IT HAPPENED TO JANE

US, 1959, 97 minutes, Colour.
Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Steve Forrest, Mary Wickes.
Directed by Richard Quine.

It Happened to Jane is what might be called a rather Frank Capra kind of film. Doris Day portrays a widow in Maine who runs a lobster business. One of her shipments is ruined by carelessness in the railways and she decides to take on the boss. He is called Harry Foster Malone (an allusion to Orson Welles’ Charles Foster Kane). He is played by comedian Ernie Kovacs. Jane enlists the help of her friend, lawyer Jack Lemmon. The film is a very entertaining pairing of Jack Lemmon and Doris Day.

The film was directed by Richard Quine, director of a number of amusing comedies at this particular period including The Notorious Landlady and Bell, Book and Candle.

The film is obviously a David and Goliath story, the ordinary woman and her attempts to confront big business and achieve justice. Doris Day gets an opportunity to sing a song with the boy scouts – which was not received so favourably, a sentimental addition to a much more serious-minded comedy.

1. Why was this a popularly enjoyable film? What were its best comedy ingredients? Its freshness and its approach to its problem?

2. How much did the film rely on the lively performance of Doris Day, the whimsical geniality of Jack Lemmon, the villainy of Ernie Kovacs?

3. How humane a film was the film? Did this give an added dimension to the comedy?

4. How well did the film tackle the perennial theme of the little person versus the big person? Did the film take this theme seriously and treat with some significance, even though with comedy?

5. How well did the film treat the theme of good versus bad? Was Jane too wholesomely good? (or did she have her temptations to exploit her situation in the New York scenes?) How bad was Harry Foster Malone? What particular aspects of his badness were ugly? Did it matter if he turned genial finally?

6. Was Jane a credible character? Did her plight make her credible? Was this made clear at the beginning as regards the lobsters? Did you understand why she wanted to pursue the case? (The importance of the tradition of her family and the New England tradition?)

7. How credible was the whole story? Could it happen only in America? How credible was George? Was he meant to be too whimsically foolish? The scoutmaster versus the lawyer? His inability to ask Jane to marry him etc.? The fact that he stayed home while Jane went to New York?

8. How bad a villain was Harry Malone? Was this clear at the beginning of the film? Is this really what happens by the tycoons of big business? What was the nature of his ruthlessness? Did he relish being the meanest man in the world? How smart was he in combatting Jane? Why did he give in?

9. How important was the theme of principle versus oppression? Why is it that people like Jane make their protest? Was too much made of U.S. democracy? Or did this make sense in the context of the film?

10. The presentation of the corporation and its traditions? Its elections and oppression? Its meetings?

11. The importance of George's speech to the people? How important were the points he made in this speech? Did the people really deserve the attack? Why?

12. How enjoyable were the TV sequences? How was this a satire on American television and the attitudes of people watching it? Was Jane in danger of changing? Of being spoilt by all the publicity?

13. Was the romance between Harry and Jane important to the film? Did it add to the film or detract from it? (It gave the occasion for Jane to show him over the town and to explain its history.)

14. Was a happy ending the most appropriate ending to this film? Why?

15. The film moralised in its comedy. Did it do this effectively? Do these films affect people in their attitudes?
Do they encourage people to imitate people like Jane? Why?