Elf (2003)

What are the odds that someone would finally come up with a script about an elf (or at least a human raised by elves) at the same time that an up and coming comedy actor was looking for a breakout feature film role. Those two entities collided in the surprise hit comedy ELF (2003).  The one Christmas character that had received the short end (no pun intended) in the Christmas film genre was Santa's elves. Santa Claus, his reindeer, and even snowmen had received more screen time in movies and television specials than the blue collar workers who make all the toys for the good boys and girls of the world. TVs RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER (1964) was the first program to give Santa's elves a little love in the guise of Hermey, an elf who wanted to become a dentist. But no one had made an elf the centerpiece of a film.

Will Farrell was already a comedy star on NBCs SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE creating a plethora of comic characters during his stint from 1995 to 2002. He had appeared briefly as a minor character Mustafa in a couple of AUSTIN POWERS films and co-starred in A NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY (1997) with Chris Kattan as the Butabi brothers which they played in skits on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. But Farrell wanted to break into films like previous SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE alums like Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Eddie Murphy.  Farrell needed the right project to utilize his comic talents and improvisational skills. And along came director Jon Favreau with ELF.

At the time, Favreau was better known as an actor (SWINGERS, THE REPLACEMENTS) than a director.  Favreau had directed a couple of TV movies but nobody could have predicted his success directing ELF.  From the opening scenes with homages to RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER to some inspired casting of James Caan, Bob Newhart, and Ed Asner in key roles, Favreau has total control of this modern holiday classic.  And, he had the good fortune of having Will Farrell in the lead role as Buddy the Elf.

Directed by Favreau with a screenplay by David Berenbaum, ELF opens with a quick flashback on how the human Buddy ended up in the North Pole. Santa Claus (Ed Asner) stops at an orphanage in New York City during Christmas Eve.  As he munches on a cookie, a small baby climbs into his toy sack. When Santa returns to the North Pole, he discovers the stowaway.  The elves name the human baby Buddy (after his diaper brand Little Buddy Diaper). Buddy is raised by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart). Buddy outgrows his bed, his school desk, and his work station in the toy shop.  He doesn't quite fit in. Buddy overhears a couple of elves gossip that Buddy's not an elf but human. This forces Papa Elf to reveal to Buddy that he's adopted. Buddy's a human and his real father lives in New York and doesn't know he exists.

With Santa and Papa Elf's blessing, Buddy leaps onto a piece of ice (another nod to RUDOLPH) and floats south until he reaches the Big Apple. Buddy begins searching for his father Walter Hobbs (James Caan), a grumpy executive for a struggling children's book publisher located in the Empire State Building. Buddy finds Walter (where Buddy's mistaken for a singing elf messenger) who promptly throws Buddy out of his office (but not before revealing to Walter Buddy's mother's name). Buddy wanders over to Gimbel's, a giant toy store where he meets and falls in love with Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), who works in the store's Christmas section (dressed as an elf no less). Buddy improves the decorations in the Santa area and sleeps in a display window.

The naïve Buddy discovers the big city as he plays in revolving doors, samples discarded chewing gum on subway bannisters, and acts like a giant kid. But when he starts a fight with a fake Gimbel's store Santa (Artie Lange), Buddy is arrested and thrown in jail.  He's bailed out by his real father Walter who brings him home to meet his wife Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and teenage son Michael (Daniel Tay). Walter's a workaholic who's neglecting his family during the holidays. But Walter begins to wonder if Buddy might be his son.

Buddy proceeds to drive Walter crazy with his infinite energy. Walter brings Buddy back to the office only this time in a suit.  Walter puts Buddy to work in the downstairs mailroom. Buddy begins to gain confidence with his new surroundings.  He bonds with new step brother Michael during a snowball fight against some bigger kids. Buddy takes Jovie out on an ice skating date and they have their first kiss. It's all going so well until Buddy interrupts a book pitch meeting to Walter by famed children's book author Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage) to save Walter's job.  Buddy thinks Miles's is an elf and insults the diminutive Miles. Walter kicks Buddy out of the office and tells him he never wants to see Buddy again.  This time, Buddy runs away from home (after leaving his family an Etch-A-Sketch goodbye note).

