They All Kissed the Bride (1942)

Call It a Day (1937)

“The first Spring in May is in the Devil’s Pay”

            Many films have been made where the events take place over a span of a day. And films about a family and their issues have been made to no end throughout the history of cinema. Of all the classic comedy films I have seen that have the theme of a family with issues Call It a Day is one of the best. I think it is an underrated classic comedy.

            The Hilton family and their servants wake up to a nice sunny warm day in their London town. The three children, Catherine (Olivia de Havilland), Martin, and Ann, all fight to use the bathroom. Their parents, Roger and Dorothy, are still in bed a few more minutes before the maid comes in with their morning tea. Each child has their issue: Catherine is miserable over something and wants to be alone, Martin wants to “motor the Continent” which Roger will not allow, and Ann has a morbid interest in the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

            While out at the grocery store, Dorothy and a man accidentally bump into each other and drop their bags. The man is immediately taken with Dorothy he just stares at her barely saying anything. Dorothy goes to see Roger at his office. She tells her husband she is worried about Catherine wanting to be alone and the fact that she is having her portrait painted by an artist named Paul Francis. Roger is not worried and reassuringly tells his wife Paul is a saint. Meanwhile Paul’s saintly patience is wearing thin. Catherine keeps moving and Paul has to keep telling her to keep still. Catherine has a fit over something gets up and throws the shawl Paul was making her wear off. Paul’s wife Ethel is in the room with them. She calms Catherine down and says she will be back with some tea. Paul begs her not to leave he does not want to be left alone with Catherine. Ethel leaves and as soon as she does Catherine is all over Paul trying to tell him she loves him and trying to convince him he does not love his wife. Her plan almost works until they hear Ethel coming up the steps.

            Dorothy’s friend Muriel (Alice Brady) takes Dorothy to her brother Frank’s apartment. They wait a long time for Frank to come back from wherever he is. When Frank enters the room Dorothy realizes he is the man she ran into that morning at the store. Muriel leaves Dorothy alone with Frank which makes Dorothy very uncomfortable. The two eventually have a nice time over tea talking. Dorothy invites Frank over for dinner that night since he is alone and she wants him to meet her family.

            Roger has been going over the finances of an actress named Beatrice Gwynn. The two are in his office alone and she puts the moves on him with all her might. Beatrice eventually convinces Roger to come to her place that to discuss the money she is missing.

            No one in the family stays home for dinner. Catherine thinks she will be meeting Paul alone at a park, Ann has gone to see a film about Rossetti, and Martin has become infatuated with the girl next door who nicely invited him to dinner at her house. Dorothy is left alone with Frank. Frank tells Dorothy he wants her to leave her husband and kids and marry him. He believes that they are meant to be together.

            By bedtime everything that everyone was struggling with through the day has worked out. Well almost everything, Catherine still feels a bit miserable. Dorothy and Roger had a bit of a row over Frank and Beatrice but they make up since they have been married for so long. Martin since meeting the girl next door no longer wants to go “motoring on the continent.” Ann is still madly in love with Rossetti.

            Olivia de Havilland gets top billing but she is barely in the film. She most likely got top billing because of how Successful Captain Blood was the year before. Whatever scenes she did have thought were hilarious. De Havilland was so fantastic in her comedies she was so funny. The film really belongs to Ian Hunter and Frieda Inescourt as Roger and Dorothy. They were so good together in their scenes especially at the end. Alice Brady as Muriel was a panic. She was perfect at playing flighty society ladies. I was laughing at all her scenes. Roland Young plays Frank. I have to admit he kind of creeped me out a bit in this.

            Call It a Day was very good. I liked the story of this family who on a nice spring day goes a little off the deep end. I really enjoyed how the whole family was not blown out of proportion. To me it was like watching a day in my crazy house minus mine being an upper class British family, my father being a lawyer, me being in love with a painter either from this era or two centuries ago, and a few other things. Call It a Day is not the first classic comedy or Olivia de Havilland film I would recommend but it is one that if you happen to come across take the time to see it. 

Two Faced Woman (1941)

“He’s impossible.”

“He’s in love.”

           

            When any classic film buff is asked about the great Greta Garbo the first thing they may say is she was mysterious and gorgeous. Garbo’s roles of the late 1920s when she came to Hollywood from Sweden to the mid-1930s were usually of a vamp whose beauty tempts men to do something wrong for her and then in the end to save the man she loves she sacrifices herself. Yeah, those are some pretty heavy roles but Garbo tackled them like a pro and looked beautiful doing it. So guaranteed if you only know that Garbo did dramatic roles and uttered the immortal line “I want to be alone” you do not know that she actually made two comedies. The first one was Ninotchka which is considered one of the greatest comedy films of all time (and it is I loved it) and her second comedy Two-Faced Woman happened to be her last film.

