The Devil and Miss Jones

This film is entertaining from the opening credits until its very end. Jean Arthur and Robert Cummings are the young couple while the more mature Charles Coburn-the richest man in the world-falls for Spring Byington-who works as a clerk in a department store that he owns. Coburn remains incognito until nearly the end of the movie. S.Z. Sakall and Edmund Gwenn are wonderful as well.It's a fun movie with a bit of social commentary and a lot of heart and humor.

The Devil and Miss Jones(released April/41)finally comes to DVD.The film stars,among others,Jean Arthur as Mary Jones,Robert Cummings as Joe O'Brien,Charles Coburn as John P. Merrick,Edmund Gwenn as Hooper,Spring Byington as Elizabeth Ellis,S.Z. Sakall as George (Merrick's Butler)and William Demarest as First Detective.I hadn't seen the film for years until a copy surfaced in the 80s,restored by UCLA.This version is licensed through Paramount,who holds the rights for this RKO film.The company here is relatively new to the scene,Olive Films.Their catalogue is not what you would call extensive but it is eclectic.The story opens as four executives arrive at the stately mansion of one John Merrick.He is a rich but crotchety old man who runs and owns multiple businesses.After viewing a picture in the paper of some employees outside of a department store he owns(Neeley's to be specific)burning him in effigy,he vows to take drastic action.Already some of those responsible have been fired but Merrick is calling for more blood.A detective is hired but he is waived away as his wife is pregnant and he cannot start right away.Much to the chagrin of his butler,he decides to go undercover himself,under the detectives name.Off he trots the next day to Neeleys and is greeted by a rather surly and condescending floor manager.Both take an instant dislike to one another,and the manager is the first to go down on his list in his little black book.A clerk,Mary Jones,befriends Merrick and in fact gets the impression he is very poor.She in turn introduces him to another clerk named Elizabeth Ellis.As they are the same age both take an instant liking to each other.In bursts Joe O'Brien shouting to anyone who will hear him,a close friend of Mary's,who is trying to organize/unionize the store.He is taken away by the store detective,and later that night he greets Mary and Merrick at a clandestine meeting held on a rooftop.Merrick is used by Mary as a poster boy for what is wrong with management and why they should band together,much to Merricks embarrassment.Next day Merrick joins Joe,Mary and Elizabeth at the beach at Coney Island.They all have a great time,and Merrick becomes closer to the three than he wants to admit.Somehow during the day they lose track of each other and Merrick ends up getting arrested.Down at the police station the other three finally track him down and Joe grandstands there on principle,until the police let them all go,charges dropped.Back at the beach,it is now early evening,and Mr.Merrick and Elizabeth are laying side by side;Mr.Merrick though still awake and listening to the other two.Mary and Joe have a heart to heart during which Joe tells Mary he cannot marry her,because his prospects of employment are bleak.Mary gets upset and Joe storms away,dropping the list of 400 employees he is trying to sign up to organize.Merrick quickly picks it up and Mary sees him.He goes to hand it back to Mary but she tells him to keep it;he does,smiling.On the train back to the city Mary,Elizabeth and Merrick talk about the events that have just transpired.Merricks stop comes up and he leaves.Unknowingly he drops his card identifying him to the personnel manager,as working undercover.Mary picks it up,plays with it,cleans her fingernails with it,looks at it,all the while her mind being on Joe.She drops it and leaves the train.Just as the train door closes behind her it hits her what she saw on the card.Next day at the store Merrick is back,a little late,and being admonished by the floor manager.However today he is on the offensive and tells the manager HE is the one going to be fired.Mary tries to warn Elizabeth and Joe that Merrick is really working for the company.The four of them end up upstairs in the store managers office,and grieve their case to him.The manager plays coy and says there is nothing he can do if he hasn't the list of names.When Mary hands him the list and the store manager's true colours come to the fore.He immediately threatens to start by firing everyone on the 5th floor.They push out the security and Joe becomes a one man barricade until Merrick and Mary can swallow the list.They also manage to make a store wide announcement for everyone to walk out and picket Merricks home.Later Merrick is now home and there is a huge protest going on outside his home,including Joe,Elizabeth and Mary.Merrick has summoned the four executives from the beginning of the film to his residence and plans a parle' with the protestors.Merrick sneaks out the servants entrance and joins the picket line,just as Mary arrives with an effigy of Merrick to burn.She is going to give Merrick the honour of lighting it when he tells them there is a meeting planned inside.The four arrive in a room with the execs on one side of the table and Merrick and the three others on the other.The exces try to browbeat any suggestion thrown out but Merrick admonishes them ever so carefully as to not blow his cover.Finally something has to give,and when Elizabeth leans on Merrick crying the execs stand up telling her to "unhand Mr.Merrick".His cover blown,Elizabeth backs away,Mary screams and Joe is laid flat out on the floor!The final scene finds all of the employees at the Neely store all dancing at a giant party being thrown by Merrick.The camera moves back and they are all on a ship sailing toward Hawaii,courtesy of Mr.Merrick himself.This is such a joyous,touching and wonderful film on so many levels.The film on one hand is almost a Scrooge like tale where the nemesis sees the error of his ways and becomes a better person for it in the end.The way Merrick slowly starts to come around and changes,not only his outlook on the store but as his inner feelings blossom towards Elizabeth and Mary and Joe,is done with just the right and believable touch.On the other hand we have a love story between Joe and Mary,which seems as real and human as anything you are likely to see in real life.There is also the back story of employees trying to organize and how companies treat them.All of the actors involved were top notch and the film is edited well and directed well by Sam Wood.Whenever anyone aks me,I tell them that this is my favourite Jean Arthur film,and one of my favourite character actors is on hand with a brilliant understated performance,S.Z.Sakall.Technically speaking the film is in its original 1:37:1 a/r and this is a very good to excellent print.There are no extras.All in all a heartwarming and wonderful movie,with a dream cast that gels together like nobodies business.This film has been out of circulation for far too long and I hope now it will get the wider audience it deserves.I loath using the word"classic" because it has been overused for years.But with this film,I have to make an exception.4 1/2-5 stars.