Michael barges into a board meeting to tell Walter that Buddy is missing.  Despite threats to be fired by Walter's boss Mr. Fulton (Michael Lerner), Walter walks out on the board meeting with Michael to find Buddy.  Buddy wanders aimlessly near Central Park when he sees Santa emergency land in Central Park. The device that powers Santa's sleigh, the Clausometer, is malfunctioning.  As four Central Park Rangers (on horses no less) chase after the elusive Santa, Buddy, Michael, and Jovie are able to get several onlookers including Walter to show some Christmas spirit.  Powered by true believers, Santa's sleigh lifts off from Central Park to finish delivering toys around the world.  Buddy and Walter patch up their relationship and everyone lives happily ever after.

Cognizant that ELF is a Christmas movie competing with dozens of Christmas classics, director Favreau peppers ELF with many references to other Christmas film favorites. As mentioned, the opening sequences of Buddy in the North Pole are mixed with stop animation that resembles RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER.   There's a talking snowman (voiced by musician Leon Redbone) in the spirit of Burl Ives Sam the Snowman. Buddy even waves good bye to three misfit toys as he begins his journey to New York. When a despondent Buddy is kicked out of his father's office, Buddy walks along a snowy bridge that parallels Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey standing on a snowy bridge in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). But rather than an angel intervening, Buddy encounters Santa and his sleigh making an unexpected landing in Central Park.

Buddy's encounter with the department store Santa Claus at Gimbel's echoes Ralphie's department store Santa Claus moment in A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983). In comedies, department store Santas are played for laughs and do not represent the true spirit of old St. Nicholas. ELF'S best modern take on a Christmas character is with Buddy's real father Walter Hobbs. Walter is the Scrooge in ELF.  Consumed by his work, he's barely a husband and father to his wife and son. He's on Santa's naughty list. "He's lost sight of what's important in life," Santa tells Buddy. Walter has lost the Christmas spirit until Buddy enters his life. Like the three ghosts of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951), Buddy shows Walter the true meaning of both family and Christmas.

I enjoyed that the filmmakers did give the real elves some screen and story time in ELF.  Papa Elf played drolly by Bob Newhart narrates the beginning and end of the film, sharing "elf-isms" as he relates how Buddy came to the North Pole. Director Favreau chooses not to use dwarfs or midgets to play the elves, incorporating sleight of hand scale to show the larger human Buddy living and working alongside his smaller elf brothers and sisters. We get an inside view of Santa's Workshop where the elves make shoes, bake cookies, and build toys including modern toys like Etch-A-Sketches. Refreshingly, it's all real sets and costumes in the North Pole with very little CGI involved.

Ten years earlier, Jim Carrey almost played Buddy the Elf (when the ELF script first appeared and Carrey was at the height of his career). But ELF seems tailor made for Will Farrell.  Farrell's height and expertise at physical comedy fits in perfectly with Buddy's awkwardness assimilating into elf society. Farrell also thrives at playing grown men who act like children (see STEP BROTHERS, TALLEDEGA NIGHTS, or ANCHORMAN). In ELF, it works to perfection. Buddy's fish out of water journey to New York City makes sense.  He comes from an insulated, safe home in the North Pole to the wild, big city. Buddy's a kid let loose in a candy store aka the Big Apple.

Although Farrell is the reason for ELF'S success, it's the supporting cast that surprises. Director Favreau's casting decisions are both unexpected and bold. Perhaps revealing his love for classic 1970s television sitcoms, Favreau gives us Bob Newhart (from TVs BOB NEWHART SHOW) as Papa Elf and Ed Asner (from TVs THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW) as Santa Claus. Both play their parts to perfection. And casting against type, Favreau has tough guy James Caan (best known from films like THE GODFATHER and THIEF) as Buddy's biological father Walter Hobbs. It's funny to see Caan trying to stay calm as Farrell does childish like things around him. I kept waiting for Caan to punch Farrell.  But Farrell and Caan's entirely different acting methods complement each other.

