"Together Again" was the third and last pairing of Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in the leads. One might say they each lose their head over the other in this wonderful comedy. The story is riddled with hilarious scenes and lines. And, as the screenplay intimates, there might be some heavenly persuasion included in the story.
When this movie came out just before Christmas 1944, WW II in Europe had just been prolonged with the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. So, that Christmas at home, this film was likely another welcome escape.
A superb cast support Dunne and Boyer as Mayor Anne Crandall and sculptor George Corday, respectively. Charles Coburn has one of his excellent roles as a supporting actor. He plays Jonathan Crandall Sr. Mona Freeman is a riot as the teenage daughter of Anne, Diana Crandall. Jerome Courtland is Gilbert Parker, Charles Dingle is the boisterous newspaper owner, Morton Buchanan, and Elizabeth Patterson is Jessie, Crandall's cook and housekeeper.
The film has outstanding work with scenes of lightning in the sky. The very end of the film is a masterpiece of film work. This is one of those comedies that had superb writing and the perfect cast for the plot. The script is filled with humor, in many places just in the dialog of conversation between people. The replies and responses between Boyer's Corday and Dunne's mayor Crandall are examples of great spontaneity in writing -- and acting. This film has so much of that, that it takes a second and third viewing to grasp it all and enjoy more laughter.
And, this is one of the great comedies that Dunne made where her exceptional talent lights up the screen. Just watch for and look at the close-ups with her facial expressions that portray the comedy in all the scenes she is in. The first half of the film will get big laughs after her second or third shocking or perturbed reaction to a Boyer line, with "Mr. Corday!" It was by my third time watching this movie - some years after the first that this seemed to tickle my funny bone so much.
Here are some samples of the superb dialog in this film. For many more funny lines, see the Quotes section in this IMDb Web page on the film.
Diana Crandall, "Grandfather Crandall, you weren't sick. You cheated. I don't know where you got this dishonesty about things, because you certainly didn't get it from me or my father."
George Corday, "Well, I'm not going to apologize, you know. Because you're a fraud." Anne Crandall. "I beg your..." Corday, "You are. You are a fraud and a delusion. You deserve to be embarrassed." Anne,: "I..." Corday, "You have no business running around with mayor insides and such a beautiful outside."
Anne, "My, my, it certainly is philosophical out tonight."
Corday, "Most women's necks are just something to hold their heads up. But yours is positively lyrical."
Anne, "Oh, that was the strangest thing. I was standing right here with my dress in my hand, and all of a sudden, it disappeared. Right through the window."
Witherspoon, "It's manpower, your honor." Mayor Anne Candall, "Manpower, my eye. Use woman power, then." Witherspoon, "Women, to collect garbage?" Anne, "Why not? Women see more garbage in their lives than men do, don't they? They might as well get paid for it."
Jonathan Crandall Sr:, "Whew! It's like living with a box of matches."
Corday, "And that hat. That is definitely not a mayor's hat."
Corday, "Mrs. Crandall, your persistence in placing this interview on a personal basis is very embarrassing to me." Anne, "Embarrassing to you!"
Corday, "Mm hmm. I have erased the question mark after affectionate. You see how one thing leads to another?" Anne, "Mr. Corday!"
Corday, "You've been a widow for five years?" Anne, "Well, naturally." Corday, "On the contrary, there is nothing natural about that."
Corday, "If only women could realize that it's modesty that is attractive to men."
Anne, "Mr. Corday, I don't believe you understood me. I just fired you."
Diana, "But, but mother said you had a beard, down to here." Anne, "Well, I thought you did. Didn't you?" She motions toward Diana. Corday, giving Anne a scolding teacher's look, then picking it up, "A beard?... Oh, yes, yes. I did have a beard, but I shaved it off. It's so much warmer here in Vermont than in New York."
Anne, "You blackmailer!" Corday, "Tch, tch. Mayor Crandall!"
Anne, "Mr. Corday, why do you want to stay here that badly?" Corday, "That's what I want to find out."
Corday, "I'm sorry. I think your granddaughter is a charming child." Jonathan Sr., "My granddaughter is a ravening she-wolf. And don't underestimate her. Now if my daughter-in-law started spouting French, I wouldn't object. Do you understand? I wouldn't object at all."
Jessie, "He's been trying to get you alone ever since he came here. Well, I see he's finally made it." Anne, "Please, don't be silly, Jessie." Jessie, "I might give you the same advice, Mayor Crandall."
Jessie, "I don't know what's keeping Mrs. Crandall out this late." Jonathan Sr., "Really?"
Jonathan Sr., "If we're going to rot here together, we might as well be gay about it."
Diana, coming in all excited with a newspaper in her hands, "Mother! Mother! Did you know this happened to you?"
Jonathan Sr., "A mother's just another piece of furniture in a girl's house, Gilbert, don't you know that?"
Diana, "In our part of the country, Mr. Corday, we don't bandy women's names around without any clothes on."
Jonathan Sr., "Why, Jessie, you're a human being." Jessie, "That don't call for you to be insulting, Mr. Crandall."
Miss Thorn, "You've kind of lost your head over that little mayor dame, haven't you?" Corday, "Well, she's the type of woman men seem to lose their heads over, Miss Thorn."
