The Matchmaker (1958) User Reviews (31)

Matchmaker, Match Thyself

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 21 February 2007]

After a lifetime of arranging couplings for others Dolly Levi has decided it's time that she settle down with somebody. Her target in her sights is merchant Horace Vandergelder in turn of the last century Yonkers, New York. Of course Horace the old goat is looking at young Irene Molloy. What to do, especially since his young clerk Cornelius Hackl has eyes for her also.

Shirley Booth who originated many parts on the Broadway stage, but had few screen credits up to that time takes over the role that Ruth Gordon played on stage in the 1955-1957 season for 481 performances. Another Shirley named MacLaine with few screen credits at that point to her name plays young Irene.

And the object of all this fuss is potbellied old Paul Ford giving one of his patented bellowing performances. It was interesting to read how Ford had come to the acting profession rather late in life. He certainly is ham enough that you wonder why didn't do this all of his life. Ford had just completed a four year run as the harried and harassed Colonel Hall, object of many of Sergeant Bilko's con games in the Phil Silvers Show. For most of his career Ford was a blusterer whether here or in The Music Man or Never Too Late. He looked a lot like Edgar Kennedy, but his boiling point was always quickly reached.

Anthony Perkins who really did other things besides Norman Bates in Psycho is just fine as the wistful young clerk at Ford's mercantile and he's partnered in his adventures by young Robert Morse who repeated his stage role as Barnaby Tucker.

Of course most know The Matchmaker as the basis for Hello Dolly and seeing it now is like seeing Shaw's Pygmalion which for better or worse is now known as My Fair Lady without the songs. Still The Matchmaker is fun to watch for the nostalgically inclined.

Better Than the Musical;

[jackmagicjck2 · 8/10 · 15 July 2005]

I enjoyed this much more than it;s musical counterpart 'Hello Dolly'. The cast is so much more likable. They have high energy but are not phony. Shirley Booth is like the lovable grandmother and not the diva like Barbra Streisand was. She kind of reminds me of Aunt Clara from 'Bewitched' she is not dopey but she is just so sweet lovable and gentle. While Streusand just kind of had this thing as if to hey look at me!!!!'Anthony Perkins is cute, and likable not dopey like Micheal Crawford. and Paul Ford, is a much more convincing portrayal of Horace Vandergelder then Walter Mathau. 'Hello Dolly' was too stagy and phony while this is just cute and upbeat. I would chose this over 'Hello Dolly' any day.

Fabulous, even without the music!

[bjon · 8/10 · 24 October 2005]

Well now, who are the only two people could pull it off playing Dolly Levi? There are only two: Carol Channing and Shirley Booth! "Shirley Booth??? Who's She?" Or maybe "Ah, come on!!!" Well it's true! Ms. Booth ranks up there right in the same spot with Carol Channing. What a gal! People who don't know who she was should take the time to see this film. It proves her innate talent for playing sappy frumps all the way up to lovable, hilarious, wisecracking characters. Oh, and did I forget conniving? There's a wonderful cast here supporting her as well. The costumes are superb, the timing is excellent.

One thing I must mention here though is, that although I also consider Barbra Streisand a great talent, she seemed to be more or less mis-cast in the role in "Hello Dolly." She merely played herself. Shirley Booth fit the bill as a strong, rather overbearing character. I will repeat though that she had proved previously that she could play just the opposite.

Another SB "must see." Even in black and white and with no music.

Superb package

[jaykay-10 · 28 December 2000]

Do you like situation comedy? How about clever dialogue? Do the elements of classic farce make you laugh? Many a film has sustained itself on one of the foregoing. In "The Matchmaker," you get all three. The picture is perfectly cast, with the peerless (though by now, nearly forgotten) Shirley Booth as a sly but gentle, voracious but sweet, determined yet vulnerable Dolly. Paul Ford huffs and puffs in his characteristic manner, without overplaying. Anthony Perkins reminds us of his versatility with this twinkle-in-the-eye triumph in romantic comedy. A young Shirley MacLaine is simply adorable. Too bad the talented Robert Morse has so little to do, but with such a strong cast in more prominent roles, he had to save his elfin hijinks for another day.

