Main Cast: Jeanne Crain, Scott Brady, Thelma Ritter, Zero Mostel, Michael O'Shea
Release Year: 1951
Country: US
Run Time: 103 minutes
Plot
The model (Jeanne Crain) is stuck in an unhappy relationship with a married man. The marriage broker (Thelma Ritter) doesn't like this and tries to match the model with a lonely x-ray technician (Scott Brady). The model is so grateful that she tries to find an eligible bachelor for the broker. The broker resists this largesse, but then realizes that the only reason she meddles in other people's lives is to make up for the emptiness of her own. The Model and the Marriage Broker resists the temptation of poking fun at the less attractive clients of the marriage broker; this is especially true in the case of Frank Fontaine, whose performance as a lovesick Swede is quite moving. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Perennial supporting player Thelma Ritter got a rare shot at playing a lead in The Model and the Marriage Broker and came up with a real winner. Model is an excellent little comedy, so good that it's surprising that it's not better known. Practically everyone involved is in top form, from Ritter and co-star Jeanne Crain through director George Cukor and a three-man writing team led by Charles Brackett. Brackett could almost always write funny, and this screenplay is filled with choice turns of phrases and amusing little asides, the humor of which doesn't always strike the viewer until minutes after they've passed on. But the writers don't sacrifice character and drama for laughs; there's an undercurrent of sadness and melancholy to many moments, and while some of Ritter's clients are humorous misfits, they're treated with a degree of respect. Cukor's direction is sleek and seamless, beautifully paced and always aware of exactly how light or heavy a touch is needed in each moment of each scene. Ritter is so darn good that it makes one wish they had written more starring parts for her; her rare combination of toughness and warmth is used to great advantage and holds the film together. Even Crain, never what one would call a great actress, comes off very well here, and the supporting roster of Nancy Kulp, Zero Mostel, and Frank Fontaine is a dream. The Model and the Marriage Broker has a few flaws, such as the fact that Scott Brady's character is a bit overbearing (though typical of the period) -- but they're easily overlooked. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Helen Ford - Emmy Swazey; Frank Fontaine - Mr. Johannson; John Alexander - Mr. Perry; Jay C. Flippen - Dan Chancellor; Nancy Kulp - Hazel Gingras; Kathryn Card - Mrs. Kuschner; Maudie Prickett - Delia Seaton; Dennis Ross - Joe; Ken Christy - Mr. Kuschner; Shirley Mills - Ina Kuschner; Eve March - Miss Eddy; Tommy Noonan - Young clerk; Edna May Wonacott - Miss Perry; June Hedin - Miss Perry; Harris Brown - Conventioneer; Frank Ferguson; Joyce MacKenzie - Doris; Mae Marsh - Woman; Dennie Moore - Mrs. Gingras
The Model and the Marriage Broker is a 1951comedy film about a model who is so pleased with the work of a marriage broker, she decides to return the favor.
