Drei Männer im Paradies

This is sort of the reverse of the sublime, and rarely shown "Easy Living." In that, working girl Jean Arthur is treated to life as a rich person. Here, tycoon Frank Morgan masquerades as an average Joe.

The cast could (with the exception of Robert Young, though he is OK here) scarcely be improved on. Mary Astor graces anything in which she appears. She was one of the true greats. Edna May Oliver, Frank Morgan, Herman Bing … They're all fine and here work well as an ensemble.

The title is a bit misleading. It sounds racy and, though there are some faux naughty scenes involving devious divorcée Astor, it is good clean fun. I wonder who actually are the three?

Nevertheless, it's a charmer: not a great movie but a highly appealing one.

You'd never believe Frank Morgan and Robert Young could be mistaken for one another, would you? Well, in Paradise for Three, Frank stars as the millionaire CEO of a soap company who sponsors a contest: submit a slogan for the soap brand and win an all-expenses paid trip to a German ski lodge! Frank enters his own contest under a false name and wins, so he travels to Germany incognito to see how he'll be treated if no one knows who he is. Then, when Robert Young shows up at the same time, the hotel staff think Robert is the contest winner.

This movie is so adorable and hilarious, thanks to an all-star cast and fast-paced dialogue. Frank is very cute as the millionaire-turned-everyman, and he's forced to make do in the drafty attic room while washing dishes to pay his bill. He falls in love with Mary Astor, but she's a gold digger only interested in Robert Young. Robert Young is a gold digger himself, only pretending to be rich so he can land a good job. With Florence Rice, Reginald Owen, Sig Ruman, and Edna May Oliver as Frank's very faithful secretary, this comic romp will have you smiling from start to finish. And as a bonus, Frank has a penchant for Siamese kittens, so you'll get to see a few accompany him on his vacation.

"Paradise for Three" is a wonderful movie, full of laughs and winter sports. The delightful and handsome Robert Young is a contest winner who is mistaken for a millionaire by villainous Herman Bing, with Frank Morgan (at his befuddled best) as the real millionaire, mistaken for a hobo. It's also got Sig Rumann, and Mary Astor as a shameless gold-digging hussy. 10 out of 10.

MGM certainly used a low budget to make PARADISE FOR THREE, and it shows when it comes to the outdoor winter scenes supposedly taking place on ski slopes at an Alpine resort. The use of process photography for all those mountain tops covered with snow is obvious.

Nor did they use a top cast but the results are splendid nevertheless.

An up and coming Robert Young has the star role of a contest winner who is mistakenly thought to be a millionaire by Herman Bing and Sig Rumann when he arrives at his destination at a swank hotel. He immediately attracts the attention of Mary Astor, hard on her luck as far as money is concerned and looking for an easy catch.

But the fun begins when Frank Morgan decides to check on how the hotel treats the lower class and finds himself mistaken for a mere contest winner without money. The pretty blond Florence Rice plays his daughter who naturally falls in love with penniless Robert Young, who doesn't know she's a rich girl until the final reel.

It's predictable and silly, with great support from Edna May Oliver as Morgan's housekeeper of thirty years who joins the group at the hotel to look out for Morgan's health and keeps an eye on his "woman trouble" with Astor. She makes the most of an amusing role in true Edna May Oliver fashion.

This is one that's little known today. To put it in context, it probably played the lower half of bills in the "double feature" days which is why I call it a programmer. I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of those B-films that surprised audiences by being more entertaining than the main feature, which happened occasionally.

A delightful little comedy, A rich widower tycoon, under iron control of the dictator at home, the governess for the whole family - the father and the daughter. The man (Morgan) has his escapades - nothing romantic, or I will say romantic with respect to the other gender. But the governess, officially only housekeeper, Mrs Kunkel (Edna Mae Oliver) won't let him blink without her permission (nothing romantic here either, she behaves more like a strict and watchful mother). Naturally the baby inside him wants to break free, and gets the chance when his slogan gets selected as one of the prize-winning slogans, submitted under assumed name (of his own company, but clearly not influenced). The reward is a fortnight in Alps and he grabs at the opportunity with both hands. He takes his butler with him, to avoid Mrs Kunkel's suspicion. But she is smarter than he thought. Again as usual motherly feelings, she ensures that thought incognito, but he is well taken care of at the hotel, by calling the manager and telling that the a millionaire incognito is arriving as a prize winner and the necessary care should be accorded (including a pair of siamese kittens - Morgan's favourite pet). In hotel, since the name wasn't told, not even the assumed name, the first of the two winners to arrive, Fritz Hagedorn (Young) an unemployed man, is mistaken for the millionaire and given all attentions, by hotel as well as a gold-digger, Mrs Irene Mallebre (Astor) - till she identifies the right one from the behaviour of the second winner who was really the millionaire. She arranges to get herself in a compromising position - which would get her the man or a few millions (under breach of promise). Meanwhile, warned by the accompanying Butler, Mrs Kunkel has arrived and with her, with opposite intention, the daughter, to see that her father is allowed to have his fun and Mrs Kunkel doesn't spoil it. The daughter promptly falls in love with the actual pauper. Who for a change, doesn't hide his financials from her, and agrees to fall in love (or express it) only when she too masquerades as a poor, working girl (paid poor relative and companion of rich aunt Mrs Kunkel). Now both the father and daughter are in mess due to their masquerade - one under breach of promise, and other due to lying, pretending to be poor, to get her man. Sorting that out is never much of trouble in stories, but here there had been some innovative ways. Good screwball comedy, not something too new as a story, (but may be at that time it was a novel one ? ) but that doesn't reduce the enjoyment quotient.

The movie doesn't have any politics, so I am surprised why some of the reviewers have to bring that in here. We may discuss those aspects when the movie itself is political. The background - Austrian - had been kept since the original story was that way, and it tried to remain faithful to it. The story was of 1924 - much before the Nazis had really assumed the power. The writer of the story, by the way, was pacifist - which neither of the warring sides were, and to the credit of Nazis, he had been interrogated, kept under observation, but neither put behind bar, not stopped from moving out of the country - and he always came back to it. Anyway I too shouldn't go into politics, there are movies where that could be taken up during review - both of UFA as well as Hollywood - since both were equally biased and wrong.