Screaming for the songs, but fun to watch

[jackhutchinsongallery · 7/10 · 14 May 2006]

I have always loved the "straight play" version of the Dolly story. Actually Thornton Wilder's play had a previous incarnation set in Austria, in the German language. He had written it for Broadway in the fifties, it was filmed in 58 in this version, and Jerry Herman must have seen it and fallen in love with it for the musical "Hello, Dolly!". Parts of this are superior to the original stage version of the musical. The film version of the musical is dreadfully over danced and Streisand was way too young for the lead role. Shirley Booth, here in this "Matchmaker", is much closer, in a way to Channing's Dolly of Broadway. I have often wished that SOMEONE would re-do the musical for either video or film. I saw the 1964 Channing production and it was magical. Hollywood so often trashes these brilliant stage works. Anyway, rent this film when you can and compare it to the Streisand "Dolly".

Charming Version of the Stage Classic

[gftbiloxi · 7/10 · 3 February 2008]

The history of THE MATCHMAKER is quite interesting from an academic point of view. In 1835 English playwright and drama critic created a one-act play titled A DAY WELL SPENT, a lightweight comedy of mismatched lovers, mistaken identities, and foolish misbehavior. In 1842 Austrian playwright and actor Johann Nestroy developed Oxenford's work into a full-length comedy titled EINEN JUX WILL ER SICH MACHEN, which was (and remains) very popular in German-language theatre. American writer and scholar Thornton Wilder came to the material in the 1930s--and in 1938 returned the story to the English language under the title THE MERCHANT OF YONKERS. It was an instant disaster, receiving incredibly dire reviews and running all of 39 performances in its New York debut.

It was quite a setback for Wilder, who had previously won Pulitzers for the novel THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY and the play OUR TOWN. Even so, actress Ruth Gordon and Tyrone Guthrie strongly felt the play was sound, and in the 1950s both began to pressure Wilder to rework his script. With Gordon starring and Guthrie directing, and with the title changed to THE MATCHMAKER, it opened on Broadway in 1955--and was a smash hit. It attracted the attention of Hollywood, and in 1958 it became a vehicle for Tony and Academy Award-winning actress Shirley Booth.

The film version alters Wilder's script quite a bit, and not always for the better, occasionally over-reaching itself in a grab for broad farce; all the same, it does manage to capture the innate charm of the original. Much of this is due to Shirley Booth. Although she is not well recalled today, she was easily among the finest actresses of her era, and her performance here is a warm and glowing jewel, clever, witty, and very gently sly. The remaining cast follows suit--and what a cast it is! Memorable character actors Paul Ford, Perry Wilson, and Wallace Ford; rising stars Anthony Perkins and Shirley MacLaine; and even a very young Robert Morse. Few films can lay claim to an equally gifted line up. The production values are also quite fine, capturing the charm of the 1880s without recourse to the gaudy edge one so often sees in films set in that period.

The story itself is equally beguiling. Miserly businessman Horace Vandergelder (Paul Ford) is eager to marry and employs professional busy-body Dolly Levi (Shirley Booth) to fix him up--but when he takes the day off to visit prospective bride Irene Malloy (MacLaine) his two clerks (Perkins and Morse) follow suit. A series of chance encounters bring all concerned together--and with a little not-so-gentle nudging from Dolly, Vandergelder makes the discovery that the matchmaker herself is his own perfect match. If all this sounds a bit familiar, it should, for THE MATCHMAKER had yet another, slightly later incarnation: with music by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart, it became HELLO, DOLLY!, one of Broadway's most celebrated musicals, which itself reached the screen in 1969.

