Kathleen Vincenz, one of the first people to sign up for #CleanMovieMonth, published this article on her website as part of the celebration. The original article, which was published on July 20, can be seen here. Thank you for participating, Kathleen!
As part of July is Clean Movie month I watched The More the Merrier, ia screwball comedy produced during the
Code that I never knew about until a few years ago, which seems impossible after all these years of Old Hollywood film watching. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, and is romantic and funny. But then it’s wonderful too because I haven’t worn it out like I have my other favorites, likeAdam’s Rib and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, watching them a gazillion times.
The More the Merrier is set in wartime Washington, DC, with a housing storage. To do her patriotic duty, Constance (Jean Arthur) rents ½ of her apartment to Mr. Dingle (Charles Coburn), who then rents ½ of his ½ to a high type, clean cut, nice young fella, Joe Carter (Joel McCrea), who appears in the first scene carrying a propeller—all high type, clean cut, young fellas carry propellers.
The More the Merrier illustrates how close Hollywood played to the edge of the Code because it’s really a very naughty film. Its got only one thing on its mind: to find love for Constance, albeit with marriage contract. It also illustrates how because of the Code, the writers and directors had to play with words and situations to help Constance find love. Isn’t that so much better than watching a made-for-Netflix-movie where the people are you-know-what-ing before the title credits are over?
If you haven’t seen The More the Merrier, you really must. Constance’s clothes and hair styles are so fun and funky, and Joel McCrea is so charming, and Mr. Dingle is so damn-the-torpedoes, full-speed ahead. After watching it, you’ll know that Old Hollywood is better than New Netflix, especially Code Old Hollywood.
Follow us to bring back the Code and save the arts in America!
We are lifting our voices in classical song to help the sun rise on a new day of pure entertainment!
pure entertainment preservation society 
This is a wonderful article! Kathleen Vincenz gave us a really compact, neat review of this interesting wartime movie. We admire the way she wove references to the Code and self-regulation into it. We appreciate her conclusion that this film is fun despite and because of the Code. As she pointed out, it gently rides the limits, but it still is wholesome. We are glad that she concludes that Old Code Hollywood is better than standard Netflix fare.
Thank you for participating, Kathleen!
Yours Hopefully,
Tiffany Brannan
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