Harvey [G]

Meet Elwood P. Dowd. He’s the most pleasant and good-natured man alive and is perfectly normal in every way aside from the fact that his best friend is a six-foot tall white rabbit named Harvey whom he only he can see. To his sister, Veta, Elwood’s obsession with Harvey is dangerous both to himself and to her plans to have a social life and marry off her daughter. She decides to commit Elwood into a hospital for treatment, but through a series of misunderstandings she ends up herself committed. It’s up to Elwood and Harvey to straighten everything out. 

This is an enchanting and adorable, really adorable little movie. It’s a lovely splice between a family film and a screwball comedy and of course, it can be argued that the film has achieved longevity by its influence on other films in popular culture: case in point, Peter Sellers’ character in Being There and of course, the rabbit in Donnie Darko. Set against the pleasant, almost fantasy setting of suburbia and backed by a beautiful happy little soundtrack by Frank Skinner, Harvey is a compelling and cute little film that I really enjoyed. 

Meet Elwood P. Dowd. He’s the most pleasant and good-natured man alive and is perfectly normal in every way aside from the fact that his best friend is a six-foot tall white rabbit named Harvey whom he only he can see. To his sister, Veta, Elwood’s obsession with Harvey is dangerous both to himself and to her plans to have a social life and marry off her daughter. She decides to commit Elwood into a hospital for treatment, but through a series of misunderstandings she ends up herself committed. It’s up to Elwood and Harvey to straighten everything out. 

What is really lovely and endearing about this movie is its story and the messages and ambiguity that it harbours. Of course we never get to physically see Harvey, but the story keeps us guessing as to who and what he actually is through a series of tricky little camera shots, a very good performance from James Stewart, and the physical movement of objects on their own such as doors opening and closing and the swing chair swinging in a particular rhythm. We see things go missing and then reappear and what’s really lovely is that all this is not only makes us ask questions, but it’s also a very clever ploy for character and indeed, narrative development. The key plot points in the third act lead us to believe that Harvey is indeed something physical and not just a figment of Elwood’s imagination, thus rearranging our entire outlook on the movie. The screenplay is very clever how it teases and tricks us through misleading dialogue, misdirecting plot points, and a strong injection of ambiguity. Even when the credits begin to roll, we’re still not sure what everything is about, but we love all the same. 

James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd is lovely. He’s so polite and sincere and just the nicest guy. He epitomises pleasantry. 

Starring Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake, Cecil Kellaway, Victoria Horne, Jesse White, William H. Lynn, Wallace Ford, Nana Bryan, and Grayce Mills, Harvey is a delightful little movie that’s filled with misunderstandings, misinterpretations, pleasantries, romance, and comedy. It’s a most heartening movie, almost in the vein of Drop Dead Fred for those who care to remember, just a bit classier and in black and white. I really enjoyed it; it made me feel very light and happy at the end.