Everybody Does It

If you liked the modern comedy The Fourth Tenor, you'll find the 1949 opera flick very funny. The ending is terrible, but it's entertaining up until the last ten minutes. Big-hearted teddy bear Paul Douglas plays an opera singer!

He starts the film completely in love with his wife, Celeste Holm. She has a deluded dream to be an opera singer herself, so Paul rents her a concert hall and bribes business acquaintances to fill up the seats. He buys her dozens of roses for her opening night, and even confronts a critic who refuses who write a review. Isn't he a dream? Yet, when Celeste finds out his secret (that he himself has a beautiful operatic singing voice), she attacks him with a golf club. Throughout the movie, she's made out to be a pretty terrible wife, so I don't know why he was so in love with her.

For those of us who prefer to see him paired up with Linda Darnell, good news: she's in this movie! She plays another opera singer (if you don't like that type of singing, don't even think of renting this movie), and she's impressed by Paul's devotion to his wife. She hears him sing accidentally and immediately wants him for her next leading man. So, for all the lack of chemistry between Paul and Celeste, he and Linda make up for it. They're such a great screen couple, you'll wish they got married in real life.

Parts of this movie are very funny, especially for Paul Douglas fan. I really couldn't stand Celeste Holm, and the message put forth in the end made me cringe. But if you want to rewrite the story and just enjoy the comedy, I won't tell anyone.

OK, I'm a great Paul Douglas fan so consider me prejudiced, but this is just a plain terrific film. I understand from a video dealer that some legal problems has its rights tied up so if you get a chance to it, by all means do so. Perhaps some day it will be shown again on TV or maybe even a DVD will be for sale.

The short plot is silly beyond belief. Douglas is again a rough character thrown in among society types - this time with an opera background. Through an unlikely talent, this time he gets to be a performer, but as you will guess, things don't go as planned. If you don't laugh out loud at this film, you are dead and should consult with a mortician for immediate burial. Too bad this one is one of the lost ones. Maybe someday....we'll again hear why the monkeys have no tails

This is one of the best post war comedies. The performance of Paul Douglas is perfect against Linda Darnell. It has been said that Celeste Holm had to learn how not to sing, in order that she carry out this role.

Paul Douglas is magnificent communicating his frustrations trying to placate his headstrong and self-deluded wife -- portrayed marvelously by Celeste Holm -- who persists in pursuing singing endeavors despite everybody's best efforts to let her know that she just doesn't quite have the talent. Enter sumptuous diva Linda Darnell with designs on ruggedly handsome (!?!) Douglas -- especially when she learns, to everyone's surprise, that he has a powerful voice. Charles Coburn and Lucile Watson lead an immensely talented supporting cast. The script delivers sophisticated yet rapid-fire wit while the direction conveys all the nuances perfectly, but still manages to deliver a couple of belly-laughs. I highly recommend watching Everybody Does It.

One of the all time sleeper... I cant tell you how super this little movie is. But it is a super LITTLE movie. What was called a B movie. What a laugh. The problem is its out of print and its not shown on TV any more... Paul Douglas is a man with a rich wife. He runs a wrecking company in NY and his wife wants to sing on stage. So he has to rent a hall and force all his friend to buy tickets. And she cant sang. At a party at the rich in-laws, he sings and breaks the mirror. Wonderful. But the wife is fit to be tied because she didn't know he has an opera quality voice. So she goes home first and gets a golf club out and stands on a chair in the dark to club him as he comes in. One of the ladies at the party is an opera singer and wants to get it own with him and talks him into taking lessons to refine his voice so she can take him on the road with her. But he is reluctant but does it lying to his wife about what city he is in and that he is looking for wrecking business. And then the big chance at the Met. He is a little sick and everyone gives him "their" best medicine to fix him up but it only cause him to become drunk.. and then he goes on stage..drunk..but it is what the wife needed to see, him in trouble in front of the world...The production is first rate as is the script and acting. Just a wonderful little movie. I have my TIVO set on Paul Douglas to see if I can catch this little movie and for the last 15 months no luck...but I will keep trying.