Very Funny But Dark Wartime Comedy
This film should be seen back to back with "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" (1941), as these films are amazingly similar: Alexander Hall, the director, made both films; it's a Columbia Pictures production, with the same stylized opening credits; and James Gleason plays a similar role in both films, that of a streetwise but sentimental softie who supports a beleaguered hero who's alienated from everyone because nobody believes what he sees. In "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," Gleason is the skeptical sidekick to reincarnated Robert Montgomery; here, he's the skeptical sidekick to caterpillar-worshipping Cary Grant.<br /><br />Both films open exactly the same way: the audience is greeted with a message that real life is tough and that here is a highly improbable "fairy tale" that will make them feel better about their lives. "Real life" of course, refers to World War II, but watching this as a semi-invalid due to the COVID pandemic, I felt I understood the poignancy of this message for the first time. The film promises to lighten up my mood, but strangely enough it doesn't - except for the premise (a fantastical tale of a caterpillar that supposedly dances), everything about the film is dark, with a shocking scene of child abuse and Cary Grant playing an unlikable, duplicitous character. Even Walt Disney comes off in this film not so much as a heartwarming showman but as a businessman who wants to exploit an opportunity.<br /><br />Not that the film isn't funny - many parts are hilarious, especially in the beginning when Grant tries to convince everyone that the caterpillar really dances and deserves fame and fortune. In fact i wonder if this film was the inspiration for the famous "Merry Melodies" short about the dancing frog who stops dancing the minute someone other than the owner looks at him. I kept expecting the worm to act the same way, but that's not how it goes. I liked the plot twists, but much of the film, especially in the middle, drags and I nearly fell asleep.  The problem is, once the film sets up the premise of a caterpillar dancing and nobody believing Grant, it repeats this dilemma over and over, until the screenwriter realized he had to create some tension between Grant and the kid, Pinky. I really hated how he managed this, for it ends up with Grant (spoilers here) wanting to steal the worm and even resorting to hurting the kid (physically as well as mentally) to do it.<br /><br />Maybe I'm too influenced by today's PC-oriented culture, but I couldn't get over how everybody called Pinky's friend "Fatso". That made it hard to fully lose myself in the film. The ending was great but the middle was a big slog. So overall I have mixed feelings. This was a quirky film that was clearly influenced by "Here Comes Mr. Jordan's" success but it lacked the warmth of that film. Apparently Hall thought that another bizarre storyline would be big box office, but just having a weird premise doesn't guarantee a successful film.