Film vs Film
Select two cult films to compare side by side.
Young as You Feel Synopsis
Lemuel Morehouse, the owner of a profitable meatpacking company in Chicago, bemoans the fact that neither of his two sons have the time nor inclination to eat with him. Billy is obsessed with culture, while Tom is a physical fitness nut. At the office, Lemuel is exasperated when Billy arrives for work at four in the afternoon and cannot stay because of a party he is giving that night to unveil a statue he bought for $20,000. Lemuel then finds Tom meeting with his golf committee rather than working. When the boys argue that business is only a means to an end, and that happiness and enjoyment of life are desired goals, Lemuel counters their contentions by declaring that what they really need are wives and tells them that Dorothy and Rose Gregson, the daughters of an old friend, will soon be visiting. During the party, Fleurette, a French singer hired by Billy, goes to Lemuel's bedroom to undress before her performance, and after an embarrassing moment, she and Lemuel become friends. She encourages him to loosen up, and after awhile, he saunters downstairs drunk, just as the statue, supposedly a distinguished work of modern art, is being unveiled. Billy worries that Fleurette may be a blackmailer. Sometime later, Billy, Tom and Lemuel's staid partner, Noah Marley, are concerned because Lemuel has not shown up for an important meeting. Since meeting Fleurette, Lemuel is never at home, and he has been arrested in a speakeasy raid. Lemuel arrives at the office in top hat and tails, and when his sons act indignant at his behavior, he reiterates their own philosophy and leaves skipping with Fleurette to go to the races. Billy and Tom call detectives to follow them. At the track, the detectives spy Fleurette introduce Lemuel to Harry Lamson, an infamous blackmailer, but they conclude that she is worth the money it will cost Lemuel. Fleurette tells Lemuel that Lamson is a friend of the man who sold Billy the statue, Colonel Stanhope, and that Stanhope went to Colorado, where her mother owns some land. Lemuel agrees to go with her to check on the land, and Billy and Tom, believing that they left to get married, follow with Marley, the Gregson sisters, who have just arrived in town, the detectives and a judge. At the Hotel Colorado, a suspicious man watches as Lemuel and Fleurette register. When Stanhope boasts that he sold Fleurette's mother's land for $2,000, Lemuel reveals that he has learned that Stanhope made $40,000 from the deal. Lemuel then asserts that the statue Billy bought was in reality a hunk of granite that a drunkard ordered for a tombstone. By warning Stanhope that, as an ex-convict, he could get a ten-year sentence for fraud, Lemuel induces him to pay $40,000 for a large rock he unveils in a ceremony in the hotel lobby. In her bedroom, as Fleurette embraces Lemuel to thank him, the man who earlier spied upon them bursts in and reveals that he is Fleurette's husband. Lemuel is certain that the couple will blackmail him, but thinks the experience has been worth it and takes out his checkbook. Fleurette, disappointed in Lemuel, explains that she left her husband because of his jealousy, and the husband contends that her mother sent for him to check on the land. Convinced that they are telling the truth, Lemuel says that he and Fleurette are not in love, but just good pals. As they shake hands, Lemuel's sons and their party intrude. Lemuel explains that he wanted to teach his sons a lesson, but that he learned one himself: that anyone is dead who lets life pass him by. He then goes on an ocean liner to Paris with Fleurette and her husband, and brings along Marley, who soon sports a toupee and an entourage of attractive young women. The toupee, however, falls into the water, and everyone laughs.
Life's Harmony Synopsis
Josiah Pringle, a benevolent old musician, who ekes out his livelihood by giving music lessons, after playing the organ for twenty years in the church of a little New England hamlet, must make way for a younger man, Gordon Howard, who comes from Boston. Faith Pringle, adopted by Josiah and his aged sister, Letitia, is leader of the choir, and when Pringle is replaced, she refuses to sing, but relents at Pringle's gentle insistence. When the new organist appears, Pringle's pupils leave him for the younger man, but he feels no resentment against Howard and compliments him on his playing. A young ruffian attacks Faith, but Howard rescues her and Pringle, deeply appreciative, invites Howard to the house. For many years Pringle has been working upon an improvement in organs. He shows the model to Howard who discovers a point that has baffled the old musician for ten years. The young ruffian, seeking a way to revenge himself on Howard through Pringle, shows Pringle a newspaper bearing the picture of a young man, resembling Howard closely, sought as an embezzler, but Pringle, in his kindly way, says that if Howard has reformed, he will not be the first to persecute him. Pringle places his model in the hands of Howard, to obtain a patent. Howard writes that he has secured an advance of $20,000 royalties and they hear nothing further from him. As the weeks drag by and Pringle's small store of money is exhausted, he and his sister are forced to the decision that Faith must be returned to the orphanage whence she came. The day of her departure comes all too soon. At the last moment, Howard comes in and explains that after receiving the money he placed it in a safe for the time being. In passing a building in the course of construction, he was injured. At the hospital to which he was taken, no means of identification were found on him, and just as soon as he recovered his memory he returned to the Pringles. The cloud on his antecedents is cleared when he looks at the newspaper pictures and says "My brother, the poor fellow is dead now." Through Howard's influence, Pringle is reinstated as organist and the friendship between Faith and Howard quickly ripens into love.
"Young as You Feel" holds a slight edge in general audience appreciation, but "Life's Harmony" offers its own unique cult appeal.
Suggested Watch:
Young as You Feel