The Church Mouse

Laura LaPlante is nearly forgotten now, but in the 20s and early 30s she was a big name in films. She made an easy transition to talkies and was a fine light actress as this film proves. LaPlante plays the title character, a mousy secretary who is all efficiency until she falls for her boss (Ian Hunter). Like so many other silent stars, LaPlante should have had a better and bigger career in 30s talkies. This cheapo production hinders but does not ruin her performance. This same story was previously filmed as Beauty and the Boss with Warren William and Marion Nixon, but this version is better. Laura LaPlante is probably best remembered now for starring in the first (and part-talkie) version of Show Boat and for playing Betty Hutton's mother in Spring Reunion.

When Betty Miller finagles her way into Johnathan Steele's office to try to nab the job as his secretary, much humor ensues. When he finally tells her to take a note and she begins her shorthand as he speaks, she says, "faster, faster." Steele keeps speeding up his dictation until he can't catch his breath. She tells him she writes shorthand at 195 words per minute, and he is impressed. He then asks her to read it back and she does, exactly as he had dictated it. Then, when they are interrupted by Pinky Wormwood, she takes a call and repeats and jots down a series of numbers. Steele is even more impressed.

All of this leads to Betty, Miss "Church Mouse," as Steele dubs her, being hired as his private secretary. And, in short order, the Church Mouse has become the pinnacle of efficiency and order for Mr. Steele's office, business affairs and the bank. The humor in all of this is a mixed bag of crisp, snappy dialog in the script, some small antics, and a whole lot of mannerisms and persona of the actors. And that was a Laura La Plante specialty. In this film, the Church Mouse turns out to be a rose in disguise.

"The Church Mouse" is based on a 1928 play by Hungarian author and playwright Ladislas Fodor. It had been adapted for films before this. A 1931 German film was entitled, "Poor as a Church Mouse," and a Warner Brothers 1932 version was called "Beauty and the Boss." It starred Marian Marsh and Warren William. And, Marian Marsh made that film, just as Laura La Plante made this 1934 film.

This is a very good comedy in spite of its stagy appearance in the early part. The rest of the cast are very good for their respective roles. Edward Chapman as Pinky Wormwood is especially good. And Jane Carr, as the flirtatious and likeable former secretary of Johnathan Steele, plays a very good Miss Sylvia James. But this really is a film that succeeds mostly on Laura La Plante's role.

The diminutive La Plante was one of the darlings of silent film in the 1920s. She was a star at Universal when it was still a second tier studio, and La Plante played in dramas as well as comedies. She was especially adept in the latter, and she made the transition into sound quite well. But she would give up her career within just a few short years. Some sources say that the wider pool of talent entering pictures reduced her appeal. Others note the decline in quality of the screenplays of her films.

While she wasn't forced out of her career, when she was just 31 years of age, it seems likely that there were a number of reasons she decided to end her screen career. That includes the two already suggested. But, La Plante was also known to be a very private person outside of the studios. So, the big frenzy over movie stars that came with sound pictures must have had something to do with her decision. The prying eyes of the media and apparent hunger of fans to know more about their screen heroes bothered La Plante. From all accounts, the public spotlight was anathema to her.

La Plante left Universal and moved to London in 1930. She made 10 films in England, mostly through the Warner Brothers studios there. She returned to the U. S. in 1935, where she quit her career after just two more films, and made just four more appearances into the mid-1950s, two of which were in TV series. La Pante outlived her second husband of 50 years by eleven years. They had two children. She was 91 when she died in 1996.

Incidentally, the normal speaking rate of people is about 100 words per minute. And a super stenographer in the days before steno machines could write shorthand at 160 wpm. So Miss Church Mouse was indeed super talented at shorthand.

This British film seems more like an American film of the period. It was made by Warner Brothers' British studio and has the same kind of set design, photography, dialogue and pace of WB's American films from the early 30's. In addition, Ian Hunter plays the kind of aggressive businessman we associate (whether rightly or wrongly) with the United States rather than with England. His character in "The Church Mouse" is all extremes: he makes snap decisions, and his anger turns to absurd generosity in the blink of an eye. American actress Laura LaPlante, as a young woman looking for work in those Depression years, gets into his office by climbing through the window and impresses him with her secretarial skills (which are such that we can't help wondering why she hasn't found work long before this). But, after falling in love with him, she soon finds out that he never mixes business with pleasure - whenever he wants to fool around with his secretary, he fires her first. The plot is silly and wildly out of date nowadays, but the film doesn't take itself seriously and is worth seeing once.

I first saw this film many years ago at the NFT.My fond recollections of this were reinforced when i saw it again as a result of its recent airing on TCM.It is a truly charming film.Although it is a quota quickie and most of the film in Paris is spent in the hotel suite it never feels very stagy.Laura La Plante is a true delight as the main lead and is well supported by Ian Hunter.Jane Carr as a femme fatale is a real hoot particularly in early scenes as Hunter's secretary.There are some very interesting exteriors early in the film featuring Piccadilly Circus and The Strand,by the Law Courts.Reassuring to know that some parts of London have not changed in the intervening years.It looks as if the scenes must have been taken from a hidden camera since no one seems to be aware of the camera.