The More the Merrier is a 1943 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by George Stevens, and starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, and Charles Coburn. The film's script—from Two's a Crowd, an original screenplay by Garson Kanin (uncredited)—was written by Robert Russell, Frank Ross, Richard Flournoy, and Lewis R. Foster. Set in Washington, D.C., the film presents a comic look at the housing shortage during World War II.
The film received six nominations at the 16th Academy Awards, among them Best Picture, Best Director for Stevens, Best Actress for Arthur, Best Writing (Original Motion Picture Story), and Best Writing (Screenplay). Coburn won Best Supporting Actor.
The film was remade in 1966 as Walk, Don't Run, starring Cary Grant, Samantha Eggar, and Jim Hutton. The setting was changed to Tokyo, which had experienced housing shortages due to the 1964 Summer Olympics.
Plot
Retired millionaire Benjamin Dingle arrives in Washington, D.C., as an adviser on the housing shortage, two days early and finds that his hotel suite will not be available for two days. There are no other rooms available at the hotel, nor at any other hotel in town. He sees a classified ad for a roommate and talks the reluctant young woman, Connie Milligan, into letting him sublet half of her apartment. The next morning, after Connie leaves for work, Dingle meets Sergeant Joe Carter, who is interested in a room to stay for a week while waiting to be shipped overseas. Dingle rents him half of his half.
When Connie discovers the new arrangement, she angrily orders both men to leave, but is persuaded to relent because she has already spent the pair's rent. Joe and Connie soon develop a mutual attraction, though she is engaged to bureaucrat Charles J. Pendergast. Connie's mother married for love, not security, and Connie is determined not to repeat that mistake. Dingle seeks out Pendergast at a business luncheon the following day and decides that Joe would be a better match for Connie.
thumb|Joe and Connie talk about his past romances.
One day, Dingle chances on Connie's diary and reads aloud from it to Joe, including her comments about Joe. Dingle is caught by Connie, who again demands they both leave the next day. Dingle takes full blame for the incident, and retreats to his now-available hotel room. Joe gives Connie a traveling bag as an apology gift, and she allows him to stay until he departs for Africa in two days.
Joe asks Connie out to dinner that night; she is initially reluctant but decides she will accept his invitation if Pendergast does not call her by 8:00pm. At 8:00, Joe and Connie prepare to leave, but her teenage neighbor seeks her advice and delays her, and Pendergast then arrives downstairs. As Connie and Pendergast leave together, Joe spies on the couple from his window with binoculars. When the neighbor asks what he is doing, Joe flippantly tells him he is a Japanese spy.
Dingle calls Joe to meet him for dinner at a restaurant, where they run into Connie and Pendergast. Playing Cupid, Dingle invites Pendergast to his suite to discuss the housing shortage, so that Joe and Connie can be alone together. Later, Joe walks Connie home. The two share their romantic pasts and end up kissing on the front steps. Inside, a sleepless Joe confesses through his bedroom wall that he loves her. She tells him she feels the same way, but refuses to marry him, as they will soon be forced apart when he leaves for Africa.
Joe and Connie are interrupted by the arrival of two FBI agents, who have been tipped off that Joe is a Japanese spy. Joe and Connie are taken to FBI headquarters. They assert that Dingle can vouch for Joe's identity and innocence. Dingle arrives, bringing Pendergast. During questioning, Pendergast is shocked to learn that Joe and Connie share the same address. When they ask Dingle to tell Pendergast that their living arrangement is purely innocent, he denies knowing them.
Outside the station, Dingle says he lied to protect his reputation. Taking a taxi home, they all discuss what to do to avoid a scandal. Connie is angry that Pendergast only cares about his career and returns his ring. When another passenger in the shared cab turns out to be a reporter, Pendergast runs after him to try to stop him from writing about his fiancée sharing an apartment with Joe.
Dingle assures Connie that if she marries Joe, the crisis will be averted, and they can file for a quick annulment afterwards. With 26 hours until Joe leaves for Africa, they follow his advice and fly to South Carolina to wed, where a license can be more quickly obtained than in D.C. Returning home, Connie allows Joe to spend his final night in her apartment. As Dingle had foreseen, Connie's attraction to Joe may yet overcome her misgivings; this is facilitated by Dingle having arranged for the removal of the wall between their two bedrooms. Outside, Dingle changes the nameplate on the apartment door to read "Mr. and Mrs. Sgt. Carter".