There is nothing in the way of bonus materials--a tremendous pity given the astonishing cast--but the DVD does offer the film in near-pristine transfer, and while THE MATCHMAKER doesn't quite rise to the level of the stage play's spark, it is nonetheless a gentle, amusing, and extremely well performed film, an overlooked gem from late-1950s Hollywood.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

One of the best of it's class

[sfmonkeyboy · 10/10 · 27 September 2006]

I just love this movie, and especially Shirley Booth in the lead roll of Dolly Levi. I had seen the Barbara Streisand version first and didn't know this one even existed until many years later. Once I saw "The Matchmaker", "Hello Dolly" took the backseat to the movie and has stayed there since. "Hello Dolly" is creative and innovative in its dance numbers and stagings etc, but Barbara Streisand is more of a nuisance and pest, and Walter Matthau is downright bitter (and tone deaf if his croaking out on "It Takes a Woman" is any indication). The enmity between Matthau and Streisand is palpable -- supposedly Matthau hated Streisand and refused to be on set with her unless they were specifically shooting a scene together. The hatred shows. Streisand was TOO YOUNG for the role of Dolly Levi. The whole idea of her seducing a bitter pill like Matthau is laughable. But in "The Matchmaker" -- Shirley Booth is incredible as the constantly meddling, good hearted, slightly nosy, overbearing at times, loving widowed woman, trying to find a living for herself in an age where middle aged women really didn't have many options. She is always cheerful, scheming and conniving but with only the best intentions for everyone involved. and here's my potential spoiler when I first saw the movie, and Dolly Levi was at the Harmonia Gardens with Horace Van Der Gelder, and she had ordered dinner and was serving his food like a mother hen and he was getting flustered and flabbergasted, but Dolly was center stage for the moment. THEN when Horace spies Irene Malloy in the next dining room and they get back together and leave, the crushed, disappointed look on Dolly's face, and when she reached over and helped herself to Horace's abandoned desert, made me start crying for this woman who wanted nothing more really than to marry Horace.

Shirley You Jest

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 4 May 2008]

New York matchmaker Shirley Booth (as Dolly Gallagher Levi) is assigned to pick a mate for wealthy old gentleman Paul Ford (as Horace Vandergelder); but, Ms. Booth decides she wants him for herself. Meanwhile, Anthony Perkins (as Cornelius Hackl), who works for Mr. Ford, falls for young Shirley MacLaine (as Irene Molloy). However, Ms. MacLaine is Ford's hottest prospect. Can Ms. Booth get Ford to changes his preference for the very young?

"Life's never quite interesting enough, somehow; you people who come to the movies know that," Booth explains, in the introduction. The statement could serve as a review for the film; it's never quite interesting enough, somehow. "The Matchmaker" is a bright production, with a likable cast, that really never achieves its full potential as a film. Its stage origins are clearly evident. In the transition, the film changes all the wrong things, and keeps what it should have discarded. For example, the characters "speaking to the camera" becomes tiresome, after Booth's charming opening.

One thing filmmakers wisely kept was actor Robert Morse (as Barnaby Tucker), who essayed the role on stage, alongside Arthur Hill. Mr. Morse effortlessly equals his higher-billed co-stars. For as long as he's on camera, Morse does not for one moment surrender the screen to anyone. If the film were better received, Morse might have been considered for a "Best Supporting Actor" award.

"The Matchmaker" returned, to both stage and film, as "Hello, Dolly!"

Before Jerry Herman's Music was the Wilder play

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 18 February 2006]

THE MATCHMAKER (1958) is significant for several reasons. It is the first film version of the play by Thornton Wilder that was made into the musical smash HELLO, DOllY!. It is also one of the too few movies made by Shirley Booth in the 1950s after she won the Oscar for Best Actress, and gives her versatility a chance to shine with COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA and ABOUT MRS. LESLIE. Booth usually was in movie dramas, and this is a rare chance to see her handle a comedy.

This version sticks closer to Wilder's original version of THE MATCHMAKER, for there were more "Strange Interlude" style asides by the various characters talking to the audience. Also more of the characters (in particular Wallace Ford's "Malachi Stack") are used. The only major change is in what would be the concluding act of the play: Wilder had Vandergelder's niece Ernestine run off with Ambrose (and followed by Cornelius, Irene, Barnaby, and Minnie - and then Dolly and Horace) from the Harmonium Gardens to Vandergelder's sister's home in Manhattan. The sister is very sensible and kindly, but she is also dull. Her loss from the movie is no loss.

