The More the Merrier

Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn star in this delightful comedy set during World War II about a single working-girl who, because of a significant housing shortage, sublets half her Washington D.C. apartment to two men for some very merry and very romantic results. For director George Stevens, THE MORE THE MERRIER would be the final film in his three picture deal with Columbia (the others were Penny Serenade and The Talk Of the Town), as well as his last project before entering the service in the Army Signal Corps film unit. THE MORE THE MERRIER featured terrific performances from its three stars and especially from Charles Coburn, who earned himself a 1943 Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor. Jean Arthur, who Stevens called "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen," garnered an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. The film, written specifically for Arthur, also received nominations for Best Motion Picture Story, Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director. In 1966, THE MORE THE MERRIER was remade as Walk, Don't Run, which starred Cary Grant and focused on the housing shortage during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.