Sunday, October 27, 6:00 p.m. & Monday, October 28, 6:15 p.m. | When the high-strung, reclusive tycoon John P. Merrick (a pitch-perfectly cranky Charles Coburn in an Academy Award–nominated performance) learns that the employees of Neely’s, one of his department stores, are trying to form a union; he goes “undercover” at the store as a new employee named Thomas Higgins. Relegated to the slipper section of the shoe department, Merrick/Higgins is taken under the wing of coworker Mary Jones (the luminous Jean Arthur) and her union organizing boyfriend Joe O'Brien, and grows smitten with the good-natured clerk Elizabeth Ellis. Torn between his slavish devotion to the bottom line and his unexpected closeness with his working class colleagues, Merrick/Higgins continues to hide his identity until he uncovers the real truth: that a career dedicated to people over profit is a successful one indeed. The delightful THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES is a warm and welcome dose of comic relief to the labor genre.

Awards & Nominations

Nominee Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Charles Coburn), Best Original Screenplay, Academy Awards

Workers of the World, Unite! offers films that portray American organizers, unionizers, and labor rebels who speak up, speak out, and fight back against unfair working conditions and nefarious bosses in order to be treated (to quote Lily Tomlin’s character in 9 TO 5) “equally, with a little dignity, and a little respect.” Read more

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu