Service de Luxe

1938's "Service De Luxe" found Constance Bennett working at Universal in a formula quickie designed to capitalize on her recent hit "Topper," surprisingly upstaged by a screen newcomer direct from Broadway's "Victoria Regina," a 27 year old Vincent Price! Even he seemed to realize that his aristocratic bearing and distinguished tones weren't suited to romantic leads, so it was no surprise that villains like Shelby Carpenter in "Laura" would become his early stock in trade; better still, that a small company in American International Pictures would put him under contract at the age of 50 to do a series of films based on Edgar Allan Poe in which he could stretch his wings with tragic figures haunted by personal demons, sometimes heroic, sometimes evil, yet always engaging and even romantic. That is part of what makes this debut such a curiosity, to enjoy the chemistry he shares with his fetching leading lady, though he appears miscast in the role of a country boy who yearns to make something of himself in the big city. Robert Wade (Price) journeys to New York City to obtain backing for a new tractor he hopes to market, and meets Constance during the voyage, her character Helen Murphy the owner/manager of the Dorothy Madison Company, famous for seeing to the needs of their wealthy (mostly male) clientele. She is very good at her job, aided by loyal assistant Pearl (Helen Broderick, wisecracking mother of actor Broderick Crawford), but longs to meet a gentleman who can actually fend for himself, while Wade believes her to be the helpless type who needs a man to take care of her. He confesses that a lifetime of being surrounded by adoring but pushy aunts has made him wary of bossy females, so she naturally can't bear to spill the beans about her career, playing along in lovesick fashion until using her influence to gain him a contract for his new tractor. An accidental engagement is enough for her to come clean, but in being rejected by the man she loves is then called upon to set up his own wedding! Light and frothy but with this unique pairing an interesting match, sluggish to start until Price enters near the 20 minute mark, with one fascinating moment of foreshadowing where he tries to gently dissuade his unlikely fiancee by pretending that madness runs in his family, perhaps a blueprint for Roderick Usher.

I've been aware of this film's existence since I was a teenager and after 45 years have finally caught up with it. 'Service de Luxe' is a competent assembly-line romantic comedy with Constance Bennett her usual glamorous blonde self bolstered by a vintage supporting cast (Helen Broderick is particularly good). That it is remembered today is due to its handsome young leading man fresh from Broadway snapped up by Universal.

The title will be familiar to his many admirers as the film debut of the 27 year-old Vincent Price, starting at the top playing a romantic lead in an 'A' feature opposite an established star. Already sporting the pencil-line moustache that was to come and go for the next twenty years, the young Vincent gracefully towers over the rest of the cast (even Mischa Auer!), moves comfortably in front of the camera and of course speaks in that wonderful purring baritone.

Playing a young inventor designing a new type of tractor, Vincent basically serves as eye candy for Connie Bennett and straight man to Charlie Ruggles and Mischa Auer. With odd exceptions, as when he attempts to discourage the amorous advances of Joy Hodges by telling her that madness runs in his family, we get little sense of just how deliriously funny he could later be in more eccentric roles, or how satanic a villain he would be; he would never play such a conventional lead again. Just two films later he was cast by this film's director, Rowland V. Lee, as the Duke of Clarence in 'Tower of London', in which he was murdered by Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff and it was already clear that he was not destined to continue to play uncomplicated romantic leads. After signing up with Fox in 1940 he would kept busy for the next seven years in eye-catching supporting roles in big budget prestige productions. And the rest is history.

Seeing Vincent Price fall in love on a cruise ship on his way to New York makes you think that this film will be set on a luxury cruise ship. As it happens, the woman he falls in love with is the managing director of a dating agency who arranges marriages. There should have been more scenes on the ship because they fell in love too quickly. It needed more character development to make their alliance more credible. As it turns out, it's not a bad film, neither is it a good film because of what's missing. It's an okay film which could have been better, but that's not down to the actors, it was down to the script. For Vincent Price fans it's watching to see what he did after 'Tower of London'.

Romantic comedy from Universal Pictures and director Rowland V. Lee. Constance Bennett stars as Helen Murphy, who runs the title company which specializes in overseeing the mundane details of her wealthy clients' daily lives. Her exhausting work pace forces her to take a short vacation where she meets engineer Robert Wade (Vincent Price in his debut). He's on his way to the city to see about building his new tractor design, and he and Helen fall for each other without knowing the identities of each other. Wade finds a financial backer in Scott Robinson (Charlies Ruggles), but a complication in Robinson's daughter Audrey (Joy Hodges) who sets her sights on marrying Wade. Also featuring Helen Broderick, Mischa Auer, Frances Robinson, Halliwell Hobbes, Raymond Parker, Frank Coghlan Jr., Lawrence Grant, and Chester Clute.

This is an agreeable, fairly routine rom-com of the era, made noteworthy thanks to Price's debut. He was 27 at the time, and he looks traditionally handsome. He sounds as if he deepened his voice a bit to try and sound more macho, and his height is imposing. He has a scene late in the film where he angrily shouts about having insanity in his family bloodline, and I thought, "There's the Vincent I know!" Mischa Auer is amusing as a pompous Russian chef.

This very silly attempt at a screwball comedy from Universal Pictures has a first-rate cast of actors doing their best with a second-rate script directed with a heavy hand by Roland Lee. Worth watching if only to see the very lovely Constance Bennett, one the best comediennes of the 30s, who is suitably frantic, often charming as the career girl in the Roz Russell mode, too busy for love until Mr. Right comes along. Vincent Price is hardly believable as the country hick Gary Cooper did to perfection. The plot gets sillier and sillier, but there are moments of mild entertainment for those not too demanding. Watching it, you are reminded of better films made about the same time, but even second-rate screwball is better than no screwball at all.