Charmed, nostalgic

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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_More_the_Merrier">The More The Merrier</a> (1943), on Turner Classic Movies channel:

The setting is wartime Washington D.C., amidst a severe housing shortage. Mr. Dingle, some kind of politician, finds his reserved room unavailable, so he rents half of Jean Arthur's apartment. When she goes to work the next morning, Dingle rents half of his half to Joe Carter, a young military man waiting for his orders. Screwball, madcap, choreographed slapstick, when Arthur comes home without realizing Carter is there. When they finally see each other, the chemistry is electrifying. The rest of the movie is spent wanting these two to get together despite all the obstacles - Arthur is engaged to a man she doesn't love, but who makes $8600 a year ("That's good!" says Dingle), Carter is being posted to Africa in two days, a kid downstairs drops a dime on Carter for looking out the window with binoculars ("there's a Jap in Miss Milligan's apartment, spying on the Government Printing Office!").

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Truly, this was America's greatest generation (and my <a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2012/12/2/41722/4893">Dad's</a>). When Carter comes home late and disturbs some men sleeping in the lobby, they chastise him for waking them, one saying "He must be one of those new Republicans. We'll run him off."

Very charming and well-acted movie. I was physically aching for Arthur and Joel McCrae (who played Sgt. Carter) to sleep together by the end.

A musical theme throughout was "What is this thing called love", which I didn't recognize at first but then remembered I'd <a href="https://soundcloud.com/robertscottmitchell">recorded</a> for a peer-reviewed assignment in the <a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2013/4/30/5419/72226">Jazz Improvisation</a> MOOC. There was a very sexy scene where Arthur put on the record and danced alone in her room. That girl knew how to move.

What a great era, musically at least. Dingle kept repeating how there were eight girls for every guy in DC at the time. There was a scene in a nightclub with a band (white) playing straight-ahead swing jazz, with girls dancing and cooing over Carter, shamelessly flirting and competing with each other for his attention, all sighing disappointedly when he left with Arthur.