Columbia Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The More the Merrier
The only picture with a DINGLE!
It's World War II and there is a severe housing shortage everywhere - especially in Washington, D.C. where Connie Milligan rents an apartment. Believing it to be her patriotic duty, Connie offers to sublet half of her apartment, fully expecting a suitable female tenent. What she gets instead is mischievous, middle-aged Benjamin Dingle. Dingle talks her into subletting to him and then promptly sublets half of his half to young, irreverent Joe Carter - creating a situation tailor-made for comedy and romance.
- Original title
- The More the Merrier
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Aug 21, 2025 · via TMDB
I’d have liked a bit more from Charles Coburn in this, but he still features engagingly enough as the man who facilitates the meeting of his unexpectedly acquired landlady “Connie” (Jean Arthur) to the man he has sub-let one half of his bedroom too. That man is “Joe” (Joel McCrea) and his arrival comes after a little failed cloak and dagger activity from “Dingle” who was only staying for a few days himself, and who had no authority whatsoever to take the man’s six bucks to sleep in her apartment. Scene set, what now ensues is hardly rocket science, but Arthur is on good form as the inevitable courtship plays out despite her already being engaged to the steady “Pendergast” (Richard Gaines) and there being a secret sub-plot that could end up embroiling them in affairs of the dreaded FBI! There is chemistry a-plenty between Arthur and McCrea, loads of mischief and some great timing from a Coburn whose matchmaking could have got him a job on “Fiddler on the (sun) Roof”. There is also plenty of quickly-paced dialogue that builds nicely on the accumulating daftness of the whole thing as people from adjacent bedrooms chat to each other through their respective open windows. It’s got a small cast, so we can focus on the characters better and with a jolly accompaniment from studio regular Leigh Hardine it lets Coburn, Arthur and McCrae entertain us for one hundred, enjoyable, minutes.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Jean Arthur
Constance Milligan
Joel McCrea
Joe Carter
Charles Coburn
Benjamin Dingle
Richard Gaines
Charles J. Pendergast
Bruce Bennett
FBI Agent Evans
Frank Sully
FBI Agent Pike
Donald Douglas
FBI Agent Harding
Clyde Fillmore
Senator Noonan
Stanley Clements
Morton Rodakiewicz
Sam Ash
Committee Member (uncredited)
Don Barclay
Drunk (uncredited)
Hank Bell
Singing Man on Apartment Stairway (uncredited)
Gladys Blake
Barmaid (uncredited)
Ruth Cherrington
Night Club Guest (uncredited)
Chester Clute
Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Ann Doran
Miss Bilby (uncredited)
Henry Hebert
Committee Member (uncredited)
Ernest Hilliard
Senator (uncredited)
Helen Holmes
Dumpy Woman (uncredited)
John Ince
Shaving Gag (uncredited)
Jack W. Johnston
Night Club Guest (uncredited)
Mike Lally
Man Leaving Elevator (uncredited)
Frank LaRue
Senator in Taxi (uncredited)
Douglas Leavitt
Waiter (uncredited)
Kay Linaker
Miss Allen (uncredited)
Eric Mayne
Singing Man on Apartment Stairway (uncredited)
Shirley Patterson
Girl (uncredited)
Lon Poff
Sleeper (uncredited)
Hal Price
Bathing Man (uncredited)
Marshall Ruth
Fat Statistician (uncredited)
Ann Savage
Miss Dalton (uncredited)
Jean Stevens
Dancer (uncredited)
Grady Sutton
Diner Counterman (uncredited)
Douglas Wood
Senator in Taxi (uncredited)
Marjorie Wood
Snippish Woman (uncredited)
Ted Tetzlaff
Director of Photography
Eugene Joseff
Other
Garson Kanin
Additional Writing
Budd Boetticher
Assistant Director
George Stevens
Director
Fred Guiol
Associate Producer
George Stevens
Producer
Morris Stoloff
Music Director
Sidney Cutner
Orchestrator
Leigh Harline
Original Music Composer
Lewis R. Foster
Screenplay
Empire
Forrest Gump
Long Distance
Colao
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Being There
Martin in the Clouds
The Dreamers
Barefoot in the Park
The Knight Is Young
Tremors
Wag the Dog
Last Tango in Paris
Coffee and Cigarettes II
Shady Business
Shared Apartment
The Idle Rich
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
Charlie Wilson's War
Hunting & Gathering
The Sweet East
Houseboat
Bulworth
Green Fire
He Took His Skin Off for Me
The Owl and the Pussycat
Try Seventeen
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
Tower Heist
Airplane II: The Sequel
Love Field
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
Part-Time Divorce
Head of State
The Guitar
Coffee to Go
The Last Christmas Party
It Happens in Roma
Man About the House
Bitter/Sweet
Espace détente
Two Guys Talkin' About Girls
The Brady Bunch in the White House
Coffee: Between Reality and Imagination
Papers
Lesbionage
A CNN Special Event: Roy Wood Jr.’s Very Very Very Merry Holiday Special
Long Black
¿Quieres ser mi hijo?
5 to 7
Puppy Love
My Sassy Girl
Chasing Papi
The Wrong Paris
No Hard Feelings
Mischief
Sex Appeal
Little Italy
Walk Don't Run
Let's Make Love
Starting Over
Someone Great
The Color Wheel
French Girl
Yoh! Bestie
The Lonely Guy
Relative Values
The Prince & Me 4: The Elephant Adventure
Duplex
What's Love Got to Do with It?
A Hollywood Christmas
Bye Bye Love
Someone Like You...
Love, Weddings & Other Disasters
Girl on a Bicycle
May 13, 1943
