The Movie: 8

The movie dates from 1948, when families of veterans of the second world war were going to college to make careers for themselves courtesy of the government’s G.I. Bill (aka: The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) and, along the way, do their best to continue the species.

George Seaton (who wrote the original screenplay for Miracle on 34th Street just the year before; prior to that: The Song of Bernadette and Charley’s Aunt; later on: The Country Girl and Airport; he also directed all of those, including the present film, except for Bernadette) adapted a story by Faith Baldwin (titled “An Apartment for Peggy” - so why drop the “An” for the movie?) that tackles two big issues: the plight of the returning GI and his family and suicide.  The suicide thread is what starts our story out as Prof. Barnes (Edmund Gwenn) announces to his colleagues that his retirement is becoming a drag and he plans to go quietly into that long goodnight in a few weeks.  He insists that he has outlived his usefulness and why should he continue to use resources that are needed elsewhere.  While he argues his case as a proper professor of philosophy might, both his friends and we can see hope and perhaps even joy where Barnes sees only boredom.  He is clearly not mentally ill nor especially depressed, making counter arguments a little difficult. Clearly what Prof. Barnes needs is a good kick in the ass.

Enter: Peggy (Jeanne Crain), 4 months pregnant with her first baby, her husband recently enrolled on the GI Bill at the college where Prof Barnes has been teaching.  Jason (William Holden) has very little going for him in the way financial resources and so the two of them are trying desperately to find affordable housing.  The relentlessly ebullient Peggy runs headlong into Barnes and one thing leads to another and resulting in Peggy and Jason moving into the attic over Prof. Barnes.  While the rest may be predictable in its theme and lesson, how it arrives there is not. Seaton leads us down a couple of bi-ways that will surprise and possible shock you.  While the overall tone is light and comedy rich with with and physical gags, the issues at stack are anything but. And for a 90 minute movie, most of which is filled with Peggy’s good natured chatter, Seaton insists that his audience take a hard look at the issues at stake.

Apartment for Peggy is what we would call today a “family movie” but, like his other important credits, insults no one’s intelligence (Yes, I am saying that many of today’s “family movies” dumb things down to the point where no thinking takes place, merely a blind acceptance of “Christian values.”  Not so here, I assure you.

Leonard Norwitz
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