Por un viaje a París

This is not a well crafted or written piece of cinema. I have been arbitrarily watching comedies from this era of late largely to stick my head in the sand from the horrors of the world at the moment. This film could easily be remade with some updates to the increasing gender equality in the world. The setup was unusually clever for one of these early romantic comedies, the characters were fun, some even had a bit of depth. Joan Blondell is utterly charming and her Jenny Swanson is the original Manic Pixie Dreamgirl, it is delightful fluff entertainment. The whole web of mistaken identity was probably clever for the time and a nod to A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Special appreciation to Walter Connolly's performance, his cartoonish exasperation and chemistry with Blondell were some of the best moments in the film. The actors are genuinely enjoying themselves.

Is the writing silly, sure, the dialog a bit basic, absolutely, but holy crap I enjoyed this ever so much more than anything I've seen in awhile.

Joan Blondell saved many a movie. Here, as the star, she tries hard, but she is given lines which change her character from minute to minute. The lines are seldom funny. She was always at her best, both early and late in her career, as the brassy city broad, cynical, but with a heart of gold. She doesn't have this kind of role here. Her gold digging ambitions are out of character and are only a minor plot device. Melvin Douglas is Melvin Douglas, urbane, sophisticated, with a dry wit, but no witty lines at all. Walter Connelly, as usual, shouts his lines, but none of them are funny.

The good films of this type seem effortlessly written and performed. This kind of film shows, by its failures, just how great an effort those good films required.

This does start off pretty badly, well very badly but then, all of a sudden it turns into something really good and very funny. So don't get fooled by the false start, stick with it. If you liked TOPPER and MY MAN GODFREY, you'll probably enjoy this as well.

The beginning is not promising - in fact, after ten minutes of cringingly awful stereotypes, I nearly switched this off. I'm glad I kept with it because it switched from being a tiresome corny comedy set in the world's most sexist university (you ladies are here to serve the young gentlemen not to distract them by showing them your legs etc. Etc.) to a fast, well written, well acted witty comedy of errors.

I wasn't too sure at first about Joan Blondell's character: on one hand she's blatantly setting out to blackmail the young gentlemen (who all look like they're in their 30s) yet also innocent and naive. Her character makes no sense - how can such a calculating schemer be so genuinely sweet? Well she can't, you just have to park that gaping plot hole in the darkest recesses of your mental garage which you can because Joan Blondell plays this impossible character so well.

As she stands directly in front of their faces, looking straight into their eyes, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes, it's perfectly obvious that she's got that confidence, that ability to turn a man to jelly. She does it without trying, without even knowing what she's doing. It's quite an interesting change of character for her and she does it remarkably well. I'm not sure anyone else could make such an unbelievable character so believable and of course likeable.

Once it gets going, it's got a feel of MY MAN GODFREY about it. Unlike most of those so-called screwball comedies, this one is actually funny. Although this is very much a Joan Blondell movie, the real star is Walter Connolly. A lot of reviews have commented that he horribly overacts in this but so what - so did Basil Fawlty! Don't know why but when he exclaims: 'What kind of house is this that doesn't have a herring?' I laughed out loud. Out of context that just sounds weird doesn't it - but just watch it, it's great, stupid but great.

Two frivolous observations: 1) Joan Blondell's dress is (sadly) not as short as it is in the poster. 2) Walter Connolly looks absolutely identical to the 'matured' Mr Scott from 1980s Star Trek movies.

Joan Blondell spent her career in average and mediocre movies. Warner Bros churned out the TV shows of that day and unfortunately for Joan, she was the studio's workhorse. In later years she often said she couldn't remember much about most of them because they were all the same, and the only thing that changed were the clothes. Her assessment is sadly true; most of them are pretty desultory.

But she got a chance to shine with 'Good Girls Go To Paris' and the results are spectacular!

Jenny Swanson is one of the great characters of '30s films, a girl who moves through life purely on the surface, showing only the most superficial understanding of each situation in which she finds herself. But that 'public face' is only her defense. It conceals her real person, deeply understanding, able to perceive the problems of the people around her, pierce their defenses with ease, and dominate the proceedings to bring about the most satisfactory solution. No man can resist her brilliant personality, as one after the other they fall madly in love with her - even the cold millionaire, played brilliantly by Walter Connelly, is vanquished by Jenny's honesty and charm. None of these poor men have a chance!

All time great romantic comedy.

At Brand University, new professor Ronald Brooke (Melvyn Douglas) befriends waitress Jenny Swanson (Joan Blondell) who confesses her gold-digging plans. Two previous waitresses married rich college boys. Jenny gets Ted to propose, but his wealthy father runs her out of town. Brooke hopes to instill a conscience in her. She next sets her sights on Tom Brand whose family runs the university. She ingratiates herself with the patriarch Olaf Brand. She doesn't know that the daughter Sylvia Brand is getting married to Brooke.

Joan Blondell manages to straddle two opposing sides. She has to be a greedy gold-digger, but she also has to do it with sweetness. She may be a gold-digger, but she has to be nice about it. The relationships get too complicated. It's a mess. I feel that Ronald Brooke is more a mentor to Jenny than anything else. There's no heat there. I do not like taking the relationship beyond that. Otherwise, I do like Blondell's performance and her managing the role.