Zooey Deschanel is perfect as Buddy's love interest Jovie.  Deschanel has an elfish like quality herself and an ethereal innocence. Besides working in film and an accomplished singer, Deschanel has her own successful TV series NEW GIRL (2011 - 2018). The lovely Mary Steenburgen plays Walter's understanding wife Emily Hobbs. Steenburgen is eternally youthful. She must be a fan of Will Farrell's humor as she would play his mother in STEP BROTHERS (2008). Faizon Love steals his few scenes in ELF as Jovie's Gimbel's manager. His exasperation as Buddy wreaks havoc with the store's commercial interpretation of Christmas is priceless. Amy Sedaris brings some cheer to the sour Walter Hobbs as his secretary Deb.  And Favreau gives us another Christmas movie Easter Egg with Peter Billingsley who played the bespectacled young Ralphie in A CHRISTMAS STORY cast as Ming Ming, Buddy's exasperated elf shift boss in Santa's toyshop.

As much as I enjoy ELF, the third act is a let down after the first two thirds of the movie.  It just seems rushed with Buddy finding Santa in Central Park, trying to fix his Clausometer so the sleigh can fly again while four Central Park rangers on horseback (acting like either the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or the wraith riders of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING) race around trying to catch Santa.  Farrell disappears in this section which is devoted to Walter finding his Christmas spirit and regaining the love of his son Michael.

But it's not enough to sour my thoughts on ELF as one of the better modern day Christmas movies. ELF maintains its charm throughout the film thanks to the breakout comedy performance from Will Farrell surrounded by a cast of veteran and new actors who keep the story focused on Buddy's journey to find his real father. ELF'S humor never strays into today's gross out style, its laughs sticking with the film's concept and Christmas spirit. ELF is the gift that keeps on giving each Christmas season. 

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

It's not surprising for studios to entice directors to recapture the magic of a previous hit film by making another film using a similar formula or in the same genre or with the same actors. Director George Roy Hill paired Paul Newman with Robert Redford and had a smash hit film BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969). Newman and Redford's chemistry was electric. Hill would cast Newman and Redford together again in the Depression era caper film THE STING (1973). After Francis Coppola made his massive twin hit gangster films THE GODFATHER (1972) and THE GODFATHER PART II (1974), he mostly misfired on his next few projects. So what did Coppola return to make? Another gangster film called THE COTTON CLUB (1984). But the one film director I never expected to reuse one of his own formula's was John Huston.

Now Huston had made several classic films about men and women's greed ending with catastrophic results in THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (1948), THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950), and THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975). But one of Huston's most endearing films and an outright classic is THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951) starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn as two polar opposites who become attracted to each other in the heart of Africa during World War I.  It's a different kind of John Huston movie, the closest to a romantic film that he would do.  I thought it was the only one Huston made. That is until I watched Huston's 1957 film HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON.

Whether a studio convinced Huston to try the formula again or if Huston himself read the Charles Shaw novel and saw the similarities, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON is a reworking of THE AFRICAN QUEEN formula. The setting is similar. HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON takes place at the end of World War II in the South Pacific. THE AFRICAN QUEEN takes place during World War I in German East Africa around 1914. The characters from both films are similar as well.  Two completely different people thrust together in a time of upheaval who find comfort in each other despite coming from different worlds.

Co-written by John Lee Mahin and John Huston and directed by Huston, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON has no dialogue for the first ten minutes as U.S. Marine Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum) drifts unconscious in a rubber raft before washing ashore on a seemingly deserted South Pacific island during 1944 World War II. On the beach, Allison comes across a few bungalows and a church before stumbling across Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), a Roman Catholic nun and the only other inhabitant of the island (if you don't count rats and wild pigs). Allison was on a reconnaissance mission when the Japanese attacked his submarine. Floundering in the water, Allison found a raft and jumped in. Sister Angela came to the island with Father Phillips to find another priest Father Ryan and evacuate to Fiji before the Japanese could conscript him. But Ryan had already been taken and Phillips became sick and died leaving Angela alone. Allison and Angela must work together to survive and figure out how to get off the island.

