Harvey (1950): The Art of the Invisible Co-Star

1950 • Henry Koster • 1.37:1• Jump to Gallery ↓

Am I crazy, or is it Jimmy Stewart who is crazy? After all, I don’t see the six-foot-tall invisible rabbit named Harvey. He does! Or perhaps it’s simply that he is Elwood P. Dowd, a man whose gentle nature (and penchant for the local bar) leads his frantic sister, Veta Louise Simmons, to attempt to have him committed. What follows is a comedy of errors that questions who, exactly, is the “sane” one.

Henry Koster, who is directing this film adaptation of Mary Chase’s 1944 Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play, has avoided making his version of Harvey look like a simple play on film. He made a very lively film, keeping the actors at the centre but placing them in a rich little world where everyone seems to navigate around that giant rabbit they never see.

That’s the visual trick Harvey achieves with great blocking and composition. While the film avoids confirming whether Harvey is ‘real’, it plays around with the idea of the fabled creature throughout. You’ll never see Harvey, but it’s as if he’s sitting next to Stewart, who delivered a delightful performance while talking to his invisible friend.

Technical Specs:

• The Story: A gentle, eccentric man insists on the existence of an invisible six-foot rabbit, unsettling his socially anxious family while quietly revealing the value of kindness, imagination, and nonconformity.
• Actors: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake, Cecil Kellaway, Victoria Horne, Jesse White.
• Director: Henry Koster
• Year: 1964
• Cinematographer: William H. Daniels
• Origin: American Cinema
• Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
• Genre: Comedy / Fantasy