Topaze

TOPAZE (1933) is a funny movie. It is also a dramatic tale of how corrupt the writers (Ben Hecht/Benn Levy) find the capitalists to be. The capitalist in question is the Baron Philippe de La Tour (Reginald Mason) who is carrying on an affair with a girl called Coco (Myrna Loy). There is no compunction involved, and they carry on as if married. Only they're not.

The Baron La Tour wants to sell bottled water but his "scientific backing" bails on him because the water is not what is advertised. With the help of his paramour Coco, Baron Le Tour finds another scientist in the form of his son's recently fired schoolmaster, Professor Auguste A. Topaze. Unwitting and somewhat naïve, Topaze lends his name to the water which henceforth bears his name, Sparkling Topaze.

Dr. Topaze eventually discovers that, by gosh, he's being used. What he does is the perfect answer to capitalism, because it is done like a true capitalist.

The "evil capitalist" argument has never died, in this era when corporations and oil companies and big pharmaceuticals, etc., are blamed for the sundry world ills, so the story is not really dated. Barrymore is brilliant, owning the role, and Myrna Loy is dazzling. Mason is quite good as the Baron, Jobyna Howland delightful as his wife, and Jackie Searl is a joy as their son, Charlemagne de La Tour, who is something of the nemesis of Dr. Topaze.

This movie is a gem.

Pointy-bearded milquetoast schoolmaster is fired for his integrity and becomes an accidental titan of industry.

This is an adaptation of a French play (a pretty loose adaptation, I think) and the staginess shows. In my opinion, that can be either good or bad, and I think it works to the movie's advantage in this case. It feels like I'm watching a play, instead of watching a bungled attempt to push a play onto film. In spite of the staginess, however, the sets are very good. An extended shot of the schoolmaster in the classroom, with snow falling outside, is so effectively done that it's hard for me to stay focused on the characters, because I just want to watch the beautiful snow through the windows.

Even so, it must be admitted that the plot is rather thin here. Not a lot happens. This is strictly a John Barrymore vehicle. Even Myrna Loy isn't give a lot to do except be sweet and sympathetic. Any hint of romance between her and Barrymore is only that, the barest of hints. Albert Conti is mere bluster and a fake mole. Nevertheless, Barrymore shines and successfully carries the entire movie by himself. His flawless mastery of stage business--as a single small example, the way he removes his pince-nez--ensures that.

The ending is wickedly cynical, as indeed is the entire movie. But it seems like the movie will close on a villains-get-theirs, good-always-wins-in-the-end note. It's refreshing that this doesn't happen.

The movie clocks in at just under 90 minutes, which makes it just the right length for what is, after all, a fairly lightweight storyline.

Watching Topaze this morning I was amazed at how well John Barrymore was playing the title role in this film and how he seemed to be getting inspiration from Frank Morgan. Then I did some research and found out that in the American debut of Marcel Pagnol's play Frank Morgan did indeed play the lead.

The play ran for 215 performances on Broadway in 1930 and it concerns a French school teacher who's a rather old fashioned pedantic fellow who believes the simple maxims of life about honesty and decency. His reputation is such that an unscrupulous industrialist wants to use his name on a soft drink that is not manufactured with the highest of standards.

When he finds out and how he deals with it are the subject of Topaze and let's just say this mild mannered school teacher turns out to be more than capable of dealing with the cold and cruel outside world.

John Barrymore never did anything quite like Topaze or at least I've not seen it. You can best compare this performance to a couple of Frank Morgan roles. It's very much like his Professor Roth in The Mortal Storm although the results are far happier for the title character.

Myrna Loy is on hand as the mistress of Baron Reginald Mason and gives a good account of herself as does Mason as the unscrupulous industrialist. You can see why Mason's doing a little kanoodling with Loy on the side when you get a look at Jobyna Howland, the Baroness. Let's just say she's formidable.

Loy would soon follow Barrymore to MGM from where he was being loaned out for Topaze by Louis B. Mayer to his son-in-law, David O. Selznick the producer. Selznick would also opt for MGM soon. But director Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast would depart for Europe shortly unable to work within the constraints of the Hollywood studio system. He did a great job here, possibly in another era he would have had a more substantial American career.

For a John Barrymore you've not seen before I recommend Topaze.

