Post by cyanonan on Jul 2, 2024 19:29:01 GMT
Hello, I'm posting on behalf of my 70 something year old coworker, any help finding this movie would be greatly appreciated! The following is a very detailed document he gave me describing what he remembers.
"Please help me find an Enoch Arden-themed comedy that is unquestionably the movie of which
Three's a Crowd (1969) (see below) was a remake. To my knowledge, it is NOT one of the movies
listed below. It is a B&W movie and was most likely produced in the 1950s. Key words: bigamy,
elevator operator, Enoch Arden-themed.
This is a tragic comedy about a husband who works in two cities, consequently he divides his time
between two large and somewhat distant U.S. metropolises.
The movie starts in a living room scene of an old grey-haired retired couple quietly sitting in comfortable chairs with the wife maybe knitting, and her husband just sitting. Suddenly the husband excitedly jumps up and hurries to the front door to greet a courier delivering a package for which he's obviously been anxiously awaiting. Although it's wrapped in brown paper, by its proportions it's apparent that it is framed artwork. With close-up images of the man, you see him hurriedly take the package over to the fireplace, and unwrap it, take down the artwork hanging above the mantle and replace it with the new arrival. Then he stands back and the camera pans back to reveal him relishing in his admiration of his new acquisition and the camera pans up to finally shows the viewers what it is: an elevator panel from a recently torn down high rise, beautifully framed like a work of fine art. The camera slowly zooms up to the button for Floor 13, which lights up, and then the camera blurs and we're taken back in time when the husband, as a much younger man worked as the elevator operator of a downtown high rise in one of the two metropolises where the aforementioned husband worked on the 13th Floor, and at the time when his wife was on a flight that went down, and after a year was legally pronounced or declared dead. The grieving widower daily confided in the elevator operator as one would seek solace from a bartender.
Eventually the widower finds happiness and marries a woman living in the other metropolis and life again becomes good. He maintains his original house to stay in in metropolis #1, and lives with his second wife in her house in metropolis #2. Suddenly, without warning, Wife No. 1 returns after being stranded on a deserted island or something. Through no fault of his own, the poor man is now suddenly a bigamist with two wives that don't have a clue about each other. The husband is perplexed and doesn't know how to tell either wife about the other. Caught in the daunting predicament, he does all he can to manage things until he can figure out what to do and how to do it, all the while confiding in the elevator operator, who is just as bewildered as the husband. He maintains his marriage to Wife No. 1 in her city and Wife No. 2 in the other city, equally dividing holidays and anniversaries between the two. If he spends Christmas with one, he spends Thanksgiving with the other. If he spends New Years with one, he spends Valentines with the other. Although totally stressed out and nerve-racking, things seem to get somewhat manageable and appear to be manageable for the most part, until Wife No. 2 comes into Wife No. l's territory (I forget the reason, maybe to celebrate his birthday, the only anniversary that can't be divided).
Tension reaches a fever pitch as both wives, neither knowing of the other, get closer to the high rise to be with their husband. The husband and elevator operator frantically consider strategies to keep the two wives apart, and the elevator operator is the man on the ground and lookout. But it becomes all too apparent that all that can be done is to monitor the situation and possibly intervene if occasion permits, the elevator operator carefully surveying the situation, and reporting to the husband, who's frantically pacing the 13th Floor. As fate would have it, both women end up in adjacent hairdryers in the skyscraper's basement hair salon. They are both in love and happy and start up a conversation. Immediately they discover they have things in common, i.e., both their husbands work on the same floor, both husbands have the same occupation, etc. The viewers are left to imagine the inevitable. The final scene is on the 13th Floor where the husband is frantically pacing the elevator lobby when an elevator arrives and the doors open to reveal both women, side by side, and infuriated as though he had intentionally and deceitfully perpetrated the whole affair, and behind them was the elevator operator sick with despair. The movie ends about there, but not before the viewers learn that both wives file for divorce.
RULED OUT ENOCH ARDEN-THEMED MOVIES: (BASED ON THE POEM "ENOCH ARDEN" BY TENNYSON)
Enoch Arden (1911) two-part short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith starring Linda Arvidson
Enoch Arden (1914) starring Fay Davis
Enoch Arden (1915) American short drama film directed by Christy Cabanne starring Lillian Gish
Too Many Husbands (1919) Play by W. Somerset Maugham.
Too Many Husbands (1940) Story by: W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by Wesley Ruggles starring Jean Arthur and Fred MacMurry
My Favorite Wife (1940) directed by Garson Kanin starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne
Three's a Crowd (1945) (Murder Mystery) Director: Lesley Selander. Writers: Mignon G. Eberhart (novel) (as Mignon Eberhart), Dane Lussier. Stars: Pamela Blake, Charles Gordon, Gertrude Michael
My Favorite Husband (1953) (TV Series) Story by Nathan "Nate" Monaster (1911-1990)
The Captain's Paradise (1953) directed by Anthony Kimmins starring Alec Guinness and Yvonne De Carlo
Three for the Show (1955) Musical [rework of "Too Many Husbands"] directed by H.C. Potter starring Betty Grable and Jack Lemmon
Three's a Crowd (1957) (TV Episode of "Hey, Jeannie!) Story by Nathan "Nate" Monaster (1911-1990)
The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959) directed by Henry Levin and starring Clifton Webb
Something's Got to Give (1962) [rework of "My Favorite Wife"] directed by George Cukor starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin
Move Over, Darling (1963) [recovery of "Something's Got to Give"] directed by Michael Gordon starring James Garner and Doris Day
Three's a Crowd (1969) [TV movie] Story by Nathan "Nate" P. Monaster (1911-1990). Directed by Harry Falk starring Larry Hagman and Jessica Walter [this has got to be a remake of the movie I'm trying to find, but there's no reference to it in the credits.]"
