This past Easter I showed my family Harvey (1950) for the first time. I thought this would be the perfect film to end our Easter festivities with. I have already shown my children It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Shop Around the Corner (1940) so they were already familiar with the work of Jimmy Stewart. I wanted to show them another one of Stewart's films because frankly there isn't a Stewart film I have watched that isn't worth watching.
Harvey (1950) is a charming tale about a man and his rabbit. Jimmy Stewart plays the delightful Elwood P. Dowd who sort of roams through life quietly albeit at times he seems a bit eccentric. Elwood goes about life with good intentions and without any malice. He almost has a child-like innocence about him that is both endearing and sweet. He lives with his sister Veta (Josephine Hull) and his niece Myrtle May (Victoria Horne) in a large house that was given to Elwood by his late mother. Veta and Myrtle May worry that they haven't had much of a social life because of Elwood and his eccentricities. He is often seen in public talking to an invisible being and even carries its hat and coat for him.
Things start to get wild when Veta decides to place Elwood in a local sanitarium. After meeting with the kind and dashing Dr. Sanderson (Charles Drake) Veta confesses that she has seen Harvey, Elwood's 6 3 1/2 rabbit as well. Dr. Sanderson mistakes Veta as the new patient and things go awry. Thrown in the mix is the sweet nurse Miss Kelly (Peggy Dow) and the easily confused head of the sanitarium Dr. Chumley (Cecil Kellaway). Everyone means well but everyone is confused on whether or not Elwood is really mad or not.
When given the chance to finally explain who Harvey is to Dr. Sanderson and Nurse Kelly, Elwood states that Harvey is a pooka, which is a benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology. Dr. Sanderson and Nurse Kelly both want the best for Elwood but struggle to fully believe him. .Dr. Chumley decides to have Elwood given a shot so that he could stop seeing Harvey.
Will the doctors eventually believe Elwood's stories, will his sister Veta come to his rescue, and is Harvey real or not? Those answers you must find out by giving Harvey (1950) a watch. My family really enjoyed watching this classic and I hope you do as well.
 for the first time. I thought this would be the perfect film to end our Easter festivitie...){kind=link}
"Frankly there isn't a Stewart film I have watched that isn't worth watching." I agree 1000%, Daffny! Kudos on introducing your family to the classics and choosing Harvey for Easter. It's such a delightful and heartwarming film which I'm sure everyone loved :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I tagged you for the Pick my Movie Tag! I'll leave the link here if you'd like to check it out xoxo
https://theclassicmoviemuse.com/2023/04/07/the-robe-1953-70-years-of-the-easter-classic/
Awww thank you! I will def look into that! Thank you for thinking of me for this! xox
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