The Human Comedy (1943)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Santa Monica
• Awards: 1 · Nominations: 5. Including: Academy Award for Best Story

The Human Comedy is a 1943 American comedy-drama film directed by Clarence Brown adapted from the novel of the same name by William Saroyan. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the film stars Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Fay Bainter, Ray Collins, Van Johnson, Donna Reed and Jackie "Butch" Jenkins. Barry Nelson, Robert Mitchum and Don DeFore appear together as boisterous soldiers in uncredited supporting roles.

Production

William Saroyan wrote a film treatment and expanded it into a screenplay that he had expected to direct. However, he left the project when his 240-page script proved to be too long—approximately 4 hours long—and he was removed as director. Saroyan went home and turned his original script into a novel, which was published just before the film's release and became an instant best-seller.

Saroyan was not at all happy with the film as completed by Clarence Brown. Among the noticeable differences between the film and the novel are a more vivid characterization of the four-year-old Ulysses, stronger social criticism and far fewer sentimental scenes than were incorporated into the film by Estabrook and Brown.

Several sources indicate that The Human Comedy was the favorite film of MGM studio chief, Louis B. Mayer.

According to the American Film Institute, music credited in the film included "All the World Will Be Jealous of Me", by Ernest R. Ball and Al Dubin, and "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms", words by E. A. Hoffman, music by A. J. Showalter, but they are not credited on screen. Music is important to the Macauley family and to those around them, including Marcus's Army buddies.

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