HARVEY: Blu-ray (Universal International 1950) Universal Home Video
There are few joys as
tangibly satisfying as watching a gifted actor giving a marvellous performance
that tantalizes as instantly as it absorbs the viewer into its believability.
Henry Koster’s Harvey (1950) is not
a great film. But James Stewart is a superior talent, so effortless in the
delivery of his lines that he easily imbues the character of Elwood P. Dowd
with whimsical credibility. Mary Chase’s play had been a celebrated smash on
Broadway, with Stewart assuming the role for nearly two years; enough time to ease
into his genuine comedic timing. On film, Stewart breezes through the part of a
middle-aged social drinker who prefers to be pleasant rather than smart in his
dealings with people. A great actor could easily fake such sincerity. But
Stewart was the real deal both on and off the screen and that alone makes his
performance uniquely sincere.
The screenplay by Mary
Chase, Oscar Brodney and Miles Connelly adheres closely to Chase’s original
show. We open on the Dowd residence and Elwood P. (Stewart) exiting the front
door with his best friend Harvey, an invisible 6 ft. 3 inch white rabbit. The
rest of Elwood’s family, including his easily flustered scatterbrain sister
Veta Louise Simmons (Josephine Hull) and her bitter spinsterish daughter, Myrtle
Mae (Victoria Horne) share Elwood’s palatial home but are frequently
embarrassed by his congenial insistence to include Harvey in their social
plans. Believing that Elwood has clearly lost his mind, Veta and Myrtle usher
him out of the house during a society luncheon and recital designed to procure
various ‘connections’ for Myrtle that will hopefully land her a husband.
Unfortunately, Elwood gets wind of their plans and hurries home, attempting to
introduce his transparent friend to the ladies who understandably flee in giddy
confusion.
Veta has had quite enough.
Even though their late mother left the Dowd estate to Elwood she is determined to
have her brother committed to Chumley Rest, a quaint sanatorium. Her motives
are partly predicated on her own humiliation, but more genuinely to see that
Elwood receives the much needed care he so obviously needs to get well and rid
himself of his delusion. On a pretext Veta gets Elwood and Harvey to accompany
her to Chumley Rest, leaving him in the taxi while she goes in to explain the
situation to nurse, Miss Kelly (Peggy Dow) and Doctor Lyman Sanderson (Charles
Drake). Unfortunately, Veta’s fractured rationalisation through tears coupled
with an admission that she has occasionally seen Harvey herself convince Miss
Kelly and Dr. Sanderson that she, not Elwood, requires institutionalization.
Veta is forcibly taken to
solitary confinement by orderly Marvin Wilson (Jesse White). In the meantime
Elwood, wandering the institution’s grounds, casually meets the wife of its
managing physician (Nana Bryant) who has come to collect her husband, Doctor
Willie Chumley (Cecil Kellaway). Enchanted by Elwood, Mrs. Chumley offers to
help him find Harvey – whom she misinterprets to be a real person. However,
when she tells her husband about Elwood and Harvey in the presence of Dr.
Sanderson and Miss Kelly, everyone realizes what a terrible mistake they have
made in locking up Veta.
Sanderson and Kelly go in
search of Elwood whom they discover at Charlie’s, a downtown bar. After some
congenial conversation, Elwood recognizes an obvious romantic affection between
the two and encourages Sanderson and Kelly to share a dance before Marvin
bursts in to demand that Elwood go back with him to Chumley Rest. In the
meantime, Dr. Chumley has vanished and Marvin suspects Elwood has had something
to do with his disappearance. But actually, Chumley has experienced and
extraordinary encounter with Harvey; one that realigns his stern clinical
outlook on life for the better.
Back at the sanatorium Chumley
confides his experience to Elwood who explains that Harvey is a pooka – a spiritual
guide manifested in animal form who can only be seen by those who have faith. “Years
ago,” Elwood explains, “…my mother
used to say…in this world…you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for
years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.” Chumley
inquires whether Harvey might choose to stay with him to fulfil his lifelong
fantasy of going to Akron to lay under a tree with a good woman. Elwood
suggests that Harvey might concede to such a road trip.
Veta and Myrtle, Wilson,
Dr. Sanderson and Miss Kelly arrive at Chumley Rest and Sanderson suggests that
a simple injection on an experimental drug will snap Elwood back into ‘reality’.
Veta demands that Elwood accept this needle and Elwood willingly agrees to
satisfy his sister before their cab driver suggests that such a shot will only
ruin Elwood’s optimistic outlook on life – in effect, making him just like
everybody else. Veta begs Elwood not to take the injection and everyone decides
to go home, including Harvey who has chosen to stay with Elwood rather than go
on with Dr. Chumley.
As farcical fantasy
teetering on the edge of screwball comedy
Harvey is enjoyable enough. Its kindly philosophy never becomes preachy in
its tolerance toward those who see the world slightly askew from the rest of
society. But the simplicity of this message tends to get bogged down in the
story, the rest of the world becoming a manic, cynical cliché. The romance
between Sanderson and Kelly seems strained at best; the characters so one
dimensional and silly that they fail to capture our attention or garner our
respect, thereby diffusing our appreciation for their final starry-eyed discovery
of each other. The same can be said of the burgeoning relationship between
Marvin and Myrtle – unexpected and unbelievable in every way. She first lures
him to her side with an egg sandwich. Afterward, he can’t keep his hands off
her. Oh please!
The most enchanting aspect
of the film (and it is both enchanting and inspired) is James Stewart’s central
performance as the unerring optimist, so open-minded and unspoiled by the world
around him that he cannot conceive of the wily machinations that would seek to
institutionalize him simply for having a positive attitude. Stewart is the gem
of the piece and the glue that holds everything else together. Moreover, he is
able to convince us that a life-sized rabbit is just the sort of travelling
companion someone like Elwood Dowd would have. Midway through the film we are
shown a painted portrait of Elwood with Harvey visualized in a concrete form.
The image is rather spooky, and quite unnecessary, because by this point in the
plot Stewart has already made Harvey as real to the audience as any of the film’s
flesh and blood co-stars. The genius in Stewart’s performance is that it makes
us ‘see’ Harvey in our own imaginations.
Harvey’s debut on Blu-ray isn’t
quite what I expected. Universal had previously announced this release for
Spring 2012, then pushed it back until September. Although the B&W full
frame image tightens up over its DVD counterpart, with certain scenes yielding
a remarkable amount of clarity and fine detail, on the whole the visual quality
tends to be somewhat softly focused with contrast levels occasionally bumped.
The main titles contain some rather intense film grain that all but vanishes
afterward, suggesting that perhaps more than a hint of undue DNR has been
applied to smooth out the image. Contrast levels are inconsistently rendered. Sometimes
they appear bang on, while at other moments the image looks too bright with
weak black levels and a midrange loss of tonality in the gray scale. Age
related artefacts are also detected including a vertical scratch near the end
of the movie. Bottom line: I don’t think Universal did all that it could have
with their original film elements to make them ready for this 1080p release and
that’s a genuine shame.
The audio is DTS mono and
adequately remastered for this presentation. Extras are the other great
disappointment; only the same tired old video intro from 1990 voiced by James
Stewart, some production notes and two 100th anniversary featurettes
that have already been released on other Universal catalogue titles.
Boring! Bottom line: for those who love Harvey, the Blu-ray represents a very
modest upgrade from Universal’s previously issued DVD. While the improvements
are indeed there and welcome they aren’t enough for me to recommend a
repurchase of this title on Blu-ray. Regrets.
FILM
RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
3
VIDEO/AUDIO
3
EXTRAS
1
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