The Devil and Miss Jones

1941
Approved
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

4.9K

YOUR RATING

Jean Arthur in The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

Screwball Comedy Comedy Romance

A tycoon goes undercover to ferret out agitators at a department store, but gets involved in their lives instead.A tycoon goes undercover to ferret out agitators at a department store, but gets involved in their lives instead.A tycoon goes undercover to ferret out agitators at a department store, but gets involved in their lives instead.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

4.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 2 nominations total

Trivia
Jean Arthur planned to remake the picture with her as the devil titled "The Devil and Mr. Jones", but that project never materialized.

Goofs
During the beach scene, the people in the background change completely from shot to shot. However, the crowd in the opening shot of the beach scene is the same as the one in the final shot.

Quotes
First Policeman: When they start recitin' the Constitution, watch out!

Crazy credits
The foreword after the opening credits reads: Dear Richest Men in the World: We made up this character in the story, out of our own heads. It's nobody, really. The whole thing is make-believe. We'd feel awful if anyone was offended. Thank you, The Author, Director and Producer. P.S. Nobody sue. P.P.S. Please.

Connections
Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.12 (2011)

Soundtracks
The Blue Danube Waltz, Opus 314
(1867) (uncredited)
Written by Johann Strauss
Played aboard ship at the end and danced by Merrick and the employees.

User reviews72

Review

Featured review

9/10

A Lesson in Comedy

I saw this movie for the first time on TCM, during their run-up to the 2005 Oscars. I expected quaint, cute, pleasant. What I got was much more: strong writing and characters, believable performances, a sure hand of the director who knew how to make comedy work on-screen, an interesting story with plot twists. Even after more than six decades, this comedy still works well. Today's comedy directors and writers could learn a lot from this film: how to make the situations and characters work without shoving in the audience's face. Sam Wood gives the audience for this film some credit for intelligence, and lets the strength of the script and actors emerge. For the first time, I realized just what fine actors are Charles Coburn and Jean Arthur.