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It Happened to Jane

It Happened to Jane

Comedy · Romance · 1959

Jane Osgood runs a lobster business, which supports her two young children. Railroad staff inattention ruins her shipment, so with her lawyer George, Jane sues Harry Foster Malone, director of the line and the "meanest man in the world".

Movie details

It Happened to Jane

“It's bigger than all of us!”

1959 Comedy · Romance 1h 37m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

Jane Osgood runs a lobster business, which supports her two young children. Railroad staff inattention ruins her shipment, so with her lawyer George, Jane sues Harry Foster Malone, director of the line and the "meanest man in the world".

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over It Happened to Jane?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Richard Quine

Written by

Norman Katkov · Max Wilk

Doris Day

Doris Day

Jane Osgood

Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon

George Denham

Ernie Kovacs

Ernie Kovacs

Harry Foster Malone

Steve Forrest

Steve Forrest

Larry Hall

Teddy Rooney

Teddy Rooney

Billy Osgood

Russ Brown

Russ Brown

Uncle Otis

Walter Greaza

Walter Greaza

Crawford Sloan

Court is in session

Put It Happened to Jane on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.