John Barrymore is "Topaze" in this 1933 film based on a French play. The film also stars a young and beautiful Myrna Loy. Professor Topaze is a very morally grounded teacher who is always honest, and when a student does bad work, he's marked down for it. Unfortunately for Professor Topaze, the mother of one of the students manages to have him fired. Bloody but unbowed, Topaze has been recommended for a tutoring job and goes to an apartment to see about it. Little does he know, the father of the boy, Baron Philippe de la Tour, is the one who had him recommended and now no longer wants him. de la Tour is at the home of Coco, his mistress (Loy) which Topaze doesn't pick up on until much later. de la Tour is selling bottled water - except it's from a tap - and his main endorser has just walked out. Who can he get to endorse his water? In walks Professor Topaze, who has a background in science. Without realizing what's going on, Topaze throws himself into the work of developing a fabulous water.

The only thing about this film that's of any interest, to me anyway, is the performance of John Barrymore as a bearded, badly put together, innocent professor who lives in another world. In one scene, he's given some liquor; not being a drinker (now that's real acting) he downs it in one swallow. To watch the liquor take its effect is very funny, as Topaze makes a joke and then laughs, his voice cracking. He crosses his legs. He starts staring at Myrna Loy.

Loy is lovely, but she has what is strictly an ingénue role and not much to do. Jobyna Howland is the Baronness de la Tour, and she's a scream.

Definitely worth seeing for the performances.

"Topaze" is another of those quality movies from the early 1930s that showed in theaters once, and then vanished for decades. There was a laser disc release of this movie on the CBS label 60 years after "Topaze" original release in 1933, but nothing in between. TCM probably showed the movie, but I never spotted it on that cable channel's schedule. John Barrymore was at the peak of his Hollywood career when he made this movie, playing Professor Topaze, who learns the hard way that nice guys finish last. "Topaze" was just another movie on the studio production schedule, but try and find now a movie with the quality and entertainment value of "Topaze," along with commentary thrown in on the world of business.

Ben Hecht wrote that he only spent a few weeks writing the screenplay for "Topaze," considering the work just another job for hire, fast money. That attitude, take the money and run, probably applied to John Barrymore, who worked for the studio that agreed to pay his $25,000 a week salary. David O. Selznick, the movie's producer, knew that RKO Studios was in financial trouble, heading for bankruptcy, but Barrymore was one of the biggest Hollywood stars in the early 30s, worth the money. "Topaze," the end result of the work of the talent RKO brought to the screen, is part cynical take on business, part romantic comedy and all original for Hollywood. Henri d'Abbadie d'Arrast, the movie's director, does a great job of pacing this story of a school teacher thrown in the big world as a pitchman for a company selling tainted bottled water. D'Abbadie d'Arrast had no career in Hollywood after this movie flopped.

In one scene in the movie, the backers of the bottled water, thinking over who they can get to promote the water, think about hiring a famous general as their shill. Instead, they decide on a teacher named Dr. Topaze, a teacher at the school one backer's child goes to, and name their product Topaze water. Over 70 years later, advertisers still use researchers and scientists in their commercials to push their products.

Maybe D'Abbadie d'Arrast career went south after going over budget on the movie by not doing everything possible to film all of Barrymore's scenes within two weeks, as William Wyler did making a later Barrymore picture, "Counsellor at Law." Hollywood lost a top craftsman when D'Abbadie d'Arrast stopped directing movies. In "Topaze," Barrymore is great as Dr.Topaze, Myrna Loy looks great and the audience even learns something about the Punic Wars. What a class picture.

FYI: At the 42 minute mark of Topaze, John Barrymore and Myrna Loy are in a cab driving down a main thoroughfare in Paris during a rainstorm. The rear window of the cab shows the traffic behind them and, once or twice, a pedestrian behind them crossing the street in the rear projection shot. At 44 minutes, the image dissolves for a fraction of a second, whiting out, and the special effects technician replays some of the one and one half minutes of stock footage previously rear-projected. Someone at RKO made a copy of the stock footage and spliced some of this copy footage to the end of original footage to end up with the two or so minutes of rear projection footage needed for the cab scene. Clever, huh, and you would never notice it if not for that momentary glitch as the rear image whites out. All routine for Vernon Walker's RKO special effects unit. But, as usual, very well done.