Over 21 (1945)

Over 21: Directed by Charles Vidor. With Irene Dunne, Alexander Knox, Charles Coburn, Jeff Donnell. A woman screenwriter lives in a shabby bungalow in order to be near her husband, a 39-year-old newspaper editor who has just joined the army.

“Over 21 the film version of the Ruth Gordon play which detailed her experiences trying to keep the marriage together with Garson Kanin after heu0026#39;d gone in the service provides Irene Dunne with one of her better later roles on the big screen. Itu0026#39;s also in keeping with what was then an upbeat spirit in America about how we would not screw up the peace as we did in the first World War and sow the seeds of yet another global conflict.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe play Ruth Gordon wrote and starred in herself ran for 221 performances in 1944 on Broadway and was confined simply to the bungalow that Gordon and Harvey Stephens who was the male lead had on a training base. If you look on the Broadway credits list it says that the production was u0026#39;stagedu0026#39; by George S. Kaufman as opposed to being directed by him. Iu0026#39;m not sure of the distinction, but I can imagine that with a wit and will as strong as Kaufmanu0026#39;s it must have been an interesting period putting the production together before opening night.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen Columbia bought the screen rights, Sidney Buchman had to do some considerable script reconstruction to move the action beyond the bungalow. The film bears very little trace of its stage origins.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAlexander Knox plays the husband and Charles Coburn the employer of both Dunne and Knox who are writers. Knox has graduated to not only editor, but featured columnist. His words and thoughts help sell the paper and Coburn is in a bind. But Knox feels he has to get into the war, the seminal event of his time in order to speak authoritatively on the kind of post war world he wants. This was not an uncommon theme in those years. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIrene Dunne has some good comic moments, the kind she used to have when she was appearing opposite Cary Grant. In fact Garson Kanin directed both of them in My Favorite Wife a few years earlier. Coburn is his usual cantankerous old water buffalo of a boss who ultimately has a good heart.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOver 21 was an optimistic picture which sad to say wasnu0026#39;t accurate about what the Allies and I mean all of them could bring to the peace conferences to create a better world. Still hopefully a new generation will get it right.”