            Larry Blake (Melvyn Douglas) is a business man from New York on a vacation in the mountains. An employee asks him if he would like to ski and at first he says no but once he gets a look at the beautiful ski instructor he changes his mind. He asks for a private lesson with her and gets his way. The instructor’s name is Karin Borg (Garbo). Larry is not good at all on skis he is terrible to every inch of the word. Karin gets a little frustrated with him after a while. Larry is so bad he manages to lose control and fall off the side of a huge snow drift.

            That night Larry and Karin are nowhere to be found. His work partner O.O. Miller (Roland Young) has been called in. Finally the instructor and the instructed come back and with a surprise. Larry tells O.O. that they have been away all day because they have gotten married! O.O. is not happy at the marriage at all, for some reason he does not like Karin.  He gives Larry a magazine that has not been printed right and decides to head back to New York the next day. In their bedroom Larry tells Karin that he wants to go back. This news leads to a very heated argument of them going back and forth between going and not going. Each is very adamant about their decision. They do make up and go to bed happy.

            The next morning though, all is not right between the couple yet again. Larry thought that Karin agreed to go with and Karin thought Larry was going to stay. They argue again but Larry eventually leaves. Weeks go by before Karin has had enough of not seeing Larry that she calls his secretary Miss. Ellis up telling her she is coming to New York and not to tell Larry.

            Miss. Ellis tells Karin that Larry is at the theater watching rehearsals for his ex-girlfriend’s play. The ex-girlfriend, Griselda Vaughn (Constance Bennett), was not happy at all when she found out Larry had gotten married on vacation but she seems to be dealing with it in the theater… mostly because Karin is not around. Karin sneaks into the theater. Unfortunately they do not see her and Larry and Griselda walk out of the theater arm in arm. Now she definitely does not want Larry to know she is in New York she wants to go back home. At that moment O.O just happens to pull up to the theater as Karin and Miss. Ellis are leaving. The two women run into the theater and Karin hides. Miss. Ellis covers for Karin saying that Karin is actually Katherine, Karin’s twin sister. O.O is amused and is immediately taken by “Katherine.”

            Karin plays Katherine with a sexy, outgoing personality. O.O is immediately taken with “Katherine.” He takes her out to dinner and cannot take his eyes off of her. Larry is at the restaurant where O.O and “Katherine” are with Griselda by his side. Larry cannot believe his eyes seeing Karin in New York but she manages to play off Katherine really well and Larry is completely taken by her as well. But not believing in Katherine he calls the snow lodge where Karin is and they say she is not there she is in New York.

            Since Larry knows Karin’s game he plays along and falls in love with Katherine. Katherine is alluring and sensual. She stays out all night with O.O and a young man named Dick. Karin sees that Larry wants a vamp not a nice quiet woman like her. This is something Karin cannot handle.

            Eventually Larry and Karin make up.

            I did not in any way make this story sound interesting or funny but believe me it really was. The reason it is funny and why this double-identity plot works so well and does not get boring is because of Garbo.  As I said many people know her image of this beautiful, mysterious, and serious woman that they do not know she made two comedies. She was fantastic as Karin/Katherine and this is because she was such an incredible actress, she was very versatile. But I guess what it comes down to is that since Garbo made mostly dramatic films that seeing her in a comedy is surprising and seeing her play a comedic role catches you off guard. I love this in an actress or actor because it shows just how good and believable they are. This is only the second Greta Garbo film I have seen and I have to say I adore her and I truly understand why she is praised like she is. As I said about Norma Shearer in Lady of Chance the reason she was popular is because she was watchable. The same with Garbo she was so watchable you cannot take your eyes off the screen when she is in a scene.

            My favorite scene in the film is when Karin drunks calls Miss. Ellis. She has been living it up as Katherine and went out drinking Champaign with O.O and Dick. I forget what exactly she tells Miss. Ellis but she was so funny. Oh and Garbo also dances. Apparently she was really embarrassed having to dance but she just looks so natural and like she had a good time. It is not funny I just had to mention it.  

            I have not seen Melvyn Douglas in too many films yet but the more I see of him the more I adore him as well. His character was brutish and very much a man of the late 1930s early 1940s with that he-is-the-man-and-should be-listened-to-and-be-obeyed shtick. I love Douglas though I do not know why but I do I always love to see him in a film.

            Constance Bennett in her few scenes was funny. When Larry tells Griselda that he is married she covers the phone and screams then calmly gets back on the phone and talks to him, but as she calmly talks to him she throws things. I died laughing when Griselda talks to “Katherine” in the ladies room at the restaurant. She thinks that Katherine is in love with Larry so she just wants to make sure. When Karin leaves Griselda looks in a mirror and screams. Bennett was just as biting and witty and beautiful as she was in her earlier films.

