The Human Comedy (1943)

The Human Comedy was nominated for Best Picture of 1943, and I suppose it's an indication of the depth of Hollywood's support for the war effort. This film, written by William Saroyan, is really just a series of vignettes of small-town life in the San Joaquin Valley of California. There is a sense of an overall plot, thanks to the voice-over narration by the dead father of the family that is the central focus of the movie. No, I didn't write that incorrectly. The voice-over is by a dead man, a device that would be used to greater effect about seven years later in Sunset Boulevard. Here it's just a bit creepy.

Mickey Rooney is the main star of the movie. At least, he gets the most time on screen. He plays Homer Macauley, a high school boy who has had to assume the mantle of family provider thanks to his father's death and his older brother's recruitment into the Army. Rooney has a job after school delivering telegrams, sometimes singing ones. Anyone who's seen his musicals with Judy Garland would know that Rooney can sing and dance. The Human Comedy shows that he can also act. He gets some big emotional scenes, including the one involving the death of the old telegraph operator, Willie Grogan (played by Frank Morgan, still perhaps best known as the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz).

The entire Macauley family gets to shine, though, if for only a few moments each. The always reliable Fay Bainter plays the mother of the clan, and she has a daughter, Bess (played by a young Donna Reed), and another son, Ulysses ("Butch" Jenkins, in what amounts almost to a non-speaking part), at home. They periodically receive letters from the oldest son, Marcus Macauley (Van Johnson), one of which makes Homer cry because of its sentimentality--in a good way, I mean. When Marcus tells his younger brother that he (Homer) is the best of the Macauleys, you're likely to tear up as well. There are a couple of scenes depicting Johnson in the Army itself, and they are usually played for laughs, such as when he has KP duty with his friend Tobey George (John Craven).

The worst part of Homer's job, of course, is having to deliver telegrams that notify a family that a son has been killed in action. So painful is this aspect of the work that Morgan's Willie tends to stay drunk most of the time in the telegraph office. He even makes a deal with Homer to make certain that he's able to intercept the telegraph messages as they arrive, so drunk is he sometimes that he could miss an important one. There's an especially sad telegram that has to be delivered, but the shock of that moment is best left to experience yourself.

The Human Comedy has a few too many speeches to suit my taste, but I suppose that's rather common among war movies of the time. Yes, I know this isn't technically a war movie, but it does show the impact that such events had on the people left behind. Hollywood seems to have found those stories quite compelling, considering the Oscar wins for Mrs. Miniver the year before and the nominations for Since You Went Away a year after the release of The Human Comedy. One of these speeches, though, is particularly egregious. Homer and his high school rival, Hubert Ackley III (David Holt), are kept after class on the day that they each hope to win the 220 low hurdles race. They've both been courting the same girl, and it's led to a disruptive classroom environment. Homer's history teacher gives a rousing discussion about equality, respect, civilization, and democracy. It all could have been written by the War Department, frankly, and it's just a bit too jingoistic for me.

(That scene also gives one of the best lines of the movie. When Homer receives encouragement to win the race from his teacher, he states, "I never knew that school teachers were human beings like everyone else and better too." As a teacher, I have to appreciate that mentality.)

The film features a subplot involving Homer's boss, Tom Spangler (James Craig), and his courtship of the wealthy Diana Steed (Marsha Hunt). Of particular note is the dinner party where she tries to convince him that he's just like everyone else at the party. So enamored of her is Spangler that he even dons a bowtie--and looks rather ridiculous doing so--as a homage to her father's preferred neck apparel. The best scene with the two of them, though, is when they return to town for a cultural festival and keep driving past the different groups of people dancing: the Greeks, Mexicans, Armenians, Russians, and Swedes. I suppose it's a very efficient way of touring the world and never having to leave your small town. Sort of like a drive-by cultural education.

As I mentioned earlier, the plot is really a series of vignettes, and they are mostly charming if brief moments. I liked the one of the neighborhood boys trying to steal peaches from an old man's tree. The old man actually enjoys letting the boys take the peaches, but he's game to play along with the ruse. He knows it's all part of growing up. If you pay attention, you'll recognize Carl Switzer, better known as Alfalfa in the Our Gang short films, as one of the boys. Later in the film, you might also recognize Robert Mitchum as one of the three sailors who pick up Bess and her next door neighbor for a night of innocent movie-watching.

Perhaps my favorite part of the film is the most unrealistic in some ways. Marcus' Army buddy Tobey listens to all of the stories of the Macauley family and life in Ithaca, California, and starts to feel like he grew up there himself. He is actually an orphan with no roots. Marcus gives him a picture of Bess, and Tobey falls in love with her through her picture. He and Marcus vow that they'll both return to Ithaca and marry their sweethearts, and you believe that such outlandish things could indeed happen. It's only after the movie ends that you start to question just how likely such a romance would be.

I think The Human Comedy is an interesting film in many ways, not the least of which is its loose, episodic structure. There are good performances, particularly from Rooney, who was nominated for Best Actor for this movie. I expect most of the moments depicted here, which are so evocative of life in a small town, are drawn from real life experiences. I just don't know that this film contributes anything of note to the craft of filmmaking. It's still solid "entertainment," but I tend to think that nominees for Best Picture should be more than that. Yes, I am fully aware that quite a lot of the movies I've watched for this project so far fall into the "competent but not exceptional" category, but I am always pleasantly surprised when one tends to stand out from the crowd. The Human Comedy, though, is not such a film.