Café Metropol

The top billing casting Tyrone Power and Loretta Young play a normal roles in this romantic comedy, actually a couple of guys stolen the show, firstly the smart and cynical manager Adolphe Menjou and second Gregory Ratoff playing a no longer Russian Prince, but who still have a name to protect your honor when see a fancy phony guy use your name he decided make something to secure the long royal dynasty, well crafted plot on a fantastic movie from the past and glorious days!!!

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First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

Tyrone Power shows his considerable comic flare in his role as a young American in Paris who is blackmailed into posing as a Russian prince to court a wealthy heiress (Loretta Young). The script is extremely witty with fast-paced, sharp dialogue that keeps the viewer in stitches from start to finish. Highly recommended! Unfortunately, this movie is not available on video, but it is played on the Fox Movie Channel from time to time.

Explaining the plot to Café Metropole will sound a little complicated, but if you liked Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, or its original Bedtime Stories, you'll probably like this predecessor and offshoot. Tyrone Power owes a huge gambling debt to restaurant owner Adolphe Menjou, and rather than face jail time for writing a bad check, he agrees to Adolphe's plan: impersonate a Russian prince and woo a wealthy American tourist, then get the money out of her.

It doesn't matter that Ty's Russian accent isn't perfect, because he's supposed to be just as unconvincing as he is handsome. Loretta Young plays the target, and while she immediately falls in love with him, her father Charles Winninger and aunt Helen Westley are suspicious of the smooth young man. I would have preferred a different leading lady, as I've only been able to stand Loretta Young in one movie, and this isn't it. Her talent turns her character into an immature, undesirable child, and her delivery of every line sounds enormously condescending. Charlie and Helen are very cute in this movie, so if you liked them in the previous year's Show Boat, you'll love them in this. Adolphe is given some great lines, and unlike the female lead in the film, he doesn't squander them. In the first scene, he helps a pie-eyed Ty out of his restaurant. "Why two hats?" the drunken and double-visioned Ty asks when Adolphe tries to get him dressed and off the premises. "It's the fashion this season, sir," Adolphe glibly explains, showing the audience that he'll do anything to maintain the dignity of his restaurant. Check out this comedy if you like the cast. You'll also be treated to a very cute theme from Louis Silvers throughout the movie!

It must be 35 years or so since I saw this film in an "Art House" Theatre. But it still has left one, strong, lingering impression.

There is one scene on the dance floor that took my breath away. Power is wearing a tailcoat and white tie. Young is in a satin floor length gown that clung to even inch of her elegant form. They were dancing like a young god and goddess.

I remember thinking, "At that moment in time, they had to be the two most beautiful people on the face of the earth." I recall nothing else about the film save this moment. But it's quite sufficient.

Sometimes, all it takes is just one scene to leave an impression that makes the memory of a film vivid for decades. In an era when class and style are neither appreciated, celebrated or understood, a film like this is a reminder of these words mean -- or at least meant.

A broke American is forced to pose as a Russian prince in order to pay a gambling debt in "Cafe Metropole," a film written by the multi-talented Gregory Ratoff, who also plays a role in the movie.

This is a funny, light, romantic comedy where the best scenes are saved for the character actors Charles Winninger and Helen Westley, who have great banter. Menjou is a duplicitous restaurateur who blackmails Tyrone Power into going along with his scheme; Loretta Young, romanced by Power, is the beautiful daughter of Charles Winninger.

If you're a shallow person, this is the movie for you because it's Eye Candy City. Power and Young, two people very, very high on any "most beautiful" list, are so ethereally, incalculably gorgeous that it's hard to listen to a word they're saying while they're on screen. And Young's fashions are divine '30s couturier.

This is one of Power's very early films; he was only 22 when it was made, and though only a year older than he was, Young had been around since silent film days. For me, Power's looks reached their full dazzle about two to three years later but if you only saw him in Cafe Metropole, you'd have a hard time believing there could be any improvement in that face. And in a tuxedo for so much of the movie. Almost too much of a good thing.

Anyway, if you can concentrate, Cafe Metropole is a delightful film.

As a bit of trivia, Power and Young made several films together in Power's early days at Fox. They remained friends, and in 1958, Young showed up for Power's funeral straight from filming her TV show, decked out and unrecognizable in Oriental garb and makeup to match.

In the late '70s, she was photographed with Power's son, Ty, Jr., and you would swear you'd gone back in time. His resemblance to his father was so striking, and she was still so very beautiful.