Fools for Scandal

An enjoyable character-driven romantic comedy, and a delight it was. Don't expect the best thing since sliced bread, but for a genre which I don't particularly find to be my cup of tea, this made me smile a bit.

Most of the smiling due to Fernand Gravet's performance, slick, charming, funny and clever, as well as the chemistry between he and Lombarde. The supporting roles filled by Bellamy and Jeans were also spot on, creating a great comedic environment.

I don't put much stock into plot when it comes to romantic comedies, regardless of whether it was made yesterday or 60 years ago, so if you can get past that, then you'll truly enjoy yourself.

7/10

This film is described in Carole Lombard's biography by Larry Swindell as "one of the horrendous flops of the thirties decade" and by Photoplay as "inane" and "pointless". I must say that I was expecting something as horrendous as Carole's 1933 movie "White Woman", but was pleasantly surprised to find this an endearing, lighthearted romp. The actors seemed to enjoy themselves and recognize that they were not filming Shakespeare, but a screwball comedy. The scenes are varied and interesting, the action moves along at a bright pace and things are anything but dull, including a surprise ending to top things off.

The only criticism I can make is that Carole does seem to shout her lines for some unknown reason. I assume this is the director's fault. And the overall tone of the movie should probably have been toned down and played with more sophistication in spots to give the film a little more class. In a few places it almost goes over the top into a "Three Stooges" mode. Ralph Bellamy really made me laugh a few times. However, Carole has never been more beautiful, and I was not turned off by Fernand Gravet's performance as so many seemed to have been at the time. Come on, no ones perfect. If this film had been made a few years earlier in her career, I think it could easily have been a classic.

Fernand Gravey is a Marquis in Paris, but he has no money. He runs into movie star Carole Lombard and follows her back to London. What with one thing and another, he and pals Allen Jenkins and Marie Wilson wind up as servants in her household, much to the discomfiture of Miss Lombard's would-be fiance, Ralph Bellamy and the gossipy delight of all London.

There are problems with the production, chief among them the discarding of most of a Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart set of songs and the rushing of the ending. Yet there are some perfect comedy set pieces, particularly the scene in which Gravey, Jenkins and Miss Wilson serve dinner to Bellamy and Miss Lombard.

It was the last movie that Mervyn Leroy directed at Warner Brothers before he jumped to MGM. He had entered Hollywood as a relative of Jesse Lasky. After a series of back lot jobs, he directed his first movie in 1928 and was off and running. He died in 1987, aged 86.

The only thing I can't figure out is why Carole Lombard playing a movie star very much like Carole Lombard in Fools For Scandal is why she was going out with a drip like Ralph Bellamy in the first place? Can someone answer that question? I can't imagine her ever coming in contact with him except to buy insurance.

Fools For Scandal has Lombard over in Paris where she meets a penniless count played by Fernand Gravey who gets by on wit, charm and little else. He encounters Lombard and manages to charm his way into her household and he turns out to be a pretty good cook. The man has a way with Crepe Suzettes.

Of course this continental charmer is good also at getting Ralph Bellamy's goat. But that's the whole idea. Bellamy gets more than a few laughs with his exasperation.

Fools For Scandal is not one of Lombard's really great films, but it certainly will satisfy her legion of fans. There's also nice parts for Marie Wilson as Lombard's maid as her usual vacuous self and Allen Jenkins who is Gravey's American friend from Brooklyn.

Now how did those two get together?

Carole Lombard and Ferdinand Gravet are "Fools for Scandal" in this 1938 comedy from Warner Brothers, also starring Ralph Bellamy and Allen Jenkins.

Lombard plays an incognito Hollywood star in Paris who meets Gravet, who falls for her. He's totally broke, and the best parts of the film are the trips to the pawn shop to free his tux, etc., which means his buddy (Jenkins) has to wear a sandwich board around town to advertise the shop. There's also a masquerade party where everyone goes as their favorite animal.

This is a very slight comedy, with Bellamy in the familiar role of Lombard's eager fiancée. Lombard's acting is quite frantic and high pitch, but she's lovely. Such a sad and early end to her life, I always feel sad when I see her.

Good performances, but unless you're a Lombard fanatic, you can skip this one.