            Two-Faced Woman, depending on what reviews and stories you read, got a lot of slack and is cited as the reason why this was Greta Garbo’s last film. Some reviewers say that the film did not do well because the US was officially in WWII and was not what people wanted to see and that the poor reviews embarrassed Garbo so much she did not want to make any more films. Bull on that, during the War she went back to Sweden and had the chance to make another film when she returned but it fell through and that really embarrassed her into never making another film. Two-Faced Woman is very witty, funny, and entertaining. I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Topper (1937)

“Oh, George, I can see right through you.”
“Say, that's funny. I can see through you, too.”
“George, look. You know something George? I think we're dead.”
“I think you're right. Funny; I don't feel any different.” 

           

            I have heard of Topper before and from the title I never really thought anything of it. Well that comes down to me never having read a description of the film all I knew was that Cary Grant was in it and that after finding out Constance Bennett was in it I definitely had to find it. The first time I actually read the description was when I went to play the film on my DVR. The plot sounded alright but from the moment Grant and Bennett came on the screen I was so hooked and laughing hysterically.

            Grant and Bennett play George and Marion Kerby. Their life is one constant party full of drinking and dancing only sleeping when the sun comes up. They head into the city to meet their friend Topper (Roland Young) the next morning at the bank they are stockholders in. The Kerbys do not even bother sleeping until the small hours of the morning after a wild night of drinking and at that they sleep in their car. In the meeting George does not even pay attention to what is going on he sits there and draws. Marion walks herself right into Topper’s office and plops down on his couch to sleep. Topper is not too happy because he is worried what that would look like.

            On the way home George is driving way too fast. George takes a curve too fast and they crash into a tree. Marion and George get up and sit on a log. She tells him he took the curve too fast and they argue a bit before they realize they can see through each other and they see their bodies in the wreck. Realizing they are dead they wonder if they are going to heaven. Marion points out that they never really did any good deeds in their lives nor did they ever do anything bad.

            Some time later Topper buys the Kerby’s newly fixed car. His stuffy wife Clara (Billie Burke) is not too happy about him buying something so dangerous and so flashy. All Clara worries about is their reputation in high society but after the Kerby’s death Topper thinks about how he has not lived his life to the fullest like they did even though they were a little too carefree. Topper takes the car for a drive. He sees that the car is a bit too much for him to handle. At one point he rounds the same corner the Kerby’s crashed at but he manages to keep the car and himself intact. When he gets out of the car he hears voices. George and Marion decide to take Topper on as their good deed and appear in physical form to him (they only appear when necessary so they do not waste too much of their ectoplasm).

            As the saying goes no good deed goes unpunished and boy does Topper get punished enough! The couple has their best intentions in mind but their best intentions get Topper into a world of trouble. They get the poor man into a drunken brawl and witnesses say they saw Marion as the woman who was with him. Clara is horrified thinking that her husband has been making a fool of himself and running around with another woman. All the trouble Topper gets into is because of Marion!

            Constance Bennett and Cary Grant were hysterical together. They were so good playing the breezy couple who only help their friend. Cary Grant was not in the film all the much, as you can see by the poster Constance Bennett was top billed so she was in it more. Before this I had never seen Bennett in a film. I loved her she was fantastic. She had a good sense of humor. I just loved how she drove Topper crazy and how carefree she was. I read that Bennett was a little aggressive with her acting and you can see that in a couple of her scenes. My favorite scene with Grant and Bennett was when they are at a hotel where Topper has taken off to. They create so much chaos at the hotel by knocking into things and people when they are invisible. They start a riot in the dining room and they run into a corner and she says that this is the best fight they ever got into and “What do you say we make out?” (It was only a little peck no making out like we think today) haha. Roland Young played a very good straight man who only wants to have some fun in his stuffy life. Billie Burke was not as flighty as she usually is in her films; in the end she is likeable.

            The special effect of the Kerbys disappearing was very well done. The best effect was when George and Marion are supposed to be invisibly taking Topper out of their apartment building after they get him drunk. I was dying from laughing when the elevator boy in their apartment building told Topper he thought the Kerbys were crazy so Marion paces back and forth all angry about it and when the boy comes back she slaps him in the face haha. George drives the car invisibly and makes another car crash.

            Topper is such a cute supernatural comedy. I did not stop laughing through the whole film. Everyone was so perfect in their parts and the situations they got into were not overdone they were just the right amount of silly and funny. 

This is the Night (1932)

While trolling TCM’s line up over the summer I found This is the Night with Cary Grant. I love Cary Grant I will sit through just about any film he was in especially his early films. I do not believe I have seen a Cary Grant Pre-Code film before so I had to see it and it is one I never heard of before. Not very long into the film I found myself completely enjoying it especially the acting.

