Harvey (1950), Film 4, directed by Henry Koster, based upon Mary Chase's 1944 play.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/harvey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_(1950_film)

Our parents would have known who and what Harvey was. But don’t expect anybody under fifty. They might be vaguely familiar with James Stewart. He was the Tom Hanks of yesteryear and resident good guy. Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1944) is a regular at Christmas.

James Stewart is such a perfect match to the ever-so amiable Elwood P. Dowd it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing the role. Go on, shut your eyes and try.

Harvey won no awards for his acting skills beside James Stewart. He’s an invisible, 6 ft 3 inch white rabbit. A púca, a benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology. He likes to drink with Elwood and they spend many pleasant days together at ‘Charlie’s bar’. Elwood isn’t one of those I- worked-all-my-days type and neither is Harvey. Other folk seem to resent their relationship for a number of different but predictable reasons.

His co-star, Josephine Hull as Veta Louise Simmons won an Oscar for her portrayal of Drood’s sister trying to get Elwood committed to a Sanatorium or nuthouse as it was known them.

We know she’s going to fail, which is part of the charm.

Nurse Kelly (Peggy Dow) provides the glamour in a cast in which everybody else looks the wrong side of fifty but act older and younger like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz or the choirgirl cast of Grease.

This is my second and last viewing of Harvey and there still remains much to like about it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVBVVGD6