Merry Meredith and Goddard the Goddess
Burgess Meredith, you sly old dog. If I had been a producer in the 1940s, I probably would have done my best to arrange it so that I, too, could end up playing the spouse of a devoted Paulette Goddard -- even if I was not fortunate enough to be one of Ms. Goddard’s real-life spouses like you. After all, Ms. Goddard was quite the dish in her day -- not only managing to hold her own against her boyfriend Charlie Chaplin in the 1936 comedy Modern Times but also stealing the show away from even her most famous co-stars in the 1939 film The Women. There was just something about her personality which said, “I’m a fun girl to be with” and it was no doubt that very something which made her so watchable on the big screen even when there was little else watchable.
If nothing else, Goddard’s presence in the 1948 movie On Our Merry Way as Martha, the artistic spouse of Meredith’s character Oliver M. Pease, explains why Oliver is so devoted to pleasing his bride of seven months. Who wouldn’t want to please a woman like Ms. Goddard? And yet as the movie progresses, it becomes obvious that Oliver’s attempts to please Martha have had their dark side. Oliver has lied to her about his real job on the local newspaper, bought her furniture with borrowed money he cannot repay and lost money he could not afford to lose trying to make up for his financial shortcomings at the local track. In other words, he has lived beyond his means -- which is certainly not something anyone in the 21th Century can possibly relate to.
But seriously, folks.
On Our Merry Way is an interesting movie which is never quite as funny as the list of famous co-stars (James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray and old Preston Sturges regular William Demarest) may indicate but it has its moments. Of course, most of these occur when Mr. Meredith or Ms. Goddard are on-screen but the others get to have good scenes too. Ms. Lamour gets a nifty song-and-dance number which gently mocks her island girl image; Mr. Stewart and Mr. Fonda get to portray two down-on-their-luck jazz musicians who end up auditioning a scantily-clad Dorothy Ford; and Mr. MacMurray and Mr. Demarest get to re-enact for the umpteenth time O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief.”
The main plot begins with Oliver attempting to please Martha by bluffing his way into the editor’s office and passing himself off as a roving reporter handpicked by a conveniently unreachable publisher to replace the current roving reporter. (Oliver had been telling Martha all along that he was the writer of the roving reporter's column but actually he just took phone calls for the want ads department.) Throughout the rest of the movie, Oliver poses as a journalist and interviews his more famous co-stars which at the same time dodging a collections representative for a local bookie. His goal is to come up with an article so good that the editor will have no choice but to promote him to the roving reporter beat for real but the odds are against him. Can he make it? And what happens if he does not and his wife finds out?
For the answer to these questions and more, you will simply have to see the movie. As long as Ms. Goddard or Mr. Meredith are on-screen, that is hardly the worst thing you could be doing. As for the rest of the movie, well, that is the chance you will have to take. Then again Meredith and Goddard never played a married couple again after this movie so perhaps it is better to describe this film as an acquired taste some of you old movie buffs may not wish to acquire. Anyway, I liked it but then I liked it best when Mr. Meredith and Ms. Goddard were in view.
Burgess Meredith, you sly old dog. If I had been a producer in the 1940s, I probably would have done my best to arrange it so that I, too, could end up playing the spouse of a devoted Paulette Goddard -- even if I was not fortunate enough to be one of Ms. Goddard’s real-life spouses like you. After all, Ms. Goddard was quite the dish in her day -- not only managing to hold her own against her boyfriend Charlie Chaplin in the 1936 comedy Modern Times but also stealing the show away from even her most famous co-stars in the 1939 film The Women. There was just something about her personality which said, “I’m a fun girl to be with” and it was no doubt that very something which made her so watchable on the big screen even when there was little else watchable.
If nothing else, Goddard’s presence in the 1948 movie On Our Merry Way as Martha, the artistic spouse of Meredith’s character Oliver M. Pease, explains why Oliver is so devoted to pleasing his bride of seven months. Who wouldn’t want to please a woman like Ms. Goddard? And yet as the movie progresses, it becomes obvious that Oliver’s attempts to please Martha have had their dark side. Oliver has lied to her about his real job on the local newspaper, bought her furniture with borrowed money he cannot repay and lost money he could not afford to lose trying to make up for his financial shortcomings at the local track. In other words, he has lived beyond his means -- which is certainly not something anyone in the 21th Century can possibly relate to.
But seriously, folks.
On Our Merry Way is an interesting movie which is never quite as funny as the list of famous co-stars (James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, Fred MacMurray and old Preston Sturges regular William Demarest) may indicate but it has its moments. Of course, most of these occur when Mr. Meredith or Ms. Goddard are on-screen but the others get to have good scenes too. Ms. Lamour gets a nifty song-and-dance number which gently mocks her island girl image; Mr. Stewart and Mr. Fonda get to portray two down-on-their-luck jazz musicians who end up auditioning a scantily-clad Dorothy Ford; and Mr. MacMurray and Mr. Demarest get to re-enact for the umpteenth time O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief.”
The main plot begins with Oliver attempting to please Martha by bluffing his way into the editor’s office and passing himself off as a roving reporter handpicked by a conveniently unreachable publisher to replace the current roving reporter. (Oliver had been telling Martha all along that he was the writer of the roving reporter's column but actually he just took phone calls for the want ads department.) Throughout the rest of the movie, Oliver poses as a journalist and interviews his more famous co-stars which at the same time dodging a collections representative for a local bookie. His goal is to come up with an article so good that the editor will have no choice but to promote him to the roving reporter beat for real but the odds are against him. Can he make it? And what happens if he does not and his wife finds out?
For the answer to these questions and more, you will simply have to see the movie. As long as Ms. Goddard or Mr. Meredith are on-screen, that is hardly the worst thing you could be doing. As for the rest of the movie, well, that is the chance you will have to take. Then again Meredith and Goddard never played a married couple again after this movie so perhaps it is better to describe this film as an acquired taste some of you old movie buffs may not wish to acquire. Anyway, I liked it but then I liked it best when Mr. Meredith and Ms. Goddard were in view.
Labels: Burgess Meredith, Dorothy Lamour, El Camino de la Felicidad, Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda, Paulette Goddard, Películas Clásicas II, William Demarest
posted by Tonio Kruger at 9:13 PM
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