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There are only four other reviews to this movie, all of them at least somewhat negative. I, on the other hand, absolutely loved it! SOIS BELLE ET TAIS-TOI (translated as either "Be Beautiful and Shut up" or "Look Beautiful and Shut up" although it was released in England as BLONDE FOR DANGER and not released in the states) is a terrific little light film noir with a dash of comedy.
Mylene Demongeot was a rising French starlet at the time. She plays an 18-year-old who is taken a reformatory for bad behavior. She immediately escapes that night with another girl (Béatrice Altariba as Olga) who then introduces her to her boyfriend Alain Delon and two other young friends (one of them a startlingly young Jean-Paul Belmondo). The quartet makes money on the side helping a smalltime crook (René Lefèvre as Raphaël) with his deeds, including what they think is smuggling cameras across the border to be sold, unaware they are actually smuggling stolen emeralds Raphael has placed inside the cameras and the notorious elusive crook Charlemagne (Roger Hanin) is behind the operation.
Mylene accompanies Beatrice and Alain on a joyride in Rene's car without permission who rather stupidly reports his missing car to the police given he has illegal weapons inside of it. Mylene is caught and taken to jail where she encounters hunky older man Henri Vidal, whom she presumes is another person hauled in for bad deeds. Actually, he's an inspector but he goes along with her misunderstanding to win her confidence hoping to pump information from her since he thinks the guns may be tied to Charlemagne. That's not the sort of pumping Mylene is wanting!! He takes her to a local museum where she slips away and reclines on some of the antique furniture and before you know it has turned the tables and gotten Henri to succumb to her lead, in some pretty passionate clinches you'd never seen in an American film from 1958. They are caught by the museum manager who is outraged and calls the police which puts Vidal in a very delicate spot. His boss insists he then marry Mylene to try to kill the potential scandal which he does. Mylene is peeved she'd been had by the inspector but her attraction to him is strong enough she goes along with it, though still befriending and getting involved with the teenaged gang of petty thieves.
Mylene Demongeot is bluntly packaged as a rival to new French sex goddess Brigitte Bardot much like American actresses Cleo Moore and Mamie Van Doren were to Marilyn Monroe in the states. Mylene is cleverly cast in a "bad girl blonde" type role that Cleo and Mamie were starring in at the time in America but the considerably less censorship in French films at the time than in the United States allows the cast to curse on occasion, saying both "b" words, the famous French slang for manure, and even a singular F bomb which wouldn't be heard in American movies for another decade.
Demongeot is a gorgeous baby-faced vamp and gives a very good performance. Veteran French star Henri Vidal is also terrific. Belmondo's part is somewhat small and is listed deep into the credits while Delon gets special end credit billing which seems odd for what is a seemingly small part until the climax where he plays a crucial part.
Most of the French films Americans get to see are usually distinguished productions which is probably the cause of the negative reviews for this programmer picture which nevetheless is just as entertaining if not more so than most of the American "bad girl" movies of the era. The film is beautifully photographed on the streets of Paris and it's charming to see sites like a "Milk Bar" which appears to be something of a glass vending machine for dairy drinks and snacks.
There are some genuinely funny moments in the movie, most of them thanks to Darry Cowl as a bungling inspector who is a coworker. It's not a full comedy though and has some notable noir moments including someone getting bumped off in a bumper car at a small amusement park. This little film is a great showcase for both Vidal and Demongeot. Vidal passed away the next year of a heart attack at age 40. Also dying the next year was elderly character actress Gabrielle Fontan who plays his grandmother in the film. Ms. Fontan got a late start in films at age 56 but she made up for lost time with over 100 credits before her death at age 86 in 1959.
Mylene Demongeot was a rising French starlet at the time. She plays an 18-year-old who is taken a reformatory for bad behavior. She immediately escapes that night with another girl (Béatrice Altariba as Olga) who then introduces her to her boyfriend Alain Delon and two other young friends (one of them a startlingly young Jean-Paul Belmondo). The quartet makes money on the side helping a smalltime crook (René Lefèvre as Raphaël) with his deeds, including what they think is smuggling cameras across the border to be sold, unaware they are actually smuggling stolen emeralds Raphael has placed inside the cameras and the notorious elusive crook Charlemagne (Roger Hanin) is behind the operation.
Mylene accompanies Beatrice and Alain on a joyride in Rene's car without permission who rather stupidly reports his missing car to the police given he has illegal weapons inside of it. Mylene is caught and taken to jail where she encounters hunky older man Henri Vidal, whom she presumes is another person hauled in for bad deeds. Actually, he's an inspector but he goes along with her misunderstanding to win her confidence hoping to pump information from her since he thinks the guns may be tied to Charlemagne. That's not the sort of pumping Mylene is wanting!! He takes her to a local museum where she slips away and reclines on some of the antique furniture and before you know it has turned the tables and gotten Henri to succumb to her lead, in some pretty passionate clinches you'd never seen in an American film from 1958. They are caught by the museum manager who is outraged and calls the police which puts Vidal in a very delicate spot. His boss insists he then marry Mylene to try to kill the potential scandal which he does. Mylene is peeved she'd been had by the inspector but her attraction to him is strong enough she goes along with it, though still befriending and getting involved with the teenaged gang of petty thieves.