Bottom line first: a pleasing way to spend movie night. A few laughs, warm feelings and a happy ending. The traditional romantic couple Robert Young as union agitator Joe and his woman Jean Author, the gentle shoe sales lady, Mary are very nice and regular people. The surprise is Spring Byington as Elizabeth the mature lady also from sales staff, and the pompous millionaire with a good heart Charles Coburn as Merrick. The affection they develop is natural, believable and more interesting than that of the young folk. It all works out and everyone gets a free boat ride.Like is the right word for The Devil and Miss Jones. It is a fairly typical depression era, just barely pre-war fantasy. Working Joes and Marys wanting just a little humanity from management and willing to work their hearts out in exchange. Merrick is at the top of the money food chain and determined to weed out the agitators at the store he thought he had long since sold off. Instead he gets a lesson in the rewards attendant to being a nice guy. All mellow, fairly straightforward and not requiring much thought.It would be easy to politicize this movie, investigating to see who in the direction and production staff was communist inspired and which of the pro union sentiments still survive. Too much work and besides this is movie night.There is one scene that stands out though not for the original reasons. At one point our undercover boss finds himself at the mercy of the local police. They have no reason to believe his story of being rich and powerful. As his new, unassuming working class friend show up the desk sergeant is ready to ‘throw the book’ at the lot of them. Instead he takes a conciliatory, subservient attitude because he is concerned that the press will become involved and that it will turn on constitutional grounds and besides he was about to go on vacation. In its day this was played for laughs. Today the scene has an eerie prescience.Never mind. This is an easy time family friendly film. It has heart without being cloying. It has fun at its own expense. The romance is played out with a reality I do not see often. Here it is tender feelings between thinking people who understand love, but also have hard choices. Love does have its gossamer wings and its passions, but in this movie it is gentle, playful and mature.The Devil and Miss Jones is nice, and sometimes that is a lot.

Nothing to dislike. A great movie.

I was taken aback by how contemporary the topic of the film is. You could easily re-make this film now and change almost nothing and it still is relevant. Very funny and Jean Arthur's non-romantic chemistry with Charles Coburn is wonderful and so enjoyable! I watched it twice within a week of getting it I loved it that much! An absolute classic and one of Jean Arthur's best roles!

** May not play in Europe **. Review is for Amazon's product and info not the film. I cannot play the film because although I can play multi region and I can play blu ray, I cannot play multi-zone blu ray. This is a general problem, but first time hit me with this disc and now I know that, as in the early days of DVD, you have to check the exact spec of each disc. Tedious. I don't think the info Amazon provides is sufficiently unambiguous to warn people. I have kept the disc because I'll probably buy a multi-region hd player in the next few years.

great mix of actors in this. Possibly Jean Arthur's best film too. although not a Uk edition its in english and plays on a multi region set to reg A

I had this on video, but loved it so much I had to upgrade to DVD. This item was well packaged, as described and arrived in a timely manner. Jean Arthur was one of the finest actresses of her day.

Bought for brother, he enjoyed.