The Male Animal: Difference between revisions

| producer = {{Plainlist|
* [[Hal B. Wallis]]<br> (Executiveexecutive producer)<br>
* [[Wolfgang Reinhardt (producer)|Wolfgang Reinhardt]]<br> (Associateassociate producer)

| cinematography = [[Arthur Edeson]], [[A.S.C.]]

| distributor = [[Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.]]

| released = {{startFilm date|1942|04|04|U.S.}}

| gross = $1 million {{small|(US rentals)}}<ref name="variety-101">[{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety149-1943-01#page/n57/mode/1up "|title=101 Pix Gross in Millions" ''|magazine=Variety'' |date=6 Jan 1943 p |page=58]}}</ref>

'''''The Male Animal''''' is a 1942 American [[comedy-drama|comedy-drama film,]] produced by [[Warner Bros.]], starring [[Henry Fonda]], [[Olivia de Havilland]] and [[Joan Leslie]].<ref>''[[Variety Film Reviews|Variety]]'' film review; March 4, 1942, page 8.</ref><ref>''[[Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews|Harrison's Reports]]'' film review; March 7, 1942, page 38.</ref>

The film was based on a hit 1940 Broadway play of the same name written by [[James Thurber]] and [[Elliott Nugent]]. The screenplay was written by [[Stephen Morehouse Avery]], [[Julius J. Epstein]], and [[Philip G. Epstein]], based on Nugent and Thurber's play. The film was also directed by Elliott Nugent.

== Plot ==

Tommy Turner ([[Henry Fonda]]) is an English teacher at football-crazed Midwestern University. Although he is uninvolved with the politics of the day, Tommy suddenly finds himself the center of a free-speech debate on campus. An editorial in a student magazine praises him for planning to read [[Bartolomeo Vanzetti|Bartolomeo Vanzetti's]] sentencing statement to his class as an example of eloquent composition, even in broken English composed by a non-professional.

The school's conservative trustees, led by Ed Keller ([[Eugene Pallette]]), threaten to fire Tommy if he doesn't withdraw the reading from his lecture. The subject of free speech and Tommy's dilemma of conscience anchor the dramatic subplot's social significance. The lighter comic triangle plot concerns a return visit to attend the big football game by Joe Ferguson ([[Jack Carson]]), a former football hero and onetimeone-time love interest of Turner's wife Ellen ([[Olivia de Havilland]]). Joe is recently divorced and he rekindles Ellen's romantic notions at the very moment when her marriage to Tommy is being tested by the events on campus.

* [[Regina Wallace]] as Mrs. Myrtle Keller

[[Gene Tierney]], who had starred as Patricia Stanley in the original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production, was unable to appear in the film because she was contracted to star in [[John Ford]]'s movie version of ''[[Tobacco Road (film)|Tobacco Road]]''. Don DeFore, another member of the Broadway cast, repeated his role in the film. Co-writer Elliott Nugent played the lead role on the stage before coming to Hollywood to direct Henry Fonda in the film version. [[Gig Young]], who changed his birth name / [[stage name]], Byron Barr, that year, appears unbilled as a student.

* {{IMDb title|id=0035020|title=The Male Animal}}

* {{tcmdbTcmdb title|id=2579|title=The Male Animal}}

* {{AFI film|id=27332|title=The Male Animal}}

* [http://www.scarletandgray.info/osu/songs/michigan.html[We Don't Give a Damn|Song, "We Don't Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan"]]

* [httphttps://archive.org/download/BestPlays/BestPlays53-08-0946TheMaleAnimal.mp3 1953 ''Best Plays'' radio adaptation of original play] at [[Internet Archive]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Male Animal, The}}

[[Category:1940s1942 romantic comedy films]]

[[Category:FilmsAmerican films based on plays]]

[[Category:1940Films playsscored by Heinz Roemheld]]