User reviews

When I saw "Good Girls Go to Paris" on YouTube I was excited. After all, it stars Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell and it is a romantic comedy from Warner Brothers...nearly all the ingredients needed for a good film. Unfortunately, it lacked one thing...a good script. So, while the actors try their best and the film looks good, the plot is rather stupid at times!

The film begins with a funny scene involving students about to attend a class with a visiting professor from England. Little do they know that the man they're conspiring with is Professor Brooke (Douglas) from the UK! However, he sounds about as British as Mantan Moreland and this was a poor casting or writing decision. Soon he meets a gold-digger at a local restaurant. Jenny (Blondell) is quite open that she either wants to marry a rich student (and Brand University is full of them) or get the fathers of one of these students to give her a handsome settlement to leave their son alone! But when he talks to her about Aesop and morality, he convinces her to listen to her conscience and act accordingly.

After leaving her job after one of the rich fathers threatens to have her arrested, she accidentally meets Tom Brand on a train and openly tells him she's a gold-digger and about her plans to snag a rich guy or get a settlement. He's taken by her new-found honesty but soon gets drunk on the train. In fact, he's so drunk Jenny leaves the train to escort him home...and hilarity (?) is sure to follow.

While there's much more to the plot, often it just comes off as very, very contrived and unfunny. The whole Aesop angle is dumb and the film suffers from this and many other silly aspects of the film. Not a total waste...but surely a score of 6 is disappointing considering what old film lovers would expect from these folks.

This does start off pretty badly, well very badly but then, all of a sudden it turns into something really good and very funny. So don't get fooled by the false start, stick with it. If you liked TOPPER and MY MAN GODFREY, you'll probably enjoy this as well.

The beginning is not promising - in fact, after ten minutes of cringingly awful stereotypes, I nearly switched this off. I'm glad I kept with it because it switched from being a tiresome corny comedy set in the world's most sexist university (you ladies are here to serve the young gentlemen not to distract them by showing them your legs etc. Etc.) to a fast, well written, well acted witty comedy of errors.

I wasn't too sure at first about Joan Blondell's character: on one hand she's blatantly setting out to blackmail the young gentlemen (who all look like they're in their 30s) yet also innocent and naive. Her character makes no sense - how can such a calculating schemer be so genuinely sweet? Well she can't, you just have to park that gaping plot hole in the darkest recesses of your mental garage which you can because Joan Blondell plays this impossible character so well.

As she stands directly in front of their faces, looking straight into their eyes, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes, it's perfectly obvious that she's got that confidence, that ability to turn a man to jelly. She does it without trying, without even knowing what she's doing. It's quite an interesting change of character for her and she does it remarkably well. I'm not sure anyone else could make such an unbelievable character so believable and of course likeable.

Once it gets going, it's got a feel of MY MAN GODFREY about it. Unlike most of those so-called screwball comedies, this one is actually funny. Although this is very much a Joan Blondell movie, the real star is Walter Connolly. A lot of reviews have commented that he horribly overacts in this but so what - so did Basil Fawlty! Don't know why but when he exclaims: 'What kind of house is this that doesn't have a herring?' I laughed out loud. Out of context that just sounds weird doesn't it - but just watch it, it's great, stupid but great.

Two frivolous observations: 1) Joan Blondell's dress is (sadly) not as short as it is in the poster. 2) Walter Connolly looks absolutely identical to the 'matured' Mr Scott from 1980s Star Trek movies.

This is not a well crafted or written piece of cinema. I have been arbitrarily watching comedies from this era of late largely to stick my head in the sand from the horrors of the world at the moment. This film could easily be remade with some updates to the increasing gender equality in the world. The setup was unusually clever for one of these early romantic comedies, the characters were fun, some even had a bit of depth. Joan Blondell is utterly charming and her Jenny Swanson is the original Manic Pixie Dreamgirl, it is delightful fluff entertainment. The whole web of mistaken identity was probably clever for the time and a nod to A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Special appreciation to Walter Connolly's performance, his cartoonish exasperation and chemistry with Blondell were some of the best moments in the film. The actors are genuinely enjoying themselves.

Is the writing silly, sure, the dialog a bit basic, absolutely, but holy crap I enjoyed this ever so much more than anything I've seen in awhile.

It's hard to watch this movie and not be reminded of another movie Columbia made 5 years before, It Happened One Night. Once again Walter Connolly plays the father - or here, actually, grandfather - of a group of spoiled young adults who don't hesitate to make a mess of their and others' lives until an outsider - here, Melvyn Douglas - enters their world and brings them to their senses. As much as I enjoy his performances, Douglas was no Clark Gable, nor, as much as I enjoy her performances, was Joan Blondell another Claudette Colbert. Nor is the script as good, by a long shot. Still, it's often fun to watch. Yet another example of "the foibles of the young and spoiled," of which "It Happened...," "The Philadelphia Story," and "My Man Godfrey" are all better examples.

