Magic Town

Dir: William A. Wellman

1947

***

William A. Wellman's 1947 Magic Town was a flop at the box office and lost a record amount of money for RKO Radio Pictures, not because it's bad, but more so because of its content. 1947 was a big year for noir thrillers, directors such as Delmer Daves, Bincent Sherman and Elia Kazan were churning out two films a year and it had strong competition from films such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer. Films were about crimes of passion, there were fantasy dramas and screwball comedies were doing well. A film about public opinion polling, based on the Middletown studies (sociological case studies of the City of Muncie in Indiana) of the late 20s, just didn't appeal to the majority of the country (if only it had been a question during the Middletown studies!). The fact of the matter is, it was seen as a bit boring, which is very unfair, if anything you could say the film sounded far too interesting, as the audience were after a bit of escapism on an evening out to the pictures. Magic Town is clever and beautifully written, with a script to die for. It's quick-witted, intelligently ironic and stacked full of charm. I would argue that it was one of James Stewart's better and most underrated performances and Ned Sparks is brilliant as his dead-pan, deep voices side-kick Ike who somehow manages to keep a giant cigar in his mouth and speak clearly for the duration of the film. Stewart plays an ex-basketball player who now owns a consumer survey company and thinks he has found a winning formula to perform the perfect survey. Thanks to an old buddy, he finds a small town that is almost a complete miniature of the country in terms of demographic, however, a rival company are due to release what they suggest is a definitive study, so it is a race against time to publish their findings. They arrive in the town of Grandview and pose as insurance salesmen. They slowly manage to gain the townsfolk's trust and they integrate themselves into town life. When Stewart's character falls for a newspaper writer Mary (Jane Wyman) he loses focus on his main objective and lets it slip what his intentions are and soon who he really is and what he's up to is revealed to the town and is front page news. Mary, believing she has got revenge, suddenly realizes that both have lost out, as the townsfolk look to profit from the revelation of their town and soon the data collected is next to useless. However, the couple soon realize that their love for each other is worth more and Stewart comes to the conclusion that town life is the life for him. It's sweet and innocent but the reaction of the town following the revelation that they are "the public opinion capital of the US" is quite revealing of the era. In the story, the media eventually lose interest in the town when the data published suggests the majority of its inhabitants would like to see a female President, which is seen as so utterly ridiculous the whole situation is laughed off. It may be true, I don't know, but it is a sad reflection of the film, if not the time, which makes the whole thing slightly less attractive than it had been up to that point. Overall all though, it's an overlooked film, full of charm and worth much more credit than it has been given.