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The Male Animal

  • 1942
  • Approved
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Olivia de Havilland, Henry Fonda, and Joan Leslie in The Male Animal (1942)
Trailer for this rollicking re-union of the wildest college class ever...
31
 
Play trailer2:30
31
1 Video
10 Photos
Screwball ComedyComedyRomance

A college English teacher suddenly finds himself the center of a free-speech debate on campus.A college English teacher suddenly finds himself the center of a free-speech debate on campus.A college English teacher suddenly finds himself the center of a free-speech debate on campus.

  • Director
    • Elliott Nugent
  • Writers
    • Julius J. Epstein
    • Stephen Morehouse Avery
    • James Thurber
  • Stars
    • Henry Fonda
    • Olivia de Havilland
    • Joan Leslie
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    1.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Elliott Nugent
    • Writers
      • Julius J. Epstein
      • Stephen Morehouse Avery
      • James Thurber
    • Stars
      • Henry Fonda
      • Olivia de Havilland
      • Joan Leslie
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    • 28User reviews
    • 15Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 5 wins total

    Videos1

    The Male Animal
    Trailer 2:30
    The Male Animal
    31

    Photos9

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    Top cast59

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    Henry Fonda
    Henry Fonda
    • Tommy Turner
    Olivia de Havilland
    Olivia de Havilland
    • Ellen Turner
    Joan Leslie
    Joan Leslie
    • Patricia Stanley
    Jack Carson
    Jack Carson
    • Joe Ferguson
    Eugene Pallette
    Eugene Pallette
    • Ed Keller
    Herbert Anderson
    Herbert Anderson
    • Michael Barnes
    Hattie McDaniel
    Hattie McDaniel
    • Cleota
    Ivan F. Simpson
    Ivan F. Simpson
    • Dean Frederick Damon
    • (as Ivan Simpson)
    Don DeFore
    Don DeFore
    • Wally Myers
    Jean Ames
    Jean Ames
    • 'Hot Garters' Gardner
    Minna Phillips
    • Mrs. Blanche Damon
    Regina Wallace
    • Mrs. Myrtle Keller
    Frank Mayo
    Frank Mayo
    • Coach Sprague
    William B. Davidson
    William B. Davidson
    • Alumnus
    Bobby Barnes
    • Nutsy Miller
    Tod Andrews
    Tod Andrews
    • Student
    • (uncredited)
    Sam Ash
    Sam Ash
    • Trustee
    • (uncredited)
    Raymond Bailey
    Raymond Bailey
    • Reporter on Porch
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Elliott Nugent
    • Writers
      • Julius J. Epstein
      • Stephen Morehouse Avery
      • James Thurber
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews28

    6.61.5K
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    Featured reviews

    10liage

    The folly of jumping to conclusions

    The lyrics of Jerome Kern's "Who" resonate throughout this movie as the lead characters battle one another, both rhetorically and physically, for answers to the big question "Who?" Who does Ellen Turner (Olivia de Havilland) really love? Who does Ed Keller (Eugene Palette) like? Who invited Joe Ferguson (Jack Carson), erstwhile beau to Ellen and football hero/legend at Midwestern U.? Who will save Ellen and Tommy from themselves? Who can save Michael Barnes (Herbert Anderson) from "Hot Garters" Gardner (Jean Ames)? Who is Wally Myers (Don DeFoe), the current football hero, really courting? Joe or Patricia (Joan Leslie)? And who is Bartolomeo Vanzetti? and what does he have in common with people like these? Tune in to the song: i.e. "Who stole my heart away?/Who makes me dream all day,/Dreams I know will never come true,/Seems like I'll always be blue./Who makes my happiness?/Who would I answer yes to?/Well, you oughta guess, Who? No one but you." Don't guess.

    See the movie. You not only gotta see the movie, but you gotta hear it, too.
    9aromatic-2

    Funny, whimsical satire of male egos

    The parallels of the Fonda-DeHavilland-Carson triangle with the younger Anderson-Leslie-DeFore triangle are played against each other to good advantage in this well-scripted and well-acted farce. DeHavilland is at her best, never losing her poise, and De Fore's scenes are hilarious. This is a movie to be enjoyed, not analyzed.
    7Doylenf

    Football vs. academics...excellent performances by Fonda, de Havilland and Carson...

    Debate over whether a professor should be allowed to read a controversial letter to his class forms the subject for this spirited football vs. academics comedy originally a stage play by Elliot Nugent and James Thurber. The screen version moves briskly but it's all played at a "full steam ahead" kind of tempo popular at Warner Bros. Henry Fonda is excellent as the mild-mannered professor resentful of his wife's ex-boyfriend (a football jock) and Olivia de Havilland is radiant as his supportive wife. Jack Carson is ideally cast as the ex-football player still in love with Fonda's wife and his bombastic approach to comedy serves him well in this role. Joan Leslie is a little too coy as de Havilland's sister (a role played on the stage by Gene Tierney). It passes the time but is little more than a mildly entertaining comedy with too many dull stretches to make it truly satisfying. Fonda and de Havilland later played husband and wife again on Broadway in 'A Gift of Time' (1962). Elliot Nugent's direction is brisk but it still seems rather stagebound. Nugent himself played the role of the professor on Broadway.
    10theowinthrop

    "Had it not been for these things...."

