BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEWED ONE FILM. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE FILM. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY THEME MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.During a cross-country lecture tour, notoriously acerbic radio personality Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley) slips on the icy steps of the house of the Stanleys (Grant Mitchell and Billie Burke), a prominent Ohio family, and insists on recuperating in their home during the Christmas holidays. The overbearing, self-centered celebrity soon comes to dominate the lives of the residents and everyone else who enters the household. He encourages young adults Richard (Russell Arms) and June (Elisabeth Fraser) Stanley to pursue their dreams, much to the dismay of their conventional father Ernest.This is a classic film. Its very funny and should be made mandatory viewing! Films today are no longer made this way and that is sad. In 50 years people will still be watching this. Will they still be watching "Office Christmas Party"

When acerbic critic Sheridan Whiteside slips on the front steps of a provincial Ohio businessman's home and breaks his hip, he and his entourage take over the house indefinitely.Four of the leading characters are based on real-life personalities. Sheridan Whiteside was inspired by celebrated critic and Algonquin Round Table member Alexander Woollcott, who eventually played the role on stage; Lorraine Sheldon, by musical stage actress Gertrude Lawrence; Beverly Carlton, by playwright and renowned wit Noël Coward; and Banjo, by Harpo Marx.Whiteside comes off as a cross between WC Fields (with his witty remarks) and the Simpsons' Comic Book Guy (with his mocking condescension). He is both a joy to watch, and simultaneously a wretched monster to be reviled. The romance is really the thread that ties everything together, but it hardly carries the film the way Whiteside does.

This movie is about an art critic and radio personality, supposedly 'wonderful', 'charming', 'clever', and 'witty'(or so other characters keep telling he is, when he in fact opposite of all of them), meeting with an accident during a lecture tour in American Midwest, his taking over the house of his businessman host, and his selfish (one of his 'endearing' traits by testimony of characters in the movie) interferences in the lives of all he comes into contact.If ever there was movie that can be called dated, this is it. It was made to reflect and entertain particular set of people. Most of them and their work were, though now thankfully forgotten, then influential in so called theater, art, and intellectual, circles of USA, based mainly in New York and Hollywood.As is to be expected, movie looks down on so called 'flyover country' and its values. That in itself may not be a bad thing, but is not a good idea if one is stupider and empty headed than people one is looking down on.No matter how hard one tries one can't make superficial cliché words turn lukewarm water into acid that burns, or wine that delights. Writers of this play turned movie were not Oscar Wilde, and it shows. Especially in contrast when they borrow a few lines from him.Protagonist's much praised wit seems to consist mostly in verbal threats of slapstick violence against various victims. As such it is even more ephemeral than actual slapstick, which at least has some physical substance. Almost all of his victims do not resist (this is another giveaway that this movie is a coastal elite fantasy since actual people in middle of USA are not known for passive submission, quite the contrary). When his sectary, Bette Davis, give him a talking to, she is as mild and ineffective as other token resistance from others towards the end. In fact, given that she has very willingly worked for him for 10 years, before objecting to what she has seen, only conclusion that can be drawn is that her character is extremely stupid. Movie shows its stage origins. But then people who produced this can't be very imaginative or creative to begin with.It does have the polished production values expected of a studio product, and has a competent enough cast, though as expected during that period, most of them overact (in the case of the lead, Monty Woolley, atrociously).This almost completely wordy movie, drops names and makes allusions, to then current celebrities, and would be celebrities, in every other sentence. Most of the references have been unintelligible to most viewers since shortly after the movie was made. Its characters were also supposedly based on specific real people, people long dead and buried now, deservedly so, as viewers of this movie soon realize.

Despite receiving third billing, this film clearly stars Monty Woolley. After all, HE is the man who came to dinner--not Bette Davis or Ann Sheridan! But, since he was not a familiar name and never made that many films, these two big stars fro Warner Brothers get top billing. Now for me, a film that stars Woolley is a great thing--as he was able to make any film tremendously watchable and was a great character actor in films like "The Bishop's Wife" and "Since You Went Away". Without him, these films would have lacked his wonderful presence. Interestingly, Woolley had another outside career--he was a professor at Yale!! Sheridan Whiteside (Woolley) plays an obnoxious but very famous author (no one is a greater fan of the man than Whiteside). And, he holds the world in disdain in a way no other actor but Clifton Webb could have done! But Webb was still an unknown actor and the filmmakers' other choice (John Barrymore) was too sick from the final stages of alcoholism--so the choice of Woolley to play the role was a natural."The Man Who Came to Dinner" begins with Whiteside and his personal secretary (Bette Davis) arriving in yet another town during his public speaking/book tour. A family invites him over for dinner--not realizing that this simple dinner party would result in him staying for weeks! Whiteside slips outside the home and milks the family's generosity to the hilt by staying there--and creating a lot of upheaval in the process. What exactly? See this clever film to find out for yourself.The plot of this film is not the main reason to watch it--after all, the story is pretty simple and not all that remarkable. However, the dialog and acting are just lovely--making for a nice viewing experience throughout. Overall, a nice comedy that shows off Woolley's star power. Well worth seeing.