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Harvey [1950]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

It's always a small surprise to revisit this movie and realise what a subtly dark performance James Stewart gives as an alcoholic who claims he keeps company with a six-foot-tall, invisible rabbit. As Elwood P. Dowd, the actor emits a faint whiff of decay and spirits, yet Stewart also embraces Dowd's romanticism and grace with splendid ease. Based on a hit play and directed by Henry Koster, the film is terribly funny at times, especially whenever Elwood decides it is only polite to introduce Harvey to complete strangers. The supporting cast can't be beat. --Tom Keogh


a classic
Review date: 2008-09-30 Rating: 8 out of 10

Harvey is a beautiful film,so simple,with a look and feel that is long gone but you can believe in it for the course of the film.
Harvey tells the story of a drunk who has one of the happiest outlooks that you may ever see,he is called elwood p dowd and is played by james stewart with a gentle ease.Dowd has a best friend,a 6 foot 1' rabbit called harvey that no one can see bar himself and his belief is so strong that he introduces harvey to everyone much to their shock,his sister and niece live with him and are humilated at his behaviour and try desperately to make him see the errors of his ways.
The film is very lighthearted and is certainly comical,mistakes,frantic scenes of bedlam and a real,organic feel to it,one of the very best from an age buried between violence and filth.

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Reviews


My new favourite movie
Review date: 2007-03-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is one movie I'd been meaning to get around to watching for ages. I'm supremely glad I trusted my instincts and bought it.
This is easily one of the best movies I've watched. It's funny, it's heartwarming, and it's got just the right amount of reflective melancholy in it to make it all the more moving.
The main character, Elwood P Dowd (that "P" is truly an integral part of the name, he never leaves it out), advises that he his mother told him the only too ways to prosper in life were to be clever or pleasant. He was himself clever, and says that he can recommend pleasant. Derided as crazy and simple, he comes across as the nicest person you could ever hope to meet, and by the end of the movie, you're left hoping for more Elwood P Dowds in your own life.

Funny, moving, and quite possibly one of the best ways to spend a quiet evening.


I'd like to introduce Harvey
Review date: 2006-06-23 Rating: 10 out of 10

"Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it." That cheerful comment sets the tone for "Harvey," a movie about a lovable guy whose way of dealing with the harshness of reality is simple: Make his own.

Veta Louise Simmons (Josephine Hull) hopes to arrange a wonderful marriage for daughter Myrtle May (Victoria Horne) in the upper echelons of society. There's one problem: her wealthy brother Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) has an imaginary pal, a six-foot-three rabbit called Harvey. After Elwood accidently wrecks a party by introducing Harvey to everyone, Veta decides to have him committed.

Unfortunately, when Veta takes Elwood to the sanatorium, the staff come to think that the fluttery socialite is crazy, and is trying to get her sunny brother out of the way. So they lock her up, and let him go. After that mistake is straightened out, the psychiatric staff and Elwood's long-suffering family try to find him.... and Harvey.

If we ever saw Elwood P. Dowd ("Here, let me give you one of my cards") in a car, the bumper sticker would probably say, "Reality is highly overrated." The big theme of the movie is that reality can be harsh, and that it's not necessarily a bad thing to lapse out of it into the fantasies of our own minds. If Elwood isn't dangerous and is otherwise normal, who cares if he has an imaginary friend?

Is Harvey real? The film leaves that up to our imaginations. And in the end, it doesn't matter if Harvey is a figment of Elwood's imagination, or a friendly spirit. It's the effect he has on Elwood that is important. His presence makes Elwood happy and relaxed, and Elwood makes others happy and relaxed -- even the hard-boiled head of the psychiatric ward, who lies down on his own couch and tells his secrets to Elwood.

This actually isn't too screwballish a comedy -- sure, there's the running joke where Elwood politely introduces Harvey to people he meets. And the scene where Veta is committed is hilarious. But it's more of a heartwarmer than a comedy, from Elwood softening the lead shrink to Myrtle May finding love with a lovable blue-collar worker from the sanatorium.

James Stewart gives a wonderfully dreamy performance, slightly smelling of booze and flowers -- his Elwood P. Dowd is mild-mannered, sweet, gallant, courteous, and oh-so-pleasant. And he's learned the value of just enjoying the little things in life, like a flower, a beer or a talk with a friend. And Josephine Hull brings up a brilliant performance as his frazzled sister, with several other good actors rounding off the supporting cast.

Who is crazier -- the happy man with the imaginary rabbit, or the people who want him to be 100% sane and less happy? You make the call. With a sweet, surreal story and a flawless cast "Harvey" is one of those rare movies that does an unspecifiable number on your heartstrings.

Feelgood but dark
Review date: 2006-04-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is a film which gets darker the more you think about it. Its a wonderful exploration of the neccessity of dreams and madness to live in with human beings. Basically the film is about a man with an imaginary friend, Harvey, a six foot three and a half inch tall white rabbit who he talks to and the efforts of his kindly relatives and friends to put him into a sanitorium to try and cure him of this illusion. There is no doubt that it is an illusion- Harvey though he is seen by many of the characters as they dawdle on the edge of insanity doesn't ever appear himself in the film though the consequences of their reactions to him do. On the other hand the key point of the film is the difference between dreaming and reality. The main character's sister notes during the film that we live for dreams- otherwise we would just occupy our time eating and putting our clothes on- at the end she is told by a taxi driver that all the sane people in the world are selfish and hardnosed. As the characters teeter and crash over the edge of insanity they become kinder, those that stay sane stay unpleasant. In a way this is less a comment on the insane (I doubt anyone involved knew much about them) than on the sane. What we have here is a feelgood film which has a dark message- that the only way to survive within the world is to have a dream which redeems its darkness, whether it be love, beauty, art or a six foot three and a half inch high rabbit, its all the same an illusion to mask our ignominy.

"...and how are you today Mr. Wilson?"
Review date: 2005-03-31 Rating: 10 out of 10

Mr. Elwood P. Dowd, a man of independent means and with a thrust for life. He lives with his dependent sister (Veta Louise Simmons) and niece. He also has a unique friend (Harvey) and drinking partner. His friend seems to be the center of controversy; you see (or don't' see) he is a pooka. This of course disrupts Veta's social life and so it is time for Elwood to go to Chumley Rest (a place where friendly people offer to bathe you.)

Will Veta see the error of her ways in time?
Will Cecil Kellway (Dr. Willie Chumley) get cold beer and Akron?
What is to become of Harvey?

They had to make the rabbit a bit taller than in the play to accommodate Jimmy Stewart's height so he could still look up.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
James Stewart
Charles Drake
Josephine Hull
Peggy Dow
Cecil Kellaway

Creators:
James Stewart (Primary Contributor)
Josephine Hull (Primary Contributor)
William H. Daniels (Cinematographer)
Ralph Dawson (Editor)
John Beck (Producer)
Mary Chase (Writer)
Myles Connolly (Writer)
Oscar Brodney (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Uca
Manufacturer: Uca
EAN: 5050582032376
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL,
Release date: 2003-08-18
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 107 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1950-10-13
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Russian (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Finnish (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)

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