The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)

This film is worth watching for the very sharp and witty dialogue. It is still very funny and entertaining. Some of the best lines are towards the end, like Jimmy Durante hoisting up shocked nurse Mary Wickes in his arms and saying, "Meet me in my room in a half an hour with a loaf of rye bread!" Bette Davis does a decent job with a role that doesn't suit her very well, and she seems a bit melancholy, perhaps because the script requires her to play a cruel trick on an unsuspecting person. It doesn't seem like something her character would do, and the playwrights should have found another way to make the plot device happen. But don't let that spoil the fun, this is a light-hearted romp and should be enjoyed as such. Monty Woolley is perfect as Sheridan Whiteside, roaring like a lion and enjoying himself immensely in the role.

When acerbic critic Sheridan Whiteside slips on the front steps of a provincial Ohio businessman's home and breaks his hip, he and his entourage take over the house indefinitely.Four of the leading characters are based on real-life personalities. Sheridan Whiteside was inspired by celebrated critic and Algonquin Round Table member Alexander Woollcott, who eventually played the role on stage; Lorraine Sheldon, by musical stage actress Gertrude Lawrence; Beverly Carlton, by playwright and renowned wit Noël Coward; and Banjo, by Harpo Marx.Whiteside comes off as a cross between WC Fields (with his witty remarks) and the Simpsons' Comic Book Guy (with his mocking condescension). He is both a joy to watch, and simultaneously a wretched monster to be reviled. The romance is really the thread that ties everything together, but it hardly carries the film the way Whiteside does.

Not only is the main character completely obnoxious and annoying, but the stage-originated and stagy plot doesn't work at all. It's so implausible that I wouldn't even know where to begin, so I'll pick one glaring mistake (or oversight) at random. When Jimmy Durante's character locks Ann Sheridan's character in a mummy case, she ought to be pounding and screaming to be let out, but she doesn't make a sound! The whole film is full of gaffes like this; and besides, you know the comedy is failing when the writers think that they have to throw in a flock of penguins for a (hopefully) sure-fire laugh.Sheridan Whiteside's supposedly "witty" lines all fall flat; I didn't laugh even once. If this is supposed to be "sophisticated" 1940's humor, I'll stick with the Marx Brothers... or even the Three Stooges! Not only that, but it goes on much too long; it would have benefited from a cut of at least ten minutes, just to improve the snail-like pace of the plot.It's hard to believe that so many big-name actors and writers were involved in this prize turkey, or that it was a hit in 1942. I guess that wartime audiences were desperate for entertainment. Any entertainment, however flimsy it might be.

In Mesalia, Ohio, the president of the local women's club Mrs. Ernest Stanley (Billie Burke) is the wife of the prominent ball bearings manufacturer Mr. Ernest Stanley (Grant Mitchell) and she is in rapture since the famous lecturer and critic Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley) will have dinner with her family.When Whiteside arrives with his secretary Maggie Cutler (Bette Davis) at Stanley's home, he slip on the ice on the stairway n the front door, he breaks his hip and the diagnosis of the local Dr. Bradley (George Barbier) requires that Whiteside shall stay in a wheelchair confined in the house. The egocentric, selfish and despicable Whiteside demands the control of the entire house and tells that he will sue Mr. Ernest Stanley in an exorbitant amount.While the family lives hell on earth in their own home, Maggie falls in love with the owner of the local newspaper Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis) and quits her position. However, the abusive Whiteside invites the vamp actress Lorraine Sheldon (Ann Sheridan) to meet Bert expecting that she seduces him and Maggie stays with him.I had the greatest expectations with "The Man Who Came to Dinner" based on the name of my favorite actress ever Bette Davis and the IMDb Rating of 7.6. Unfortunately I found this film dated and unfunny, and even overrated. I did not find the abusive behavior of Sheridan Whiteside funny in any moment and his deplorable attitudes are actually nasty. The fool Mrs. Ernest Stanley may deserve part of the cruelties for her silly behavior but anyway I did not laugh while watching this comedy. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Satã Jantou Lá em Casa" ("Satan Had Dinner at Home")