Little bits of biography about Dolly and Horace are in this version and not in the musical. Dolly, for example, has a long standing law suit that she is pursuing (Horace is not deeply impressed about it) concerning her claims to land ownership of a large chunk of Long Island (presumably Nassau and Suffolk counties). Horace, in his first "strange interlude" soliloquy to the audience ("Ninety percent of the human race are fools, and the rest of us are in danger of contagion!") he explains his willingness to wed. It seems he was married once, when he was poor. Ford is fairly pompous in the speech, until he reaches a moment when Horace's humanity comes out - he mentions his first wife's death ("Which was foolish of her", he says with a sad look in his eyes). He is not just a money-making machine. But he does believe in hard work to be able to afford to live comfortably. Even at the end of the film he is telling the audience to save their money.

Anthony Perkins normally did not appear in comedies, but he is Cornelius here - opposite Shirley MacLaine as Irene. Her early gamin style is at work here, mixed with a bit of urban common sense (unlike Marianne McAndrews in HELLO, DOLLY! she does remember to bring the money from work with her to the Harmonium Gardens - ironically in time to bail out Vandergelder who has lost his wallet). Perkins is a pleasing juvenile in this film - one wishes he had tried more comedies. Within two years he'd be typecast forever as Norman Bates. Robert Morse, at the start of his career, played Barnaby with his typical bashful, winsomeness. In only four years he'd achieve Broadway fame in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, using the same winsomeness as Finch. The most interesting addition in this film was Wallace Ford. Malachi Stack (a new employee hired by Vandergelder) was dropped in the musical - but he too plays an important role in the play as a philosophical type - a reformed thief who is trying to make good at the new job for a difficult, demanding boss. He finds the wallet Vandergelder loses, and turns it over to the wrong person (an important plot twist). Ford makes us like this kindly wreck of a man, who ends up beating his new boss as well as the others do.

Lines of dialog in the film make us realize we are hearing song cues (MacLaine mentioning how ribbons on a hat are the in-thing this year is an example). But this film has such a good rhythm on it's own we do not need the great Jerry Herman score here. THE MATCHMAKER stands up pretty well on it's own feet.

Déjà vu

[evlc · 7/10 · 17 December 2011]

This movie was shown on TCM last week or so. It's the first time for me, and while watching it, I saw that it is almost the same script as Hello Dolly! It's a charming story and enjoyable movie overall. But Hello Dolly! is a favorite movie with me, and I think they did more with it. Even without the musical element, it developed a lot of scenes further, to the benefit of the story and viewer. Maybe it's also an appreciation for Barbra Streisand, though I do not like her in everything. Her over the top brass as an outrageous Dolly was so much fun. I don't like every musical either, but Hello Dolly! is a very lively and entertaining one to me. There is a lot of fun in it. It's certainly an attractive movie. The two are just different movies, each enjoyable for its own type and handling.

Folksy tale has since been improved-upon, but this cast is very fine...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 26 April 2008]

Thornton Wilder's play about a matchmaking busy-body named Dolly Levi in 1880s Yonkers, New York who has been hired to find a mate for a wealthy, grumpy business owner; she comically attempts to keep him for herself, while the gal he admires is quickly falling for one of his own employees. The later stage (and film) musical "Hello, Dolly!" actually improved upon this scenario--there are pauses here which practically call out for a song--but there's evident charm in Shirley Booth's lead portrayal; at times addressing the audience directly (with many of the players following suit), Booth sounds a lot like Thelma Ritter (and has some of Ritter's spunk), but she doesn't get her share of the good lines. Scenes of Dolly getting a wedding ring stuck on her finger or delightedly finding men hiding in Shirley MacLaine's hat shop don't really come off. Booth is friendly but frivolous, and we never quite become involved in her quest to have a man--this man--in her life (in the film-version of "Hello, Dolly!", Barbra Streisand was much more persuasive about her need to share her life with a mate--even if it was Walter Matthau!). The film flutters about in a jolly, folksy way, but some of its gags (such as Anthony Perkins and Robert Morse having to dress in drag) are just silly. It begins and finishes on an upbeat note, but the leaden handling drags its midsection down, even though the cast is quite good. ** from ****