The soldier and the nun manage to catch a sea turtle and cook it for food.  They prepare to build a raft to get off the island when a Japanese reconnaissance plane flies overhead.  Allison takes Angela to a cave he discovered not far from their beach huts. The Japanese bomb the beach before coming ashore and setting up a makeshift camp. Allison sneaks down into the camp one night to steal some food from the camp. He becomes trapped in the kitchen when two cooks show up. Sister Angela wakes up to find Allison missing.  She hears gunshots and fears Allison has been shot. But it's just the Japanese shooting at a wild pig.  Allison returns with his booty. Angela's happy he's alive but upset he left without telling her.

Allison begins to fall for Sister Angela. Angela confesses she's hasn't completed all her vows which gives Allison hope. The two of them watch a sea battle between the Japanese and the Allies on the horizon. The next morning, they wake up to find the Japanese have left the island. Allison picks this moment to confess his love to Sister Angela.  But Angela won't give up her love to God. Scrounging for supplies that the Japanese left behind, Angela finds a bottle of Saki.  Allison becomes drunk on Saki and upsets Angela with his rants.  Angela runs out into a storm and falls asleep in the outdoors wet and cold. Allison eventually finds Angela among the tall grasses, shivering and feverish.  He brings her back to the cave.

Allison sees naval ships off in the distance. At first, he thinks it's the U.S. Navy but soon realizes the Japanese are returning to the island. With Sister Angela near death, Allison sneaks into the camp again to grab some blankets. A Japanese soldier catches him in the hut. They struggle and Allison kills the soldier. Allison returns Angela back to health but at a price.  The Japanese begin burning the bamboo and grasses on the island to find the castaways.  As the two of them prepare to become prisoners, Angela says a prayer. Suddenly, explosions fill the air and U.S. planes fly over, bombing the Japanese. Allison feels God telling him to take out the Japanese cannons so the U.S. landing will be safer.   Can Marine Corporal Allison pull off this divine suicide mission?

Just as the alcohol loving riverboat captain Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogard) and the prim missionary Rose Sayer (Katherine Hepburn) made THE AFRICAN QUEEN so endearing, we have the same archetypes with Corporal Allison and Sister Angela in HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON. Two completely different people. A marine and a nun.  The military and the Catholic church. But Allison and Angela's vocations, although seemingly polar opposite, have a lot in common.  Cpl. Allison was raised an orphan.  The marines are his family.  The Marine Corps are his religion just like Catholicism is Angela's.  They both wear clothing connected to their employer. Marine green for Allison. Angelic white for Angela. Both were raised by tough teachers. Allison by a DI (Drill Instructor). Angela reveals she had her own type of drill instructor: a nun she and the other sisters called "the holy terror."

I've always liked movies about unrequited love.  They can be frustrating but you keep watching hoping the two people will kiss and/or fall in love. HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON is that kind of film. Allison begins falling for Sister Angela.  They get along well. It appears as if they're going to be on the island for some time. When Allison proposes to Angela, she turns him down. It's not that she doesn't have feelings for Allison. She's fond of him. But Angela has promised her love to a higher power. Jesus Christ. But the filmmakers come up with a plot device that is the closest to intimacy they will have. When Allison finds Angela feverish outside the cave after he scared her with his "drunk talk", he undresses her (off camera) and wraps her in warm blankets so she doesn't die of exposure. He tells Angela what he had to do. Angela approves of the act. It's the two characters way of consummating their relationship without making love. Allison and Angela are a modern day Adam and Eve on this island. Only there's no snake to tempt them. Just the Japanese army to hide from. The film's ending hints that there still could be hope for the two. As Allison is taken by a stretcher to a nearby ship, Angela follows holding both the comb Allison made for her and a cross from the church.  The camera lingers on both as if to suggest Angela's mind is not completely made up whether she will choose God or Allison.  Maybe that's why the title suggests only "heaven knows" Angela's decision.