Mylene Demongeot is bluntly packaged as a rival to new French sex goddess Brigitte Bardot much like American actresses Cleo Moore and Mamie Van Doren were to Marilyn Monroe in the states. Mylene is cleverly cast in a "bad girl blonde" type role that Cleo and Mamie were starring in at the time in America but the considerably less censorship in French films at the time than in the United States allows the cast to curse on occasion, saying both "b" words, the famous French slang for manure, and even a singular F bomb which wouldn't be heard in American movies for another decade.
Demongeot is a gorgeous baby-faced vamp and gives a very good performance. Veteran French star Henri Vidal is also terrific. Belmondo's part is somewhat small and is listed deep into the credits while Delon gets special end credit billing which seems odd for what is a seemingly small part until the climax where he plays a crucial part.
Most of the French films Americans get to see are usually distinguished productions which is probably the cause of the negative reviews for this programmer picture which nevetheless is just as entertaining if not more so than most of the American "bad girl" movies of the era. The film is beautifully photographed on the streets of Paris and it's charming to see sites like a "Milk Bar" which appears to be something of a glass vending machine for dairy drinks and snacks.
There are some genuinely funny moments in the movie, most of them thanks to Darry Cowl as a bungling inspector who is a coworker. It's not a full comedy though and has some notable noir moments including someone getting bumped off in a bumper car at a small amusement park. This little film is a great showcase for both Vidal and Demongeot. Vidal passed away the next year of a heart attack at age 40. Also dying the next year was elderly character actress Gabrielle Fontan who plays his grandmother in the film. Ms. Fontan got a late start in films at age 56 but she made up for lost time with over 100 credits before her death at age 86 in 1959.
SWEETIE is a better than average musical from 1929, the first year talking pictures were the norm but many were quite stiff. This one is well photographed, moves well, and most thankful for a 1929 Paramount, the cast is including the men are not decked out in heavy makeup.
Rising Broadway starlet Nancy Carroll and college football quarterback Stanley Smith decide to leave their current activities behind and elope. Coach Wallace MacDonald talks Stanley out of it since he's important to Pell College potentially getting their first winning season ever and the college's survival may depend on it. Alas Nancy has already quit her show and she is furious when Stanley asks her to wait until the season's over, just eight months. They break up and she goes back to Broadway - and has to start over as a chorus girl. Revenge shows up out of nowhere (in one of the weirdest ever "meeting again" scenarios in films) when Nancy's distant cousin dies, and it turns out she will inherit the very college Stanley attends! The all-boys school welcome the young beauty with open arms including a surprised Stanley but she has revenge up her sleeve even if it closes the college!
Nancy Carroll is the nominal star but I'd venture both Stanley Smith and Helen Kane have more footage; there's quite a piece before Carroll enters the picture and even then she is off the screen for periods. Carroll was fast becoming a popular star on the early talkie screen but here her character is considerably more devious and selfish than in other films. Another comet of the era is Helen Kane, now a legendary vocalist but her peak was also brief. Helen Kane was one of a kind, a slightly plump comic vocalist specializing in sexy songs and as man hungry in her films as Mae West would later be. She may be an acquired taste but plenty of fans myself included most definitely acquired it. She's delightful and keeps this film moving with her cute songs, including the now classic "He's So Unusual" which was given renewed fame in the 1980's by Cyndi Lauper. Jack Oakie, early in his career and much thinner than in his salad days, is good as Nancy's pal and Helen's song partner. He pens a new college song for Pellham, a sassy "Alma Mammy", a parody of a Al Jolson number which is given three performances in the film, one by Oakie, a quite elaborate one by the school chorus including the girls from the neighboring college, and finally and unfortunately one at the big football game in which the chorus wears comic black masks.
Three supporting players of note standout here. William Austin is a kindly, effete staff member named "Professor Willow" (the credits suggest his nickname is a word often used before willow, and which probably would be censored here but I didn't hear anyone use it; it was either cut or the work of some bad boy in Paramount's credits title division). Austin had a long career playing "sissy" types in films but rarely gets mention in film history books like Franklyn Pangborn. Wallace MacDonald was playing bits from the early 1910's, often in Charlie Chaplin pictures. He was quite a handsome hunk of a man and looks remarkably young at 38 for this era when most men of his age back then seemed quite middle aged, he later had a brief career in B westerns beore moving on to a long career as a film producer for Columbia. Another handsome supporting player was Joe Depew as one of the youngest on the football team (just 17 in 1929) , his acting career never got off the ground but he worked behind the scenes and worked steady as a associate director for Paul Henning on his television shows in the 1950's leading to his being the director of over 140 (over half of the series) for the legendary sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies".