Delectable souffle, just a bit too long in the oven

[marcslope · 8/10 · 31 July 2001]

Some of Thornton Wilder's ironies about love and money get mangled in the dumbing-down of his stage material, and the theatrical conceits (characters constantly breaking down the fourth wall) probably worked better in the legit theater. And then there's that damned toy train, too cutesy by half. Nevertheless, this is a handsome and diverting little comedy with a great cast. Shirley Booth conveys some of the magnetism that made her a stage favorite; it's not necessarily great acting, but a warm and whimsical performance. Anthony Perkins and Shirley MacLaine are young love personified; I'm not sure either of them was ever this appealing again. Compliments, too, to Adolph Deutsch, who wrapped the whole thing up in a terrifically evocative waltz theme.

It's a trifle, but a tasteful and well-paced trifle. I notice that whenever AMC shows it, I watch it, so that says something.

Goodbye Matchmaker - Hello Dolly

[passingview · 6/10 · 17 December 2011]

There's a lot of back and forth on this one, comparing the cast, comparing movie to stage, a lot about Streisand being too young. Even on the Hello Dolly reviews, you get that. I wonder if people didn't know how old Barbra Streisand was if they would still say that. I also wonder how different people's reviews would be if they didn't have the chance to read others'. And, just because someone's been on stage, doesn't make them a demigod. When I saw Hello Dolly, it was love at first sight, along with a lot of other people. Probably those who didn't know all the background and about other productions. Ignorance can be bliss maybe. Probably more like too much information is just confusing. There's even some outrage that someone dared remake their little gem. Well they dared and did and kicked it up a notch, which was needed.

The musical version rocked the house from start to finish. The songs stay with you. The scenes come alive and have greater interest. Mathau was a fine curmudgeon, really funny. Streisand was that Levi woman, age immaterial. She had a full figure and easily passed for a middle aged widow. She came up to what is a strong part. Her outrageous handling was sheer delight. Her more alive and youthful aspect was much better than that rather tired old lady. If you're going to pick on age, I think it's more like Shirley Booth seemed too old for the part. This current movie under review seems kind of tired to me in general, like players doing their umpteenth performance at the end of a run. Phoned in. I never saw Shirley Booth on Broadway, and with what I see here, no regret. She's better cast as Hazel on television.

Streisand stood up and put some bump into this grind. Whoever did Hello Dolly was a real movie maker who took the same stuff to another level. In my view, it made a much more solid contribution to the movie world than Match's rather slow and odd mix of things.

This Matchmaker Doesn't Quite Tie the Knot **

[edwagreen · 5/10 · 8 January 2008]

Disappointing film despite the all-star cast of Shirley Booth, as Dolly Gallagher Levi, Paul Ford as Horace Vandergelder, Anthony Perkins, Shirley Mac Laine and Robert Morse in important supporting parts.

Miss Booth acts more like she is getting prepared for her television role in "Hazel." I expected Mr. B and his family to appear at any moment. She sheds her blouse wife image from her Oscar-winning performance in "Come Back, Little Sheba" and substitutes a match making woman who now wants to remarry and turns her attention to the tightwad Vandergelder, who is played well by Paul Ford.

Coming off his Oscar nominated performance in "Friendly Persuasion," the year before, Perkins is charming but lacks the comic wit of the role.

This is the same year that MacLaine received a best actress nomination for "Some Came Running." She was fabulous there, but in this film she lacks comic timing. She'd improve in the latter in 1960's "The Apartment."

You can see the lines where the 1964 musical Broadway show and 1969 film came from.

Most of the attention is focused at the elegant Harmonia Gardens. Yet, it becomes tiresome as shown on screen.

One can see why it was prime material for a musical treatment.

[gregcouture · 16 July 2003]

"Hello, Dolly!", that marvelously overblown, elephantine 1969 movie musical starring Barbra Streisand, can trace its cinematic origins to this charming film, which, in its stage incarnation, had enjoyed a successful Broadway run a few years before.

