Although billed as a comedy about an eccentric with an invisible six foot tall bunny-rabbit for a friend, Harvey is at heart a movie about two siblings who would do anything for each other out of love, respect, and an overall sense of family. The most touch moments of this movie are the final ones between the eccentric Elwood P. Dowd and his sister, Veta Louise Simmons.
The comedic elements are immediately apparent. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong when Ms. Simmons attempts to have her brother committed. The wrong patient ends up locked down in the hospital. The hospital workers keep missing Mr. Dowd just as it seems they’re about to catch him. Everyone is frantically trying to get matters straightened out. All the while Mr. Dowd, played by the loveable Jimmy Stewart, ambles along blissfully oblivious.
When the truth catches up with Mr. Dowd though he is stricken by the emotional harm he appears to have caused to his dear loving sister, and he is willing to do everything to make it up to her. Even going so far as to give up his best friend, Harvey. Ms. Simmons is equally conflicted herself, concerned that in saving her brother’s sanity she might cost him some of his humanity. She just doesn’t see any other choice.
Oh, there are other plots and subplots in Harvey. There is more than one romance. There is the rabbit himself and the practical jokes he supposedly plays on the people who can’t see him. Nothing shines to me though quite like the moment when Jimmy Steward somberly asks Josephine Hull if she really wants him to be cured, and nothing is so saddening as when Mr. Dowd’s sister says, “Yes.”
Five out of five stars.
Directed by Henry Koster
Starring:
Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd
Josephine Hull as Veta Louise Simmons
Victoria Horne as Myrtle Mae
Peggy Dow as Miss Kelly
Charles Drake as Dr. Lyman Sanderson
Cecil Kellaway as Dr. Willie Chumley
William H. Lynn as Judge Gaffney
