Henry Koster, “Harvey” (1950)
This film about a middle-aged bachelor whose only friend and companion happens to be an invisible giant bunny rabbit could have ended up a soppy sentimental piece or one giant cringe-fest in the hands of lesser people. Under Koster’s direction and with the lead character Elwood P Dowd played by James Stewart, the movie becomes a plea for social tolerance and acceptance of people whose only crime is to be eccentric and quirky. The film also is a sly commentary on social conformity and ambition, materialism and society’s tendency to treat those who are different in some way as mentally ill and needing psychiatric treatment.
Elwood P Dowd spends his days doing little except drink too much at a bar and wandering around town conversing with his rabbit friend Harvey. His idiosyncratic habit upsets his older sister Veta (Josephine Hull) when his unexpected early return home upsets a social gathering that was supposed to introduce her daughter Myrtle Mae (Victoria Horne) to social contacts who might know of eligible bachelors for Myrtle Mae’s hand. Veta determines to put Dowd into a mental asylum and takes him to see Dr Chumley at his hospital. Unfortunately events there see Veta taken in as a patient and Dowd escape. Vera threatens to sue Dr Chumley and the staff at the mental institution try strenuously to hunt down Dowd and give him treatment. The plot becomes quite convoluted at times with characters racing in circles after one another and Dowd who is oblivious to all the fuss on his behalf. Eventually after some extraordinary mishaps – which have some characters other than Dowd wondering whether Harvey really does exist – Veta becomes reconciled with Dowd and his quirky friend, Myrtle Mae unexpectedly finds true love and two of the staff at Dr Chumley’s hospital also become an item.
Based on a play by Mary Chase who also co-wrote the screenplay, “Harvey” is not especially deep and doesn’t intend that it be taken very seriously. Stewart brings the right balance of credibility, warmth and child-like wonder to his character who basically is a lonely man at odds with a harsh and unforgiving world and who breaks away from it in a way that, while it risks isolating him even more from others, is nevertheless quite harmless and does not bring Dowd to the attention of police. The other characters around him are self-obsessed or caught up with social climbing and presenting a good face before society. As the plot progresses, Dowd and Harvey come to have a significant effect on those he meets: Dr Sanderson and Nurse Kelly fall in love and Myrtle Mae and a hospital orderly fall for each other as well. (This is quite significant because the orderly is below Myrtle Mae in social class.) Dr Chumley becomes less remote and somewhat humanised by his meeting with Dowd and Harvey and Veta realises that she would rather prefer her young brother to be his quirky individual self rather than a tamed and colourless everyday man.
It becomes obvious that the “normal” characters are the unstable ones on the edge of hysteria and break-down while the character needing help turns out to be the stable fulcrum around whom everyone and everything revolves. Myrtle Mae finally finds romance through Dowd as do Dr Chumley’s staff. Perhaps the film’s highlight comes in the alley scene in which Dowd explains his personal philosophy to the uncomprehending Dr Sanderson and Nurse Kelly; however the doctor and the nurse’s failure to understand and accept Dowd as he is weakens the impact of this scene. Less plausible is Veta’s sudden volte-face after a cab driver explains to her that the hospital’s drug treatment will turn Dowd into another faceless corporate zombie.
The film is well-paced without feeling rushed, the comedy in several scenes is played up in subtle ways so that the film never feels like crude slapstick and Stewart and Hull deliver fine performances as Dowd and Veta. Koster uses lighting and setting very well in some scenes. Although the film’s message is gentle, urging tolerance and a forgiving attitude towards those who don’t or can’t fit in with society’s demands, it does tend to accept the dominant narrative that life is what you make it and doesn’t question the values of a society that prizes cut-throat achievement, marrying for power, wealth and influence, and a narrowly defined conformity.