    James Thurber is best recalled for his wonderful cartoons (mostly printed in The New Yorker magazine in the 1920s through 1950s) and his remarkably fine short stories and essays. He recently got an ultimate accolade (posthumously) by having a volume of his prose and cartoons published in "The Library of America" series. The two longest pieces of writing that he created that people remember are his short story, turned into a film, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", and his other short story turned into a television dramatization, "The Greatest Man in the World". Also his writings were the basis of a wonderful television series (in 1969 - 1970) "My World And Welcome To It" starring William Windom. Quite a bit of mileage for Thurber's work.

    He only (as far as I know) wrote one play. He collaborated with Elliott Nugent on THE MALE ANIMAL, a comedy set on a college campus, that dealt with the limits of free speech and academic freedom on a college campus. Tommy Turner (Henry Fonda), and English professor in a mid-western college, is happily married to Ellen (Olivia de Havilland) when two disasters hit him in one weekend. One of his students, Michael Barnes (Herbert Anderson), is the editor of the college newspaper, and he writes an article praising Turner's outspokenness and encouragement of democracy, and mentioning that Turner is going to conclude a course on great epistolary (letter) writing with the final letter of Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the convicted anarchist murderer(?) / martyr. This turns out to be unwelcome publicity to Tommy. Secondly it is timed for the alumni weekend, when the arrivals include the bullying head of the Board of Trustees Ed Keller (Eugene Palette) and Tommy's former rival for Ellen, Joe Ferguson (Jack Carson).

    Sex and the battles of the sexes play as much a role in the play as does political correctness and censorship. First off, Michael/Anderson apparently wrote the article because of his disappointment concerning his floundering romance with Patricia Stanley (Joan Leslie), who has been showing interest in the football hero of the campus Wally Myers (Don De Fore). This younger triangle mirrors the older one of Fonda, de Havilland, and Carson. Fonda is a fine teacher, but he was giving a pep talk to the disheartened Anderson. That was why he wanted to show his appreciation in writing his piece in the paper.

    Everyone on campus is upset by Fonda's choice of literary example. Carson (now a successful car salesman, whose marriage is rocky and he can't understand why), feels it's wrong. So does de Havilland, who can't understand why Fonda would jeopardize his job by reading that anarchistic trash. And Palette is livid - a prime example of super capitalism triumphant, he has no use for those trouble-making lefties like Vanzetti. And since Palette is the head of the Board of Trustees, his anger can't be simply brushed aside.

    The play has many nice moments in it - Carson and Palette reliving football glories of the past, with the winning "Statue of Liberty" play, that Fonda manages to simply reduce to absurdity that Carson is left wondering what happened when he is literally ball-less. The pep talk that Palette gives regarding messages from various people who can't come in that weekend - and how banal the messages from all of them are. The attempts by Fonda to protect De Havilland with an unsuspecting (and surprisingly honorable) Carson in case Fonda's future is over. And the climax, when the letter is read to the entire school body.

    It is still quite an effective movie, though not thought of among Fonda's or de Havilland's leading performances. Interestingly enough, the letter (while still a masterpiece of English prose) is now known to have been ghost written between Vanzetti and a news reporter who befriended him. But that does not take away from it's effectiveness. As a study in the pros and cons of free speech and academic freedom, you could not do wrong starting out with this film.
    tjonasgreen

    Not Very Funny But Still Relevant . . .

    'The Male Animal' is that beast which lives in all men and comes to the surface when he is threatened. This satire about American concepts of manliness was a hit on Broadway but it made a rather sluggish movie in this incarnation.

    Henry Fonda is fine as the egghead professor and man of principle who proves that standing up for ones values and for freedom of speech is the manliest act of all. Olivia de Havilland is too matronly in appearance and manner as his wife. Far better is Jack Carson, perfectly cast as the brash ex-football 'hero' who turns out to be timid when the chips are down. As usual, this hearty character actor brought more to the part than the script required.

    What strikes you while watching this in 2004 is that the film's message is as fresh and relevant as it was over 60 years ago. A world where athletes are lionized for little reason despite their many shortcomings as men, a world where athletics is given more respect than scholarship, a world where liberal, humanist, democratic values are attacked and constantly threatened with censure -- this is the world we are still living in. This revelation is sobering and suggests that the forces of conservatism have always been too strong in this country, and have been holding us back from all we should be. So while it's a pity this film isn't much, much better than it is, it's still worth a look for the little shocks of recognition it provides.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Don DeFore created the role of Wally Myers in the original Broadway play. When this movie was remade as the musical, She's Working Her Way Through College (1952), DeFore took the role based on the Joe Ferguson character.
    • Goofs
      When Tommy and Michael are drunk on the patio, the arm Tommy has in his jacket switches depending on the camera angle.
    • Quotes

      Prof. Tommy Turner: [Reading Vanzetti's writing sample, at 1:35:40] If it had not been for these things, I might have lived out my life talking at street corners to scorning men. I might have died, unmarked, unknown, a failure. Now we are not a failure. Never in our full life can we hope to do such work for tolerance, for justice, for man's understanding of man, as now we do by accident. Our words - our lives - our pains - nothing! The taking of our lives - lives of a good shoemaker and a poor fish peddler - all! That last moment belongs to us - that agony is our triumph.

    • Connections
      Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Henry Fonda (1978)
    • Soundtracks
      The Old Grey Mare
      (uncredited)

      Traditional

      Played during the opening credits and later sung with modified lyrics as a football fight song

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 4, 1942 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Tú eres mi hombre
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 41m(101 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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