            The film begins with a lavish party in Paris. Anyone who is to be known and seen pulls up. Claire Mathewson (Thelma Todd) steps out of a car only for the chauffer to close the door and rip her dress off! All she had on is her underwear and a fur coat. Claire is married to Stephan (Grant) but she has been seeing a man named Gerald Gray (Roland Young). The two almost get caught (or what they believe is almost) by Stephan when Gerald’s friend Bunny (Charlie Ruggles) comes by to bring them tickets to Venice. To get them out of a jam Bunny lies to Stephan telling him that the tickets are for Gerald and his wife… Gerald is not married. Stephan is not fooled he knows there is no wife but he goes along with their lie and decides to go along with Gerald and his “wife” to Venice along with Claire.

            Now Gerald is a bind and has to find a wife. He decides to hire an actress but the actress he wanted did not take the role for fear her boyfriend would hurt the guy. She gives the role to a young actress named Germaine (Lily Damita). Germaine desperately wants a job she needs the money. She is not the type of girl Gerald was looking for he tells her he wanted someone “spectacular”. Well Germaine gives Gerald something spectacular alright, she goes behind a changing screen and removes her clothes then she comes out from behind the screen and wraps herself around some curtains and prances around really sexily.

            Once both the couples get to Venice the fun and jealousy and love begin. Germaine and Gerald sleep in separate rooms since they are not really married. All night Gerald could not sleep so many things were keeping him awake. Claire sees that her lover is tired and she gets jealous thinking he was up with Germaine all night. To keep up the front that they are married Germaine gives Gerald a big kiss which she pretends makes her dizzy and she goes inside. Claire has had it already and tells Gerald to get rid of the girl. When he tells Germaine she has to go she throws a fit and starts speaking rapid French. She refuses to go and does not.

            Since Stephan knows what is going on he tells Germaine (without giving away that he knows) that they should console each other since both their spouses are cheating on them. Germaine looks over from the table she and Stephan are sitting and sees Gerald. To make her fake husband jealous she takes the other man’s hand. Gerald gets really jealous then he and Bunny proceed to get drunk all afternoon.

            The situation for Germaine does not go very well for a while. Gerald is really in love with her, Stephan is chasing after her to get back at his wife, and Bunny has very drunkenly professed his love for her by climbing to her balcony from a ladder.

            This is a classic Pre-Code through and through. There were so many hints of subtle sexuality such as Germaine’s little striptease, Gerald telling Germaine to stop breathing a certain way because it sounds immoral, and the running joke of Claire’s dresses constantly being ripped off by the chauffer and she stands in nothing but her under garments. Even the storyline is racy with a married woman going around with a man and her husband winds up wanting to cheat with Germaine.

            The beginning of the film starts out as a sort of little musical. When Claire’s dress rips all the people around her sing “Madame has lost her dress” and soon all of Paris is singing it as well. Even Cary Grant gets a little singing action when he asks Bunny for a key.

            I loved the cast all except for Roland Young. Compared to the suave and very young Cary Grant and the hysterical Charlie Ruggles he was not that great. Grant was so handsome. This is when he looked his best besides his roles in the 1940s and early 1950s. This was his first film he ever made and you can see already how much incredible talent he had he played the jerky husband to perfection and made it look to effortless. Charlie Ruggles is perfect as the blundering assistant. He just got funnier as the film went on.

            I have never seen Lili Damita in a film before this. Sure I have heard her name before and seen her in pictures because she was married to Errol Flynn but I had never seen her act. I thought she was fantastic especially the part where she does that little striptease for Gerald. Damita had a very thick French accent but that made her all the more appealing and adorable. I cracked up when she got angry and yelled in rapid French. Damita’s comedic timing was perfect she was so fantastic in all her scenes the way she was able to be really funny and then pull off being dramatic and sad.

            I have also never seen Thelma Todd in a film before, heck I never even knew who she was. I liked her she did not play her character to the extent that she was annoying which could have so easily happened. I will say she was a trooper for having to get her dresses ripped off a lot and that she was very sexy.

            The direction by Frank Tuttle is in the style of Ernst Lubitsch where it is a comedy that takes place in Paris and is very racy. Tuttle was not a very inspiring director his camera angles are not mind blowing or anything to brag about and he did not get as much as could have been gotten out of his actors even though they were quite perfect it still felt like there was something more underneath them that could have come out. He was not terrible he just was not the best.  I went ballistic with the blue tint at the beginning and whenever there was a night scene. It just did not flow at all with the black and white scenes.

            This is the Night would probably not even be remembered today had it not been for the fact that this was Cary Grant’s first film role. Forget that fact though if you ever see the film because it is an excellent Pre-Code with saucy, racy lines. This is the Night one of the best comedies I have seen since I started watching classic films, there are so many funny scenes and the cast delivers them perfectly. This is definitely a film to see if you love Pre-Code comedies.