larrywest42-610-618957
Joined Feb 2013
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larrywest42-610-618957's rating
...since Lawrence Blake (Melvyn Douglas) is the one with an unstable personality, at least for the first 20 minutes.
Pre-war romantic comedies always suffer (in modern view, or at least my view) from the ever-present disrespect for women from the male lead. At least Karin (Garbo) stands up for herself, to some degree.
If you can get past that, it's a passable diversion.
I'm a fan of Constance Bennett, and I think she gives the best performance. Garbo's heart doesn't seem to be in it ... or maybe it's just the script; she does a credible job in every scene.
Douglas and Roland Young give solid performances, but young Ruth Gordon's character was my favorite. I wish she'd had a more central part.
["Penniless refugee from Lisbon" is the only allusion to the ongoing war, which I suppose is to be expected in a comedy.]
Pre-war romantic comedies always suffer (in modern view, or at least my view) from the ever-present disrespect for women from the male lead. At least Karin (Garbo) stands up for herself, to some degree.
If you can get past that, it's a passable diversion.
I'm a fan of Constance Bennett, and I think she gives the best performance. Garbo's heart doesn't seem to be in it ... or maybe it's just the script; she does a credible job in every scene.
Douglas and Roland Young give solid performances, but young Ruth Gordon's character was my favorite. I wish she'd had a more central part.
["Penniless refugee from Lisbon" is the only allusion to the ongoing war, which I suppose is to be expected in a comedy.]
There's a fair amount of acting talent here, but the writing is so lazy that it goes unused.
The plot points are consistently weak.
The sight gags are okay, if predictable.
The dialogue is not believable: the characters often say things that don't fit their character. Worse, it's not even slightly clever, even if you recognize the contemporary pop culture references (which I think I mostly got).
Billie Burke, Patsy Kelly, the doctor, the housekeeper, the taxi driver, and the police detective all have nothing but cliches to work with.
Rochester, Roland Young, and Joan Blondell do creditable jobs, given the script, but it's not enough to save the movie.
Carole Landis, also stuck with cliches, does okay (but reading about her life made me sad).
All in all, it feels like the writer(s) dashed off something and the director just wanted to get the film in the can and move on.
The plot points are consistently weak.
The sight gags are okay, if predictable.
The dialogue is not believable: the characters often say things that don't fit their character. Worse, it's not even slightly clever, even if you recognize the contemporary pop culture references (which I think I mostly got).
Billie Burke, Patsy Kelly, the doctor, the housekeeper, the taxi driver, and the police detective all have nothing but cliches to work with.
Rochester, Roland Young, and Joan Blondell do creditable jobs, given the script, but it's not enough to save the movie.
Carole Landis, also stuck with cliches, does okay (but reading about her life made me sad).
All in all, it feels like the writer(s) dashed off something and the director just wanted to get the film in the can and move on.
And Michael Wilding and Marlene Dietrech are quite good as well, both convincingly portraying their characters.
I kind of agree with Eddie Muller of TCM's Noir Alley that (my words) Wyman is uninspiring here, and I definitely agree that Todd is boring. Fortunately, he's not on screen much.
It's a serviceable plot, well shot, and Dietrech and Wilding keep the movie alive.
But for me, the best parts were definitely when Alistair Sim's character was on screen.
(I recommend skipping over Dietrech's song: it fits her rôle, but it's not an interesting song, musically or lyrically, and her singing doesn't redeem it.)
I kind of agree with Eddie Muller of TCM's Noir Alley that (my words) Wyman is uninspiring here, and I definitely agree that Todd is boring. Fortunately, he's not on screen much.
It's a serviceable plot, well shot, and Dietrech and Wilding keep the movie alive.
But for me, the best parts were definitely when Alistair Sim's character was on screen.
(I recommend skipping over Dietrech's song: it fits her rôle, but it's not an interesting song, musically or lyrically, and her singing doesn't redeem it.)