Neither Stanley Smith nor Stu Erwin, as a dumb student, seem that credible as football heroes (Smith is both the star quarterback and the composer of the school's musicals!) but this movie is quite fun and has a talented cast that makes it work, perhaps so much so that there were dozens of similar musicals in the next few years.
Rising Broadway starlet Nancy Carroll and college football quarterback Stanley Smith decide to leave their current activities behind and elope. Coach Wallace MacDonald talks Stanley out of it since he's important to Pell College potentially getting their first winning season ever and the college's survival may depend on it. Alas Nancy has already quit her show and she is furious when Stanley asks her to wait until the season's over, just eight months. They break up and she goes back to Broadway - and has to start over as a chorus girl. Revenge shows up out of nowhere (in one of the weirdest ever "meeting again" scenarios in films) when Nancy's distant cousin dies, and it turns out she will inherit the very college Stanley attends! The all-boys school welcome the young beauty with open arms including a surprised Stanley but she has revenge up her sleeve even if it closes the college!
Nancy Carroll is the nominal star but I'd venture both Stanley Smith and Helen Kane have more footage; there's quite a piece before Carroll enters the picture and even then she is off the screen for periods. Carroll was fast becoming a popular star on the early talkie screen but here her character is considerably more devious and selfish than in other films. Another comet of the era is Helen Kane, now a legendary vocalist but her peak was also brief. Helen Kane was one of a kind, a slightly plump comic vocalist specializing in sexy songs and as man hungry in her films as Mae West would later be. She may be an acquired taste but plenty of fans myself included most definitely acquired it. She's delightful and keeps this film moving with her cute songs, including the now classic "He's So Unusual" which was given renewed fame in the 1980's by Cyndi Lauper. Jack Oakie, early in his career and much thinner than in his salad days, is good as Nancy's pal and Helen's song partner. He pens a new college song for Pellham, a sassy "Alma Mammy", a parody of a Al Jolson number which is given three performances in the film, one by Oakie, a quite elaborate one by the school chorus including the girls from the neighboring college, and finally and unfortunately one at the big football game in which the chorus wears comic black masks.
Three supporting players of note standout here. William Austin is a kindly, effete staff member named "Professor Willow" (the credits suggest his nickname is a word often used before willow, and which probably would be censored here but I didn't hear anyone use it; it was either cut or the work of some bad boy in Paramount's credits title division). Austin had a long career playing "sissy" types in films but rarely gets mention in film history books like Franklyn Pangborn. Wallace MacDonald was playing bits from the early 1910's, often in Charlie Chaplin pictures. He was quite a handsome hunk of a man and looks remarkably young at 38 for this era when most men of his age back then seemed quite middle aged, he later had a brief career in B westerns beore moving on to a long career as a film producer for Columbia. Another handsome supporting player was Joe Depew as one of the youngest on the football team (just 17 in 1929) , his acting career never got off the ground but he worked behind the scenes and worked steady as a associate director for Paul Henning on his television shows in the 1950's leading to his being the director of over 140 (over half of the series) for the legendary sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies".
Neither Stanley Smith nor Stu Erwin, as a dumb student, seem that credible as football heroes (Smith is both the star quarterback and the composer of the school's musicals!) but this movie is quite fun and has a talented cast that makes it work, perhaps so much so that there were dozens of similar musicals in the next few years.
Mae Murray, one of the true superstar divas of the silent screen, returned to pictures for the first time in nearly twenty years with the filming of this little one-reel film history released as an episode for Columbia's long-running SCREEN SNAPSHOTS series ( Mae made several appearances in the series almost thirty years prior!). No, it's not a comeback on the level of Mae's erstwhile rival Gloria Swanson, who the same year captured one of the screen's most iconic femme roles, Norma Desmond in SUNSET BLVD, but it's good to see Mae once again. She was now in her sixties (some sources have her as 65 in 1950) but she's still a charming, endearing if a tad eccentric little butterfly, full of wistful sweetness with a gentle, slightly fragile voice full of fairytale romance. Host Ralph Staub just happens up what is supposed to be Mae's patio I guess, and she greets him with warmth and answers his question about the great matinee idols of the silver screen back in the day. This launches into a long clip fest of quite a number of silent movie heroes from their own movies, with Mae narrating about their appeal and successes. The lone talking heartthrob is at the end of the line, king of Hollywood, Clark Gable who is seen in candid footage with his late wife Carole Lombard. Mae Murray's life beyond the end of her screen career in 1931 was pretty hard so it's nice to see her get a little moment of glory on the screen one more time (she did do a couple of television interviews later on that are impossible to find now). This film can be purchased quite inexpensively on Ebay as Hearthrobs of Yesteryear (note the slightly different title) on a dvd with two other similar one-reel documentaries.