Un romance para tres

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.

I read the original novel "Drei MŠnner I'm Schnee" many years ago when I was an undergrad at my university and thought at the time it would make a fun movie. To my great delight I watched "Paradise for Three" not knowing it was adapted from that book and was more than pleased when I recognized the story. Frank Morgan was always one of my favorite actors, Robt Young was at his youthful and handsome best and Ms Rice was, as could only be expected, exceptionally beautiful as Tobler's daughter. The manager and butler at the hotel were classic and hilarious -- a more appropriate cast would have been difficult to assemble.

I doubt if today's youth would appreciate such a movie, but those of us who like the old ones definitely would. What a shame to realize that the setting was Vienna in 1938, a city destined to be overrun by Hitler's hordes and its society shattered within 2 years.

The Tobler Soap Company has sponsored a slogan contest that an unemployed young man (Robert Young) wins and the owner of the company (Frank Morgan) places second (!). They both win a two weeks vacation at a fancy resort in the Alps. For the trip Morgan's Rudolph Tobler decides to go incognito and uses the name he won the contest under – Edward Schultz. The movie revolves around mistaken identities – who is rich and who is poor. The snobby hotel head staff (the wonderful Herman Bing and Sig Ruman) and the gold digging Astor character think Young is wealthy and Schultz poor. In the hopes that he will leave the hotel, Bing and Ruman give Schultz not a guest room but the crummiest little room in the hotel. To spice things up, Astor finds out that it is Schultz who is wealthy, Schultz (i.e., Tobler's) daughter (Florence Rice) shows up and immediately falls for Young, and along with her comes Tobler's long time – and nagging – housekeeper played by Edna Mae Oliver. The cast – especially Edna Mae Oliver and Frank Morgan make this movie a delight. It was also fun to see Jack Norton playing yet another drunk – this time at a water fountain. Talk about being typecast! And what an impressive (and somewhat sad) list of uncredited actors – Gustav von Seyffertitz, and Anna Q Nilsson for heaven's sake. Except for the crummy skiing scenes, this movie is a joy to see.

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.