The Model and the Marriage Broker

The Model and the Marriage Broker was one of those delightful light comedies that Twentieth Century Fox (and Columbia) did so well in the early '50s. It was released here in Australia as a supporting feature. I saw it then and it's never been seen here since then, sadly, so I'm relying on memory. It's hard to imagine anyone else but Thelma Ritter as the matchmaker, Jeanne Crain was gorgeous and suitably aloof as the model, and Scott Brady was just right as the wolf. George Cukor's direction was flawless: handling sensitive issues without becoming mawkish or cruel, and totally un-self-conscious. It ranks equally with his 'The Marrying Kind' and slightly above his 'It Should Happen to You' (aka 'A Name For Herself'), both made with Judy Holliday at Columbia about the same time. I still remember the classic line delivered by Thelma (as only she could) when she tries to persuade a sad-sack male client to take an interest in the plain-Jane character played by Nancy Kulp: "She's a real live-wire - low voltage, but steady."

Although Jeanne Crain gets star billing in this comedy/drama, and even Scott Brady as the X-Ray guy gets billing over Thelma Ritter, this is Ritter's film from the get-go.

She plays Mae Swasey, a no-nonsense marriage broker with a heart of gold. She makes a small living helping life's lonely plain-janes and balding swains find a little happiness. And some of her clients are real doozies. She holds little Sunday afternoon "parties" where the lonely and desperate come together over coffee and cakes and get nudged into pairs.

Of course Mae has a secret of her own: she's in the business because her husband was stolen away 20 years before and she knows loneliness. When she accidentally runs across a naive model (Crain) being strung along by a married man, she knows the score.

So Mae manipulates the model and a struggling X-Ray guy who makes only $75 a week in New York City into some sort of relationship. But they get resentful and send Mae packing. The trouble is that while these glamorous types might not need her help (but they do), many others really do.

Crain learns this after Mae closes shop and goes off to a resort for a rest. Crain meets a few of Mae's customers who can't make a move without her compassion and sage advice. Crain catches on and does a little manipulating of her own.

Thelma Ritter is sensational as Mae. She funny and down to earth and can spit a cherry pit across a room with the best of them. Jeanne Crain is good as the model, and Scott Brady does well as a X-Ray guy. Excellent supporting cast includes Zero Mostel, Nancy Kulp (in her film debut), Dennie Moore, Frank Fontaine, Helen Ford, Michael O'Shea, Allison Daniell as Mae's secretary, Maudie Prickett, Frank Ferguson, JOhn Alexander, Jay C. Flippen, Mae Marsh, Kathryn Card, and Joyce Mackenzie.

They don't make films like this anymore. More's the pity.

George Cukor may well have directed more good movies than anyone else. Not to say that he was the greatest director of all time. Orson Welles was no slouch. Neither was Sam Fuller. But look at the list of movies Cukor directed and you will see an extraordinary oeuvre.

"The Model and the Marriage Broker" is one of the lesser known of his very good movies. It has beautiful shots of New York. The ensemble cast is uniformly superb. The story is appealing, thanks to Charles Brackett. And Thelma Ritter -- the great Thelma Ritter -- gets to play a title character! (She is the marriage broker -- two words and more letters -- rather than the model, of course.) She could light up a movie the same way Shirley Booth could. Some say she stole movies from others. Here that was not necessary, as she is the star. (Her best performance, for me, is still in "Pickup On South Street." But that is a supporting role.) Shirley Booth did so few. She must have been great on the stage. What a shame for posterity that she made only a handful of movies.

Ritter, however, made loads of them. And this is one of her best. It also is one of Cukor's best. Who could say which is his best? Probably there is no single best. I do feel he was generally better with black and white than in his color outings. And I have a particular fondness for "The Marrying Kind." But who knows? The Judy Holiday and Aldo Ray characters might originally have been brought together by the character Ms. Booth plays so beautifully in this story.

The movie's a showcase for Ritter's brand of cranky charm. She's a marriage broker, pairing up lonely people, and dispensing step-motherly advice. There's a parade of familiar supporting characters. Too bad they don't get more screen time, especially the poignant Nancy Kulp and the fast-talking Michael O'Shea. The film's too smooth to be genuinely funny. Still, there're amusing moments, occasional caustic charm, but the underlying theme of lonely people may be a reason director Cukor doesn't go for big laughs. I agree with the reviewer who thinks Crain too cool and detached to get into the swim. On the other hand, Brady surprised with a somewhat animated performance, unlike his usual stolid screen presence.

This is also a movie that really needs Technicolor. Instead the dull grays do nothing to underscore a lighter mood or heighten New York City locations. Anyway, Ritter certainly deserves top billing, which instead went to the better-known Crain who doesn't get much screen time until the last third. Plus, it's to someone's credit that a middle-age woman gets so much attention in a medium not known for the aging or plain-faced. Overall, it's an amiable film with an unusual central performance, a poignant topic, but also with an over-stretched script, likely to accommodate movie star Crain.

Whatever merit THE MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE BROKER has is due entirely to the caustic, funny performance of Thelma Ritter as Mae, the lady with the New York accent who went into the broker business to make other ladies happy (after her own unhappy romantic past).

And it's a good thing Thelma carries the film, with the expert help of a few very good character roles--one in particular being MICHAEL O'SHEA, as a card-playing friend prone to giving her advice. SCOTT BRADY does a nice job as an eligible bachelor who shares some good scenes with Ritter and JEANNE CRAIN.

But Jeanne Crain is the problem. She looks so cool and detached as the unhappy model that it throws the comedy aspects a little off focus. She seems to be walking through her part instead of conveying any real emotion.

Still, a worthwhile little gem strictly because of Thelma Ritter. She's finally got a leading role and she runs away with it.

Nicely directed at a brisk pace by George Cukor.