Who wouldn't fall in love with the lovely Deborah Kerr as Sister Angela? Kerr has a wonderful porcelain face that shines throughout the film as that's all we really see of her.  Just as we ache to see Kerr and Mitchum kiss, we yearn to see a glimpse of Kerr's hair.  For almost the entire film, she wears her habit.  Only her face is seen. But Huston does provide one scene in which Angela is out of her nun's clothing and we see her short cropped red hair. My first encounter with Kerr was in Fred Zinnemann's FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) as the unfaithful wife to an army captain.  Sister Angela is a far cry from ETERNITY'S cheating wife. But Kerr had the versatility to bounce between demure characters like the English teacher in THE KING AND I (1956) to another philandering wife in THE END OF THE AFFAIR (1955) as well as classical performances like Portia in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's JULIUS CAESAR (1953).

Robert Mitchum began his career playing tough guys and cowboys in films like Don Siegel's THE BIG STEAL (1949) or Raoul Walsh's PURSUED (1947). But Mitchum would break out from being typecast when he played the malevolent preacher Harry Powell in Charles Laughton's THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955).  Mitchum would work with many great directors throughout his career including Howard Hawks (EL DORADO), David Lean (RYAN'S DAUGHTER), and Sydney Pollack (THE YAKUZA). Corporal Allison is one of Mitchum's finest roles.  He brings both a gritty toughness yet boyish tenderness to Allison as he protects and falls in love with Sister Angela. One moment, Allison's a love struck teenager bringing Sister Angela a comb he made by hand as a gift.  He's in love for the first time in his life. "I've never even lived before," he tells Angela. "Never really..lived...inside" as he taps his heart. The next moment, he kills a Japanese soldier with his bare hands to protect their presence on the island. It's a daring performance by Mitchum.

When I think of Hollywood on screen couples, I usually think of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, or Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn.  HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON would be the first of four films (one a television movie) that Robert Mitchum and Debora Kerr would appear in together.  After watching their chemistry in HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON, it's not surprising. Mitchum and Kerr would also star in Fred Zinnemann's THE SUNDOWNERS (1960) set in early 20th Century Australia and Stanley Donen's THE GRASS IS GREENER (1960) co-starring Cary Grant and Jean Simmons.

When I first saw HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON, the island location struck me as unique.  The island looked dense with palm trees.  I wondered did they really film HEAVEN KNOWS somewhere in the South Pacific?  Director Huston was known for filming in far away locations like Mexico for THE TREASURE OF SIERRE MADRE or the Belgian Congo in Africa for THE AFRICAN QUEEN. It turns out the location for HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON is Tobago, one of the two island in the Caribbean known as Trinidad-Tobago.  Tobago has an incredibly lush look and most likely resembles the hundreds of small islands in the South Pacific.  Ironically, Mitchum had just made a film the year before called THE FIRE DOWN BELOW (1957) in Tobago co-starring Rita Hayworth and Jack Lemmon. Fans of Disney's 1960 adventure THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON will recognize Tobago as the location for that film too.

Kerr and Mitchum are the only two stars of the film.   They have almost all the screen time.  But Huston does give a few scenes to the Japanese actors who portray the Japanese army in HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON.  Huston shows them as human beings just like anyone else. Shining boots, dancing to music, engaging in some physical athletic games. Two cooks exemplify the universal grunt in war.  They both show their disdain for a superior (after he leaves the kitchen). The battle boredom by playing a board game and drinking Saki that was meant for the officer. They seem like nice enough men.  Allison watches them, trapped in the kitchen until they go to bed.  As normal as the two cooks appear, Allison would kill them in a heartbeat if they were to discover him. It's nice to see Huston show the human side of the enemy.

The opposites attract film went to great lengths in the 80s to be vastly different in movies like Ron Howard's SPLASH (1984) where a man falls in love with a mermaid or John Carpenter's STARMAN (also 1984) that has a woman falling in love with an extraterrestrial who can resemble her dead husband.  But John Huston perfected the formula with his classic film THE AFRICAN QUEEN. But Huston's lesser known HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON might be even more true to the formula than THE AFRICAN QUEEN. HEAVEN'S two protagonists are almost fated to never be together due to Angela's vows.  But it's worth watching and hoping that they might become a couple.