At Brand University, new professor Ronald Brooke (Melvyn Douglas) befriends waitress Jenny Swanson (Joan Blondell) who confesses her gold-digging plans. Two previous waitresses married rich college boys. Jenny gets Ted to propose, but his wealthy father runs her out of town. Brooke hopes to instill a conscience in her. She next sets her sights on Tom Brand whose family runs the university. She ingratiates herself with the patriarch Olaf Brand. She doesn't know that the daughter Sylvia Brand is getting married to Brooke.

Joan Blondell manages to straddle two opposing sides. She has to be a greedy gold-digger, but she also has to do it with sweetness. She may be a gold-digger, but she has to be nice about it. The relationships get too complicated. It's a mess. I feel that Ronald Brooke is more a mentor to Jenny than anything else. There's no heat there. I do not like taking the relationship beyond that. Otherwise, I do like Blondell's performance and her managing the role.

Based on its plot, this film might have been one of the funniest movies of all time. It is a far-out story, but an ingenious one for comedy. And it's well scripted to that end. As it is, it's very funny and very good. But it misses being great because of a single casting choice - Joan Blondell in the female lead.

As the very good actress she was, able to play diverse roles in many films, Blondell had a particular persona in comedy that should have limited the roles she played in that genre. I can't think of a single comedy film of the many I have seen with her in, in which her character didn't have a bubbly, wide-eyed, overly energetic and smiling personality. It was right or okay for some films, but not the best for others.

Blondell's Jenny Swanson can't shake the image of the cute, bubbly girl next door. While some of her lines impart some maturity, her mannerism remains almost childish. The biggest give-away of the miss in casting here is in the lack of any spark between Jenny and Melvyn Douglas's Ronald Brooke. With Blondell's giddiness, any potential chemistry is lost.

Unfortunately, much of the funny dialog is lost or so quickly glazed over by the overriding air of Jenny's giddiness. On a second viewing of the film, I could imagine another actress in the role who would give just the touch of maturity to the witty dialog and add some on-screen chemistry with Professor Ronnie Brooke. Jean Arthur, Carol Lombard or Constance Bennet would have been perfect for the part.

But, now for all the good things about this film. The story is fantastic, with half a dozen characters with misunderstandings of the main character. But the character herself, Jenny, feeds that because of the several different sub-plots she is part of or knows about that have to do with the others individually. All of the cast give very good performances. The cast is a superb collection of supporting actors of the day. Columbia, which was not one of the Big Five Hollywood studios at the time, managed to get two of the best-known actors of the time who played irascible characters - Walter Connolly and Clarence Kolb.

This is a wonderful comedy based on multiple cases of mistaken assumptions about the lead character. The film has much great dialog. Here are some favorite lines. For more funny dialog see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie.

Tearoom hostess, "And remember, you're waitresses, not entertainers. No unnecessary conversation with the students."

Tearoom Hostess, "The students are supposed to keep their minds on their studies. And you girls must remember, that we are only here to satisfy their appetite... for food."

Professor Ronald Brooke, "That was a flutter, Jenny. That was your conscience talking." Jenny Swanson, "Oh, does that mean I'll never be able to do anything wrong?" Ronnie Brooke, "Not with your solar plexus. No Jenny, I'm afraid you're doomed to be a good girl."

Jenny Swanson, "I've got to leave town tonight. If I don't, they'll scramble eggs on the sidewalk. Mr. Dayton said so."

Ronnie Brooke, "And, Jenny, keep away from young men with large cars and small characters. And don't accept things from them." Jenny Swanson, "Nothing?" Ronnie, "Well.... flowers, fruit and candy." Jenny, "And hospitality?" Ronnie, "Only of the right sort, Jenny."

Ronnie Brooke, "But, Jenny, don't be discouraged. Good girls go to Paris too."

Olaf Brand, "You modern girls certainly are cold fish. It wasn't that way when I was young."

Ronnie Brooke, "Jenny, why did you have to pick on this family to blackmail?" Jenny Swanson, "Oh, but I didn't. It was an accident."

Olaf Brand, "Oh, well, cheating in business, ha, ha, that's good. Where would you be in business if you didn't take advantage of the other fella?"

Ronnie Brooke, "Jenny, why are you running?" Jenny Swanson, fleeing from Paul Kingston, "I always run before breakfast. It stimulates your heart, c'mon."

Ronnie Brooke, "I suppose you didn't make yourself as pretty as possible last night. Why, you... you caught him like a rat in a trap." Jenny Swanson, "Did I really look pretty?" Ronnie, "You were wonderful. You looked radiant. You... you were positively starry-eyed. I tell you, I won't have it."

Ronnie Brooke, "Oh Jenny, don't you realize how empty a loveless marriage can be?" Jenny Swanson, "Yes, I do. That's why I told Tom I couldn't Marry him."

Ronnie Brooke, "Now look here, that's no answer. You started to say something." Jenny Swanson, "Aesop says 'Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.'"

