La lune à trois coins

It's not 'laugh you sides' off funny, instead it's got a sweet, warm cuddly sort of humour. You wouldn't describe it as 'screwball' or zany or even sophisticated...... some might not even call it a comedy (there aren't actually any laughs in this) but it's got a little bit of magic that somehow makes you smile. It does take a while to get going so stick with it, it gets much better as it goes on.

By 1933 when this was made, they'd figured out how to turn a stage play into a motion picture. This film doesn't try to deny that you're watching a play but, unlike those horrendous efforts in the early talkies years, it works beautifully here. Its scenes, its dialogue, its settings are so obviously what was being shown live on stage at this very time on Broadway but director Elliott Nugent, injects energy and life - not to mention excellent framing and lighting to make this a proper film.

It's about a silly rich family, frittering their money away on trivia who suddenly lose all their money. A silly rich family, frittering their money away on trivia would clearly not win the hearts of an audience in 1933 so what this does is then tries to endear them to us.... and it does. It's a very clever and amusing piece of writing.

It's also faultlessly acted. Although everyone except for Claudette Colbert and Richard Arlen are all nuts, you'll find them all strangely believable. Your heart tells you they're real people ....but your mind might disagree.

In many ways this could be called a 'coming of age' drama. We get to know and grow to like a group of people whom we initially find annoying. We enjoy and almost feel part of the experience of seeing them 'grow up' into responsible adults..... well apart from Richard Arlen who had to have been the dullest romantic lead of all time. It's good fun.

If it weren't for the fact that there are no dead bodies buried in the cellar, the set of the house where 90% of the film takes place looks like the Brewster home from Arsenic And Old Lace. Like the Brewsters the Rimplegars are old Brooklyn money.

Head of the clan Mary Boland could easily have been a third Brewster sister. Boland took a patent out on empty headed grand dame roles and what she didn't play Billie Burke and Spring Byington did. Some stock broker sharpie wheedled the family fortune out of her and the 1929 crash did the rest. She and her spoiled children which consist of Claudette Colbert, Wallace Ford, William Bakewell, and Tom Brown all have to make their own way in the world.

As does Hardie Albright who was courting Colbert, he figured on a life of ease, but is reevaluating his situation with Joan Marsh. The only person around with any real sense is Richard Arlen who plays a doctor who likes the family and rents a room with them. They get his rent and free medical service, can't beat that during the Depression years.

Three Cornered Moon ran for only 57 performances on Broadway in 1933 and playing Claudette's role was Ruth Gordon. Such movie cast names as Brian Donlevy, Elisha Cook, Jr., and John Eldredge were all in the Broadway cast. Though the play has a few laughs you don't really get involved with the Rimplegar family as such. Claudette Colbert had much better comedy roles in her future.

Got this 1933 movie from the library. Colbert is charming as are the rest of her family members. She was not yet a STAR, but her star quality is on display. It's frequently a laugh out loud movie. The story line of a daffy matriarch, Mary Boland, who gets wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929 and her 4 adult children who are still living at home, and what they do to survive the crisis makes for a delightful hour or so. The maid/cook whose English is minimal does not add anything to the comedy, but this is a minor fault. I've never previously seen Richard Arlen, who stands on the sidelines, quietly loving Colbert, and was glad to see how at the ending one obviously wrong suitor was replaced for another.

The best known name in this film is Claudette Colbert, and she presents her comedic talents as effortlessly as always. However, the surprise is that this screwball family comedy belongs to Mary Boland. Her ditzy, oblivious mother delivers priceless lines one after another. So as not to give all the jokes away I will only say that this family presents the humor in going broke (Boland has run the family into financial ruin and must end her 'career as economic advisor,' but insists she must sign something every month even if it is not the checks!), possible jobs in cleaning sewers, and failing the bar exam. Top that off with the family having a foreign maid who does not understand a word they say or allow them into the kitchen and this socially aware, zany family makes me wish I belonged to them.

This stagy adaptation of the Broadway play tends to drag. If director Nugent and editor Loring had sped things along it might have worked. In spite of such stellar talents as Colbert (in a role originated by Ruth Gordan) and Mary Boland, Three-Cornered Moon is only passable entertainment. The story, about the irresponsible off-spring of a wealthy-widow-now-broke (Boland), has its charm and enough funny moments to make it worthwhile for die-hard Colbert fans. However, it is difficult as to why it was selected to be part of TCM's Claudette Colbert Collection. The rowdy antics of Colbert's on-screen brothers chasing each other around the house border on the ridiculous. Wallace Ford was 35 years-old, William Bakewell 25, but only 20 year-old Tom Brown fits the bill for these kind of shenanigans. And poor Lyda Roberti isn't given much to do -- what a waste. Her part fell flat and should have been re-written for the screen adaptation.