As Young As You Feel

Starring:Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, David Wayne, Jean Peters, Constance Bennett, Marilyn Monroe, Allyn Joslyn, Albert Dekker, Clinton Sundberg, Minor Watson, Wally Brown, Russ Tamblyn, Frank Wilcox, Heinie Conklin, Raymond Greenleaf, Paul E. Burns, Helen Brown, Billy Lechner, Ann Tyrrell, William Frambes
Director: Harmon Jones
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Description

When a gentleman (Monty Woolley) is forced to retire at age 65, he'll do just about anything to beat the system. Dying his hair black, he poses as the president of his former employer's holding company. Suddenly free to air his views on everything from company policy to national economics, comic craziness ensues when he meets not only the firm's top executives, but someone equally impressive - a beautiful secretary, played by Marilyn Monroe, in one of her first and funniest roles.

Customer Reviews:

don't know why this was made.......2007-03-02

a very boring "comedy." no jokes, not funny, slow, tedious, incomprehensible plot, yet when comprehensible, an idiotic plot. the only bright spot is of course, MM. in it you will hear her real, natural voice, which i found interesting. yet you can hear her real voice in other early works other than this mundane movie.

As Young as You Feel.......2007-02-03

Unfortunately this title has never arrived from Weeping Willow Books. I did send a request to Weeping Willow. I am waiting for either a reply or the above mentioned title. To say the very least I am very disappointed with the servide.

A Window to the Early 1950's.......2005-08-03

As Young As You Feel" is a modest budget early 50's B&W comedy. While the creative people were experimenting with 'film noir' and 'neo-realism', the studios were cranking out stuff like this for a traditional audience. This adaptation of a story by Paddy Chayefsky was made during the McCarthy years, so the social satire aspect could only be subtly subversive. The themes (balancing work and play, doing work that gives you personal satisfaction, and maintaining your integrity) give the film a worthwhile message and are not delivered in an overbearing manner.

Monty Woolley (as John Hodges) carries the film as a printer who is pushed into retirement at age 65 and decides to impersonate the president of the holding company that owns the printing plant where he worked. This sets up a sort of 'Being There' effect, where his views on national affairs become an inspiration to the whole country. David Wayne (who would eventually play the Mad Hatter on "Batman") plays his prospective son-in-law and their scenes are all gems, partly because they have a real chemistry and partly because they got the best dialogue. The best scene is the opening, a very well staged scene of the company orchestra playing the "Nutcracker": the camera opens on a promotional poster, pans left and takes us into the concert hall as a little girl scurries her seat. The camera moves around in the crowd where we meet most of the main characters. Hodges is playing one of the piccolos and he soon launches into an impromptu solo, much to the annoyance of the guest conductor and an accurate preview of what his role will be throughout the film.

This film is fairly entertaining but is most valuable as a cultural artifact. Because it was not a high budget production the cast is almost entirely older stars at the very end of their careers (like Wooley and Constance Bennett) and young actors at the beginning (Wayne, Jean Peters, and Marilyn Monroe-in a small part). So there is a kind of torch passing at work. It is also hints at Monroe's special screen presence which somehow allowed her beat the Hollywood starlet system. She and Peters were the same age (both were born in 1926) and had both started too late in the movie business. By this film they had already lost all the youthful luster of their early 20's (check out how much better Peters looked two years earlier in 'It Happens Every Spring' and Monroe before she became a blonde), yet Monroe was somehow able to transcend this and become a big star.

Arthur Miller said of Monroe: "She was rarely taken seriously as anything but a sex symbol. To have survived, she would have had to be either more cynical or even further from reality than she was. Instead, she was a poet on a street corner trying to recite to a crowd pulling at her clothes."

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

An Absolute Delight!!.......2005-06-09

What a fun film! This is one for the entire family- The premise of course no longer applies, with people being forced to retire at age 65, but the comedy transends time! All the actors are great, and naturally Monty Woolley is the funniest of all- They just don't make films like this anymore and that is the shame of it. This genre of the 50's can never be duplicated, don't pass this one by-

cute comedy.......2005-04-02

Thelma Ritter, Monty Woolley and Constance Bennett star in AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL, a breezy comedy satire about an ageing worker in a printing firm who simply refuses to retire!

This has been issued (along with several other features) as supplements to the 'Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection' box sets. AS YOU AS YOU FEEL is one of her earliest features, though her role is really only slightly bigger than a cameo. It's pretty clear that Fox was unsure how to fully market Monroe and was leary as to her potential.

Twentieth Century-Fox placed Marilyn in supporting roles at the beginning of her contract. These were mostly B-comedies, where she more often than not played a secretary or the sexy girl neighbour. Perhaps her best 'bit role' came when she played Miss Caswell in ALL ABOUT EVE. Monroe really got her first big acting role as Nell in the eerie noir drama DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (and that same year she played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in CLASH BY NIGHT).

AS YOU AS YOU FEEL is a must-own for Marilyn completists, though the show rightly belongs to Ritter, Woolley and Co.

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