El fantasma amoroso

Classic Cast! Pat O'Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Rudy Vallee. From RKO, Pat O'Brien is Michael McBride. His wife, Connie is played by Ellen Drew. Something happens to Michael, and while he is away, his nemesis "Gordie" (Vallee) makes the moves on Connie. In a classic case of mistaken identity, Michael is taken for a crook, and must figure out who he is and where he belongs. Menjou is "Kismet", sailor on the steamboat where Michael ends up, and he helps Michael find his home again. For some reason, seances were big in the 1930s and 1940s, and they play a BIG part in this film. It's light and fun, but gets pretty silly, if you can stand it. Like an episode of Three's Company, it all could have been straightened out much earlier, but for some reason, it isn't. This one has a great cast, even if the plot is hokey. Even Carl Switzer (Alfafa !) has a bit part. Directed by Ray Enright. After serving in WW I, he worked with Mack Sennett in hollywood. Worth watching, if just to see Vallee, Menjou, and Switzer, some of the greats.

Speed McBride (Pat O'Brien) is not happy with his wife, Connie. An old boyfriend (Rudy Vallee) is in town and she is gaga about the guy. What's worse, when Speed asks Connie, she says she isn't sure whether she's STILL in love with the old boyfriend or not! As a result, Speed goes off on a bender and through some impossible to believe circumstances, he's assumed to have been killed driving while drunk. However, he's completely alive. Instead of just revealing to everyone he's really alive, he lets a guy he just met (Adolph Menjou) convince him to pretend he's dead. What's more, although he doesn't know the guy at all, he then follows his wacky plan to return home as a ghost to teach his wife a lesson. If you think that this sounds like a bad sitcom plot...well, you are pretty much catching on to the plot. And, if you think it can't get much stupider...well, you're wrong!

This is a dumb movie. Enjoyable in a brainless sort of way but clearly a film that must have embarrassed the cast and which they sooner would have forgotten. Watchable but awful.

By the way, I noticed one reviewer seemed shocked that Pat O'Brien actually starred in this film--implying he was only a supporting actor. Well, he almost exclusively starred in films and generally was NOT a supporting actor...in case you were wondering.

Man Alive (1945)

** (out of 4)

A husband (Pat O'Brien) gets into a fight with his wife (Ellen Drew) when her old flame (Rudy Vallee) comes for a visit. The husband storms off to get drunk and is later that night presumed killed when the car he was riding in crashes into the river. He's actually alive and with the help of a showboat operator (Adolphe Menjou) plans to spy on the wife and torture her because she's about to marry the flame.

MAN ALIVE is played for laughs, although a horror or film noir probably would have made it even better. As is, the film manages to have some mildly interesting moments thanks in large part to the cast but there's no doubt that in the end it's a missed opportunity. The biggest problem is the fact that for a "comedy" there just aren't enough laughs to make it work.

This can be blamed on the screenplay, which was obviously rushed so that they could get anything on the screen. Not only is there a lack of laughs but there are also some very big logical issues that I won't name to prevent spoiling the picture for people. If you're a fan of the cast you might want to check it out but others will probably find very little here to stay entertained on.

Pat O'Brien has been married to Ellen Drew since they graduated from college. When her previous boyfriend, Rudy Vallee shows up, O'Brien is jealous, goes out on a tear, and hooks up with perpetual drunk Jack Norton. Somehow they switch clothes, and Norton is killed and O'Brien winds up on Adolphe Menjou's showboat. When O'Brien is declared dead, Menjou persuades him into various shenanigans to reintroduce himself gradually to Miss Drew.

O'Brien drew this assignment as the first of his five-picture contract with RKO. He certainly seems willing enough to try anything, but his matter-of-fact delivery does not mix well with the increasing hysteria of the situations he gets into, as he impersonates a ghost, his uncle from Ireland, and eventually an amnesiac.

It's one of those comedies that doesn't bear much thinking about. Instead, the thing to do is to enjoy Menjou, his speed and grace as a confident confidence man, fast-talking O'Brien into these dumb ideas. In many ways the energy is that of the first screen version of The Front Page, in which Menjou played Walter Burns and O'Brien Hildy Johnson.

Sure It's A Stretch! But it's still funny. It even has a pratfall.

Adolphe Menjou plays a mischievous rogue and Pat O'Brien plays himself as always. They meet after Pat's supposed death and Adolphe takes control of the situation with wacky results.

As Menjou says, "What a Magnificent Mess!" It starts out slow but it picks up with increasing momentum until you wish it could slow down. But it can't.

It's a house of card built upon shifting sands. Situations are extremely contrived but it makes for a delightfully wild ride.

I wanted to write this review because there were only 2 reviews, both somewhat negative. Pat O'Brien does not always have to play a cop. He may always be Pat O'Brien, but he fits into this role very plausibly. He is, after all, pulling a fast one, and no one can pull a fast one like Pat O'Brien.

In any case, Adolphe Menjou steals this movie away from him. Adolphe is a very versatile actor and he is one of the few that could pull of his role with any kind of believability.