Paramount wisely employed the inimitable Shirley Booth to head the cast and, perhaps since she was no guarantee of big box office, despite her Academy Award for "Come Back, Little Sheba" (1952), they filmed it in VistaVision but not Technicolor. Too bad, because it's nicely mounted, smartly directed and well cast, with Paul Ford deserving of particular praise. His wonderfully humorous Horace Vandergelder makes one wish he'd been allowed to play the role again opposite Streisand (though, to be sure, he would have appeared to be much too old for Barbra, who was only twenty-seven years old when Twentieth practically bankrupted itself filming that monumentally successful Broadway bonanza.)

Anyway, this version is genuinely charming and always repays a re-viewing. Its equivalent from a major American motion picture production company is almost inconceivable today, what with audiences whose tastes have been so brutally coarsened. Thank goodness there's a video version to pop into the VCR for those of us who'd occasionally like to take a bit of a holiday from all the troubles that beset us now.

Hello Shirleys!

[standardmetal · 7/10 · 12 September 2006]

This has, through no fault of its own, become a bit of a curiosity. Long ago eclipsed by it's musical version "Hello, Dolly!", the film seems like an introduction to the songs (particularly in the earlier part) which never come. This is largely due to the fact that the musical picked up many of the song titles from lines in the play. ("Put On Your Sunday Clothes", "Ribbons Down My Back" etc.) There are many more differences from, at least, the film version of "Dolly". In the Harmonia Gardens scene, Dolly is hardly the celebrated personage of the musical but just another guest. As played by Shirley Booth, she is hardly the miscast young diva Barbra Streisand was.

The character of Malachi Stack, perhaps a sort of cousin of Alfred P. Doolittle of Shaw's "Pygmalion" or the musical "My Fair Lady", played by Wallace Ford, doesn't exist in the musical. There is no one posing as Ernestina Simple here; she "Simply" doesn't show at the Harmonia Gardens! And Ambrose and Ermengarde are also nowhere to be found.

The play by Thornton Wilder is itself based on his own "The Merchant of Yonkers" which itself was based on earlier (early to mid-19th century) plays by the Austrian Johann Nestroy and the, even earlier, British John Oxenford.

The film, I think unwisely, has many of the characters directly addressing the audience and no doubt this worked better in the theater. And I think the story and settings cried out for color but, of course, Paramount was clearly too cheap.

How would these stars have done in the musical? Perkins, here a considerable improvement over Michael Crawford as Cornelius, could have done the songs not much worse (He did sing on the Broadway stage in the short-running 1960 musical "Greenwillow", but none too well.). Robert Morse would have been more than passable as Barnaby (He sang in "How to Succeed" of course.) and Shirley MacLaine could obviously sing well enough but Miss Booth was not known as a vocalist, at least to my recollection. But Babs' acting ability at the time "Dolly" was made was pretty non-existent and she couldn't sing a single note without milking it for all it was worth. I think Marianne McAndrew and Danny Lockin were fine as Irene and Barnaby.

I think this film, for all its problems, is a considerable improvement over that of "Hello, Dolly!" but it is hoped that a decent version of the musical becomes available in the not-too-distant future.

Everybody's Day Off.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 29 November 2011]

What a cute movie, especially from a sentimental skeptic like Thornton Wilder. And, okay, maybe sometimes it's a little TOO cute but it's still an awful lot of family fun, filled to bursting with innocence and apothegms.

Anthony Perkins and Robert Morse are two young clerks in the Yonkers store that belongs to Paul Ford in 1884. What a skinflint. He asks for some special treatment from his barber then actually gives him a tip. The barber turns to the camera, holds up a single coin, and says bitterly, "A nickel -- after twenty years." Ford is interested in marrying someone "who will be a housekeeper while thinking she's a home owner." Something like that. The young woman he has in mind is Shirley MacLaine, who manages a millinery store in sophisticated New York City. But everyone's heart remains in the suburbs. "London, Paris, Yonkers," boasts Ford. This was before Son of Sam.

He's a skinflint alright but, like Scrooge, he's completely undone and made to see the error of his ways in a kind of epiphany, by three agents: MacLaine, Perkins, and Shirley Booth as the matchmaker whom he winds up marrying. And after many tribulations and adventures, everybody lives happily -- joyously -- ever after, as long as MacLaine doesn't let Perkins catch her in the shower.

