Although "The Human Comedy" is a well-produced piece of Americana with an excellent cast. Nevertheless, I don't think this movie has aged well. The fault lies not with the cast, the director, nor the production values, but with the script.
William Saroyan is one of those authors who was highly celebrated in his own day, but who who has been almost completely forgotten since then. See "The Human Comedy" and you will understand why. The basic premise, of an adolescent boy getting a job delivering telegrams and then receiving the telegram announcing the death of his older brother in the war, could have furnished an excellent basis for a drama. However, as handled by Saroyan, the whole thing degenerates so far into melodrama and sentimentality as to become simply cloying.
It is, of course, granted that audiences today do not share the same sensibilities as did people in the early 1940s. Nevertheless, it is difficult to see how people even then could have accepted this level of sentimental mush. This is not to say that there aren't a lot of good things in this movie, it is simply that Saroyan ruins what could have been great by taking things way too far over the top.
Don't blame the cast, for the most part they are excellent. Mickey Rooney and Frank Morgan did some of their best work in this film, and so did the much-underrated Marsha Hunt. The little kid who played the little brother, Ulysses, was also perfect. In addition, look for a young Robert Mitchum, years before he became a star, in a small supporting role. It was simply a shame that the script wasn't up to the standard of the rest of this production.
William Saroyan is one of those authors who was highly celebrated in his own day, but who who has been almost completely forgotten since then. See "The Human Comedy" and you will understand why. The basic premise, of an adolescent boy getting a job delivering telegrams and then receiving the telegram announcing the death of his older brother in the war, could have furnished an excellent basis for a drama. However, as handled by Saroyan, the whole thing degenerates so far into melodrama and sentimentality as to become simply cloying.
It is, of course, granted that audiences today do not share the same sensibilities as did people in the early 1940s. Nevertheless, it is difficult to see how people even then could have accepted this level of sentimental mush. This is not to say that there aren't a lot of good things in this movie, it is simply that Saroyan ruins what could have been great by taking things way too far over the top.
Don't blame the cast, for the most part they are excellent. Mickey Rooney and Frank Morgan did some of their best work in this film, and so did the much-underrated Marsha Hunt. The little kid who played the little brother, Ulysses, was also perfect. In addition, look for a young Robert Mitchum, years before he became a star, in a small supporting role. It was simply a shame that the script wasn't up to the standard of the rest of this production.