." Jenny: "You're not as smart as people think you are."

Ball has thrown a $58,000 sable coat his wife had just bought out the window of their high-rise apartment. On the street, he sees Mary Smith trying to find the owner and he tells her to keep it. Smith: "Now, wait a minute, Santa Claus." Ball: "Huh?" Smith: "What's the matter with it? Is it hot?" Ball: "Well, I don't know. I've never worn one." Smith: "What kind of fur is it anyway?" Ball: "Zebra. Anything else you want to know?"

Louis Louis: "Miss Smith, I am a man like this. I don't beat around the bush to come in the back door." Smith blindfolds her piggy bank before she smashes it with the heel of her shoe. "Sorry, Wafford," she says. Johnny and Mary are at the breakfast table looking at the want ads in the newspaper. John: "Well, there must be something for somebody that can't do anything."

Movie Go FAST!

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 15 November 2013]

Jean Arthur, poor girl, is given a gift by blustery Edward Arnold, rich man. The two are strangers who have met by accident and don't even bother to learn each others' names but certain people misunderstand. Why would "the bull of Wall Street" give a pretty blond a $58,000 mink coat unless they were playing doctor? The movie is sometimes very funny and sometimes plain silly but it moves with the momentum of a tsunami and it's hard to resist. It was written by Preston Sturges who was about to make a couple of comic masterpieces and they're adumbrated in some of these scenes. I don't know if you're familiar with the scene in "Sullivan's Travels" in which a huge recreational vehicle speeds over rutted rural roads but the slapstick there is echoed in the slapstick here, in a scene that takes place in an automat and had me laughing out loud.

There's nothing subtle about the comedy. Mistaken identities, rich and poor, slightly risqué, and everybody talks at full volume and rushes around in a frenzy. It may be Eugene Pallet elsewhere but it's Edward Arnold here, who looks like the manager of a German pork store in Yorkville who is about to pop a gut with anger and frustration.

Ray Milland has had better roles. He's no Cary Grant. But Jean Arthur and her tangential prettiness is perfect. Franklin Pangborn has always played an effete wimp, but here he's at his most flamboyantly gay. Luis Alberni as the Italian owner of a ritzy hotel isn't as amusing as the script seems to think he is, and he overacts like everyone else. Yet in its own unquiet way it's a successful screwball comedy. The director, Mitchell Leisen, does a craftsmanlike job but one can't help wondering what Howard Hawks would have done with material like this.

Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin don't get any screen credit for writing the title tune which is heard briefly as a jaunty instrumental with wide intervals. It was turned into a light and charming ballad and became a minor standard in vernacular culture. You can hear a snatch of it in "Chinatown."

One of Preston Sturges' best

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 3 May 2008]

This is a delightful little comedy provided you turn off your brain and just let yourself laugh and enjoy the whole crazy mess, as the plot is very contrived and just about impossible to believe! I could, and as a result, I had a great time!

The film begins with a millionaire financier (Edward Arnold) arguing with his wife about her extravagance. In a fit of anger, Arnold grabs a brand-new sable coat and tosses it off the roof of their luxury high-rise! By chance, it lands on the unsuspecting Jean Arthur--who naturally tries to return it. However, Arnold will hear nothing of it and insists she keeps the coat. This little innocent and strange encounter would drastically change all their lives as the notion of a total stranger receiving such an expensive gift starts people talking--and assuming that the nice Miss Arthur is Arnold's mistress. It's actually very funny that not once is the word 'mistress' used but the audience is sure this is exactly what everyone is assuming.

Since Arnold is so powerful a force on Wall Street, people almost immediately begin kissing up to Jean--assuming she has the inside track on influencing Arnold. Jean, who is just too naive and nice for her own good, just can't understand why everyone is suddenly being so nice to her and giving her lots and lots of free things--including a super-expensive luxury suite, more furs and practically anything else her heart could desire.

In addition to the affair not being the least bit true, there are many other plots and subplots that all are set into motion by this supposed affair--all culminating in a very funny mess. One problem is that Jean has fallen for Arnold's son (who she assumes is just an ordinary working man), another is that Arnold's wife is now suing for divorce and one very innocent statement by Arthur practically destroys the stock market!! It is hilarious and very cute that one tiny little incident kept snowballing into this enormous mess! Given that it's all Hollywood fantasy, you know that by the end everything will somehow magically turn out perfectly. However, despite this predictability, the journey to this happy ending is one that you just have to see to believe--making this one of the better screwball comedies of the 1930s. Any serious fan of the classic years of Hollywood must see this film.

Zany screwball comedy

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 1 May 2021]

"Oh, go soak your head in a bucket."

Jean Arthur and Ray Milland are adorable in this, and the two dogs certainly are too, almost enough to give the film a slightly higher rating. I just wish it had focused a little more on sweet little romantic moments, instead of all of the slapstick and men shouting. There is great potential in the cast, which is pretty deep, and I loved little things like the cafeteria automat complete with a security camera, but scenes like Edward Arnold falling down the stairs and the riot over food didn't do much for me. The film has a lot of life to it, but it was just a little too silly for me.

