Male Animal, The
Warner Bros. (1942)
Romance
In Collection
#8217
0*
Seen ItYes
IMDB   6.8
1 hr 40 mins USA / English
DVD  Region 1   NR
Henry Fonda Prof. Tommy Turner
Olivia de Havilland Ellen Turner
Joan Leslie Patricia Stanley
Jack Carson Joe Ferguson
Eugene Pallette Ed Keller
Herbert Anderson Michael Barnes
Hattie McDaniel Cleota
Ivan F. Simpson Dean Frederick Damon
Don DeFore Wally Myers
Jean Ames Hot Garters Gardner
Minna Phillips Mrs. Blanche Damon
Regina Wallace Mrs. Myrtle Keller
Frank Mayo Coach Sprague
William B. Davidson Alumnus
Bobby Barnes Nutsy Miller
Director
Elliott Nugent
Writer Julius J. Epstein
Philip G. Epstein

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.
Edition Details
No. of Disks/Tapes 1