Perkins, Morse, and MacLaine are funny but in a direct way. They're giddy with youth. The other characters are one dimensional. The two most interesting characters are Paul Ford as Horace Vandergelder, who would be a Master of the Universe if the universe were limited to Yonkers in 1884, and Booth as the manipulative and sneaky, but very wise, middle-aged woman who holds the play together. "Mister Vandegelder is always saying that everyone is a fool," she muses to the camera, "but he's a fool too, so the choice becomes -- a fool with others or a fool alone." One of the many aphorisms. The movie ends with the principals reciting the lessons they've learned from the day's adventure.

Wilder was a writer of considerable range and often his comedy, like this farce, towed along in its wake a genuine moral, though more shadowy than the ones shouted out by the actors. This is a criticism of the Protestant Ethic and an endorsement of what used to be called existentialism. The Calvinist version of the Protestant Ethic was abroad in the land during the age of the robber barons, of whom Vandegelder is a minor example. An historic example is the father of Lizzie Borden. You know him -- "Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her father forty whacks"? The last public act Andrew Borden is known to have performed, while strolling through his factory and heading home, was to stoop down and pick up a padlock lying on the floor. There was no key for it. He examined it for a minute, turning it over in his hands, wondering if he might some day find a use for it, then slipped it into his pocket. Waste not, want not. That's what Horace Vandegelder would have done.

Now I'm about to run out of space so I won't have room to tell you all about how "The Matchmaker" is an endorsement of existentialism or how it links up with Arthur Schopenhauer's argument that we need to shed our inhibitions and follow our instincts. I was going to shoe horn Joseph Campbell in there too -- "Follow your bliss" and all that. I apologize for using so much space on the movie. I apologize abjectly. I grovel in mortification. I notice that all these apologies are taking up a lot of space too, and I'm sorry for that. I'll just have to conclude by recommending my forthcoming book: "Donald Duck and Schopenhauer: Laughter As Suicide."

Quintessentially Quaint

[krdement · 8/10 · 31 January 2008]

This is old-time movie-making at its finest, featuring an ensemble of well-known, well-loved actors. Filmed before either Shirley MacLaine or Anthony Perkins had become established, this film doesn't feature a really big star. The headliner, Shirley Booth, delivers a typically nuanced, poignant performance, but she is hardly a big star. This film is all about ensemble acting. The story, the sets and the actors are all wonderful. This is a far better adaptation of Thornton Wilder than Our Town.

There is one element of the film that prevents my rating it higher than an 8. Although they are consistent with Wilder's play, the constant asides, directed to the audience, are a distraction. As I watched the story, I found their constant reminder that I was watching a play instead of a depiction of life a real intrusion. I kept wanting to watch the story unfold in an uninterrupted fashion, and I wondered how that might have altered my perception of the story and the characters. Perhaps the device of the stage manager, as employed in Our Town, would have been more suitable and less distracting here. Or perhaps just breaking the fourth wall at the beginning and end of the film would have been better - employing some other method of imparting to the audience the information delivered in the asides. I just wished that this film had not employed the device of having the characters, themselves, step outside the story, directly addressing the audience. This doesn't ruin the film, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if the characters had all remained within the framework of the story. Simply put, I would have been more involved with the character of Dolly (and the other characters) had she been presented as "real" and not just a character within a play.

Nonetheless, this is a highly entertaining film, superior to the succeeding musical versions of the story, and a better adaptation of Thornton Wilder than Our Town. I recommend it highly.

Anthony Perkins Before He Was Scary

[reader4 · 8/10 · 6 April 2001]

Hitchcock's "Psycho" marked a turning point in the career of Anthony Perkins. He stabbed his way into the consciousness of the American moviegoing public so forcefully and proved he was so effective at portraying a disturbed and disturbing personality that he never again played anything else. Even in "The Trial," where he is the hero and an uncomprehending victim, he plays the role in an odd way that doesn't evoke much sympathy from the viewer.