It's a screwball comedy so I didn't really expect much, but the film had an opportunity to say at least a little something about class during the Depression, and instead just gave us the common theme of a working-class woman striking it rich. Jean Arthur's character hits the quadfecta - a sable coat worth $58,000 (over $1M in today's dollars) literally plops down on her from the sky, she's given an incredibly lavish and huge "Imperial suite" at a swank hotel, she meets the scion of a wealthy businessmen, and unwittingly makes a bundle on the stock market. It's nice when she rejects all that out of honor, but it was hard to feel too excited when Milland's character tells her he has a job for her "making my breakfast," meaning she'll get to settle down in the role of a housewife, not just because of how dated that is (after all, it was 1937), but not enough time was spent between the two of them.

Overall, worth seeing for Jean Arthur and Ray Milland, and if you like zany films, you'll probably like this one more than I did.

delightful piece of fluff

[hbs · 10/10 · 6 June 2002]

This movie is a delight. The screenplay is by Preston Sturges, which means that it will be sophisticated fun, and it is certainly that. It's a Depression era romantic comedy about a girl that gets a coat dropped on her head by accident, and within a few days is leading a life of luxury. The old SNL had a skit called something like "Married in a Minute" that was a spoof of movies like "How to Marry a Millionaire", where working girls (before that meant prostitutes) find love and wealth instantly upon arriving in New York. (HtMaM was probably intended to be partly a parody of such stories too, but it is so heavy-handed it's hard to tell.) Anyway, "Easy Living" predates a lot of this genre, and that (and the Sturges touch) keep it fresh. It's silly of course, but it knows it and has fun with it.

The movie has a wonderful cast and the direction is solid. It doesn't have the incredible zaniness of the movies that Sturges directed, but it's a not to be missed classic in my opinion.

Early Sturges

[kenjha · 7/10 · 4 September 2009]

The lives of a rich banker and his son become unwittingly entangled with that of a poor working girl in this enjoyable if unspectacular comedy. Given that comic genius Preston Sturges wrote the screenplay, the talented Mitchell Leisen directed it, and adorable Jean Arthur stars in it, the film falls somewhat short of expectations. Sturges would of course go on to write and direct some of the best comedies of the era, but here the script is not as inspired as his later efforts. It has its moments though, including a slapstick scene in a cafeteria. As the perky young woman, Arthur is fine as usual, as are Arnold as the banker and Milland as his son.

Disappointing

[krdement · 4/10 · 11 May 2008]

My favorite films are from the '30s to the late '40s. Jean Arthur is one of my favorite actresses. Edward Arnold is one of my favorite character actors. I looked forward to this film with high expectations, but was very disappointed.

The reason this movie disappointed me is difficult to pinpoint. Without more background, some elements of the story just don't seem to add up. There is a whole lot of yelling in this movie; that gets old. Oh yeah, and lots of slapstick. The Automat scene was waaaay too long. But mostly, the characters just don't seem quite on the mark.

In addition to many great dramas, Miss Arthur's resume includes many of my favorite comedies: The Whole Town's Talking (1935), If You Could Only Cook (1935), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936), You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Town (1939), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), The Talk of the Town (1942), The More the Merrier (1943), A Foreign Affair (1948). I recommend them all over Easy Living. I even prefer A Lady Takes a Chance (1943).

As much as I love Jean Arthur, her character here isn't portrayed quite right. She is just too innocent and unquestioning of everything that happens. Her attitude should have been less naive and more like, "I don't really understand why this windfall has come my way, but I'm going to take advantage of it while I can." She needed to be less ingenuous and more opportunistic. Her idealism and optimism needed to be tempered by a little realistic skepticism.

The character of the Hotelier (Luis Alberni) is an immigrant Italian chef who has learned fluent American slang somewhere, but also has opened a HUGE, opulent hotel for upper crust clientèle. So, he has this great ambition to run an elite hotel, but doesn't see the need to speak to his proposed clientèle any differently than the boys in the Bronx? PLUS, we don't know how he convinced the "Number 3" financier in New York to finance this operation. How much money did this humble chef bring with him when he immigrated from Italy? Moreover, Arnold, the shrewd banker, has extended the guy not 1, not 2, but 3 mortgages! AND the 1st mortgage is overdue by 3 YEARS, the 2nd by 2 YEARS and the 1st by 1 YEAR! Not consistent with Arnold's character at all!

Ray Milland is pretty light weight, and he never infuses his character with more than 1 dimension.

There isn't really a character with whom I could identify. For me, a successful screwball comedy needs one stable character for all of the silliness to revolve around. That gives the audience somebody to identify with and grounds the movie in some kind of reality. William Powell in My Man Godfrey and Brian Aherne in Merrily We Live are the best examples.

I thought this movie was a lot of noise and action that never really drew me into the story. In sum, I felt like an outsider watching a movie. It never really tickled my funny bone or inspired my empathy as better comedies do.