"Please help me find an Enoch Arden-themed comedy that is unquestionably the movie of which
Three's a Crowd (1969) (see below) was a remake. To my knowledge, it is NOT one of the movies
listed below. It is a B&W movie and was most likely produced in the 1950s. Key words: bigamy,
elevator operator, Enoch Arden-themed.
This is a tragic comedy about a husband who works in two cities, consequently he divides his time
between two large and somewhat distant U.S. metropolises.
The movie starts in a living room scene of an old grey-haired retired couple quietly sitting in comfortable chairs with the wife maybe knitting, and her husband just sitting. Suddenly the husband excitedly jumps up and hurries to the front door to greet a courier delivering a package for which he's obviously been anxiously awaiting. Although it's wrapped in brown paper, by its proportions it's apparent that it is framed artwork. With close-up images of the man, you see him hurriedly take the package over to the fireplace, and unwrap it, take down the artwork hanging above the mantle and replace it with the new arrival. Then he stands back and the camera pans back to reveal him relishing in his admiration of his new acquisition and the camera pans up to finally shows the viewers what it is: an elevator panel from a recently torn down high rise, beautifully framed like a work of fine art. The camera slowly zooms up to the button for Floor 13, which lights up, and then the camera blurs and we're taken back in time when the husband, as a much younger man worked as the elevator operator of a downtown high rise in one of the two metropolises where the aforementioned husband worked on the 13th Floor, and at the time when his wife was on a flight that went down, and after a year was legally pronounced or declared dead. The grieving widower daily confided in the elevator operator as one would seek solace from a bartender.
Eventually the widower finds happiness and marries a woman living in the other metropolis and life again becomes good. He maintains his original house to stay in in metropolis #1, and lives with his second wife in her house in metropolis #2. Suddenly, without warning, Wife No. 1 returns after being stranded on a deserted island or something. Through no fault of his own, the poor man is now suddenly a bigamist with two wives that don't have a clue about each other. The husband is perplexed and doesn't know how to tell either wife about the other. Caught in the daunting predicament, he does all he can to manage things until he can figure out what to do and how to do it, all the while confiding in the elevator operator, who is just as bewildered as the husband. He maintains his marriage to Wife No. 1 in her city and Wife No. 2 in the other city, equally dividing holidays and anniversaries between the two. If he spends Christmas with one, he spends Thanksgiving with the other. If he spends New Years with one, he spends Valentines with the other. Although totally stressed out and nerve-racking, things seem to get somewhat manageable and appear to be manageable for the most part, until Wife No. 2 comes into Wife No. l's territory (I forget the reason, maybe to celebrate his birthday, the only anniversary that can't be divided).
Tension reaches a fever pitch as both wives, neither knowing of the other, get closer to the high rise to be with their husband. The husband and elevator operator frantically consider strategies to keep the two wives apart, and the elevator operator is the man on the ground and lookout. But it becomes all too apparent that all that can be done is to monitor the situation and possibly intervene if occasion permits, the elevator operator carefully surveying the situation, and reporting to the husband, who's frantically pacing the 13th Floor. As fate would have it, both women end up in adjacent hairdryers in the skyscraper's basement hair salon. They are both in love and happy and start up a conversation. Immediately they discover they have things in common, i.e., both their husbands work on the same floor, both husbands have the same occupation, etc. The viewers are left to imagine the inevitable. The final scene is on the 13th Floor where the husband is frantically pacing the elevator lobby when an elevator arrives and the doors open to reveal both women, side by side, and infuriated as though he had intentionally and deceitfully perpetrated the whole affair, and behind them was the elevator operator sick with despair. The movie ends about there, but not before the viewers learn that both wives file for divorce.
RULED OUT ENOCH ARDEN-THEMED MOVIES: (BASED ON THE POEM "ENOCH ARDEN" BY TENNYSON)
Enoch Arden (1911) two-part short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith starring Linda Arvidson
Enoch Arden (1914) starring Fay Davis
Enoch Arden (1915) American short drama film directed by Christy Cabanne starring Lillian Gish
Too Many Husbands (1919) Play by W. Somerset Maugham.
Too Many Husbands (1940) Story by: W. Somerset Maugham. Directed by Wesley Ruggles starring Jean Arthur and Fred MacMurry
My Favorite Wife (1940) directed by Garson Kanin starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne
Three's a Crowd (1945) (Murder Mystery) Director: Lesley Selander. Writers: Mignon G. Eberhart (novel) (as Mignon Eberhart), Dane Lussier. Stars: Pamela Blake, Charles Gordon, Gertrude Michael
My Favorite Husband (1953) (TV Series) Story by Nathan "Nate" Monaster (1911-1990)
The Captain's Paradise (1953) directed by Anthony Kimmins starring Alec Guinness and Yvonne De Carlo
Three for the Show (1955) Musical [rework of "Too Many Husbands"] directed by H.C. Potter starring Betty Grable and Jack Lemmon
Three's a Crowd (1957) (TV Episode of "Hey, Jeannie!) Story by Nathan "Nate" Monaster (1911-1990)
The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959) directed by Henry Levin and starring Clifton Webb
Something's Got to Give (1962) [rework of "My Favorite Wife"] directed by George Cukor starring Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin
Move Over, Darling (1963) [recovery of "Something's Got to Give"] directed by Michael Gordon starring James Garner and Doris Day
Three's a Crowd (1969) [TV movie] Story by Nathan "Nate" P. Monaster (1911-1990). Directed by Harry Falk starring Larry Hagman and Jessica Walter [this has got to be a remake of the movie I'm trying to find, but there's no reference to it in the credits.]"