Come and see what he was like before "Psycho!" He is boyish, cute, rather happy-go-lucky, and absolutely endearing. If for nothing else, "The Matchmaker" is worth watching just to actually like and feel warmly towards the actor who makes our hackles rise upon sight. A unique experience.

The rest of the cast is good, too. The story is engaging, wittily written, and never mawkish or sappy. Head and shoulders above "Hello, Dolly."

Good Paradigm Eclipsed by Remake

[misctidsandbits · 8/10 · 17 December 2011]

Just saw this film for the first time recently, and became absorbed with the comparison to "Hello Dolly." Now I see that not only is "Dolly" a great film, but one of the few examples of a very successful remake. This is especially rare when a film is adapted to a musical format. "Dolly" seemed to follow the script of "Matchmaker" very closely, but did a much better job of putting it across. It added umph where it belonged, really bringing out the many choice morsels of the story. "Matchmaker" seems stagy by comparison and actually a rather mechanical run-through. I know its actors are veterans and some in the same vehicle, but they lack the edge in this presentation of the fresher and sharper "Dolly" cast. The material begged for the snap that "Dolly" gave it. "Matchmaker" is a good enough movie, but "Dolly" really sings (even when there's no music).

What "Hello Dolly" should be

[SkippyDevereaux · 26 December 1999]

This is the film that "Hello Dolly" strives to be but can't. Everything about this film is so sweet and Shirley Booth gives a performance that is just hilarious. I also like the way the actors talk to the audience every now and then. At least Miss Booth is more convincing as a middle-aged widow than Miss Streisand was. I wonder what "Hello Dolly" would have been like if they gave the part to Shirley Booth?

Gem of a Film

[whpratt1 · 8/10 · 8 January 2008]

This a great film with outstanding actors and is a take off on, "Hello Dolly". Shirley Booth, (Dolly Gallgher Levi) plays the role as a matchmaker who is always broke but manages to get by one way or the other. Dolly has her eyes set on Horace Vandergelder, (Paul Ford) who is a very rich man and is very tight with his money and pays horrible wages to his employees at his General Store. Cornelius Hackl, (Anthony Perkins) is the chief clerk in the store along with another male co-worker who are very under-paid and actually are given no time off and work seven days a week. This story takes place in Yonkers, N.Y. in the 1800's, and one day, Dolly decides to find a young girl for Horace in New York City who sells ladies hats and is very pretty. Horace says he will go with her and meet this young woman named Irene Molly and possibly ask her to marry him. This is a very romantic and great comedy from 1958 and Paul Ford and Shirley Booth give outstanding performances, don't miss seeing this film.

A CLASSIC!

[Omen-2 · 10/10 · 9 October 1998]

One of my favorite Shirley Booth films and it has several other favorite stars of mine including Anthony Perkins and the GREAT Shirley MacLaine! The film is the original story which the famous musical Hello Dolly! was based. If you are a Dolly Levi fan you must see this classic!

My favourite old movie!

[locotilly · 9/10 · 6 January 2000]

The Matchmaker is a true gem. It's not a drama, but it sure is a lot of fun to watch! I loved the way Dolly Levi was such a fun persuading money loving woman who you can't resist to like. I also loved the way she talked to the camera!

The plot was twisty and it was fun. My favourite part of the movie was when Cornelius and Barnaby were hiding under the table and in the closet.

All of the cast are admirably good. This movie probably wouldn't win any Oscar, but if you're up for some light hearted movie making, see this movie!

Charming and truly funny!

[jann-6 · 18 November 2000]

This movie is a truly funny comedy. I'm not sure why it isn't more well-known. The entire cast is great, particularly Shirley Booth and Anthony Perkins. The dialogue is hilarious, and it's interesting how the major players "break the fourth wall" throughout the film. The basic premise: Shirley Booth is a professional matchmaker who decides she wants to marry her latest client (Paul Ford) herself. Meanwhile, Anthony Perkins is interested in Shirley MacLaine, who is simply interested in getting married. The result is a lot of deception, but the characters are all so nice and likeable that you can't help but root for them all. The next time you're in the mood for a classic comedy, try this one.