The 1950 film starring James Stewart as a man with an imaginary six-foot rabbit is Harvey. Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, a genial eccentric whose constant companion is an invisible white rabbit named Harvey.
Elwood describes Harvey as a púca, a supernatural creature from Celtic folklore, rather than simply an ordinary rabbit. Elwood’s sister Veta worries that his behavior is damaging the family’s reputation, so she tries to have him committed to a sanatorium. A comic misunderstanding causes the doctors to question Veta’s sanity instead, especially after she admits that she occasionally sees Harvey too.
The film was directed by Henry Koster and adapted from Mary Chase’s 1944 play. Chase won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play in 1945. Although Harvey is invisible to the audience for most of the film, the characters’ reactions make the rabbit’s presence feel tangible. James Stewart’s performance helped make the story’s unusual premise emotionally persuasive rather than merely fantastical.