The Devil and Miss Jones
Jan. 23rd, 2005 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseThe movie is from 1941. There's no sex or violence. It's G-rated beyond belief. And it's subversive.
There's a scene where a policeman is trying to coerce a character, and another character says "If there are no charges we can leave." When they try to stop him with trumped up charges, he says "When they try to get you for spitting on the street when you haven't, the next thing you know they're taking away the Constitution." The whole scene builds from there. It's played for laughs, but they are what I call serious laughs. The police eventually let them go for silly reasons, but the import of the scene is that standing up for yourself and your rights is the most important thing of all.
It deals openly and humorously with class issues -- specifically the cluelessness of the rich about the poor.
I wish I could say, "Rent it," to every social studies class in the country, but I know that since it's in black and white the majority of the students wouldn't pay attention.
There's a scene where a policeman is trying to coerce a character, and another character says "If there are no charges we can leave." When they try to stop him with trumped up charges, he says "When they try to get you for spitting on the street when you haven't, the next thing you know they're taking away the Constitution." The whole scene builds from there. It's played for laughs, but they are what I call serious laughs. The police eventually let them go for silly reasons, but the import of the scene is that standing up for yourself and your rights is the most important thing of all.
It deals openly and humorously with class issues -- specifically the cluelessness of the rich about the poor.
I wish I could say, "Rent it," to every social studies class in the country, but I know that since it's in black and white the majority of the students wouldn't pay attention.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-23 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-24 07:36 am (UTC)The scene where Jean Arthur is talking about her young man to Charles Coburn is one of the most accurate descriptions I've ever heard about what real adult love is like. She's not at all starry-eyed, but so obviously feels everything.
Get back to me when you've seen it. I'd love to know whether you agree or not.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-24 12:30 pm (UTC)I was thinking the same thing when I saw that bit. Did you hear the little bit at the end? When the guy hosting the film said that the director Sam Wood was one those people that rolled on Hollywood figures during the Red Scare. He apparently ended up as a hardcore right-winger.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-24 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-24 05:24 pm (UTC)