Ronnie Brooke, "Good heavens, when I told you to steer clear of Tom, that wasn't a signal to go after every other male in sight."

Ronnie Brooke, "Jenny, have you lost your flutter?" Jenny Swanson, "Oh, no. I'm fluttering something awful right now."

Olaf Brand, "This is insane. You were out with Dennis. You're going to marry Tom. A...and Ronnie in in love with you." Caroline Brand, "And Paul has just proposed to her."

Olaf Brand, "Four men aren't enough. It had to be five. Jenny, weren't you at Briarmont with Sylvia? Were you a waitress?"

Olaf Brand, "I've been having flutters all my life. Why else would I have three doctors?" Jenny Swanson, "You don't need a doctor for a flutter. That's just your conscience telling you what to do, and you don't pay any attention to it."

Olaf Brand, "What do you think of the idea of your son marrying my granddaughter?" Jeffers, "Well, Miss Sylvia is a little wild, sir, but Dennis is the right man for her." Olaf, "That's all I wanted to know."

The movie is a good screw ball comedy, thanks mainly to Joan, playing a naive girl, with starry eyes.

The star she is looking for, is a rich boy, to be black-mailed, or rather it is his rich father, to get rid of a mesalliance, so that she can go to Paris with the money, as she had been reading in the Page-3 of the gossip columns, almost every other day, as she averred.

There are only two obstructions in her being able to execute the plan, the father-confessor : Exchange Professor Ronald, and her own conscience (the flutter).

Though one of the reviews compares it with the It Happened One Night.. but I don't find much similarity, neither with the Cinderella stories... since the black-mailer knew the Prince (and hence made him target) and the Prince, in fact more than one Prince, too knew that she is out to milk them (she had told that herself to them - and in fact to a train-load of passengers).

The innocent and naive role Joan could pull it brilliantly through, and that along with two ever solid performers, Melvyn and Connolly carried the movie on their shoulders. A bit of not-unmentionable part is by Alan Curtis, but except them all other, including the director or rather the story-writer, did their best to spoil it.

Isabel Jeans tried to be some sort of Billy Burke or Alice Brady (in My Man Godfrey) - with a closet Toy Boy - though not too believably, and going overboard in trying to act the type of silly woman, which Billy Burke does well. The Toy-Boy, had his own designs (though he too didn't look too convincing), nor did the first victim Stanley Brown - he was guilty (having written love-letters), but didn't look to be so when charged. His domineering father Clarence Kolb did carry his small part.

But the worst were the trio of Joan Perry (Sylvia, Ronald's betrothed), Henry Hunter (Dennis, Butler's son and Sylvia's lover) and Hickman (the butler). That was a completely hay-ware plot. About to marry Ronald, Sylvia spending nights, daily as the detective said, with Dennis. We can blame it on social morals, but what of the Butler's son and the Butler ? Not they too, certainly. And that wasn't in closet, everyone except the Groom (Melvyn) and Grandpa (Connolly) knew of it.

The behavior of these two lovers was not too explainable- even more during the accident and the aftermath. Sylvia bribed Jenny in taking the blame, but then in the confrontation, she not only told that she had blocked the cheque but also egged Jenny- almost daring her to tell the truth (though Jenny didn't) and then the complete spineless (and Coward, as Jenny told him on face, and rightly so), Dennis can't be the right one for wayward Sylvia, as the Butler father Jeffers said, nor would have the wise Grandpa agreed to the opinion.

Had these four characters (Sylvia, Dennis, Jeffers and Caroline) been better thought of, it could have been a far better movie than it is.

But still, it is entirely watchable, due to brilliance of Blondell.

Joan Blondell saved many a movie. Here, as the star, she tries hard, but she is given lines which change her character from minute to minute. The lines are seldom funny. She was always at her best, both early and late in her career, as the brassy city broad, cynical, but with a heart of gold. She doesn't have this kind of role here. Her gold digging ambitions are out of character and are only a minor plot device. Melvin Douglas is Melvin Douglas, urbane, sophisticated, with a dry wit, but no witty lines at all. Walter Connelly, as usual, shouts his lines, but none of them are funny.

The good films of this type seem effortlessly written and performed. This kind of film shows, by its failures, just how great an effort those good films required.

...and dull rom coms like this go into the vault until or unless they are exhumed by TCM for god knows what esoteric reason. Just a hymn to the un funny with, as a previous reviewer noted, a too old Joan Blondell (at least too old to be playing a college town lunchroom waitress) and a too somber Melvyn Douglas with, as another previous reviewer noted, zero chem with Joanie. Throw in the usual trying too hard performance of Walter Connolly, dialogue that is at best half ass "Philadelphia Story", and a director who is clearly uncomfortable or unfamiliar with physical comedy of any sort and you can see why this thing is best forgotten. Solid C.

PS...Googled Joan Perry, who played Silvia. Saw that she survived marriage to both Harry Cohn and Laurence Harvey. Now there's a movie I'd like to watch.