Nous irons à Paris

Based on its plot, this film might have been one of the funniest movies of all time. It is a far-out story, but an ingenious one for comedy. And it's well scripted to that end. As it is, it's very funny and very good. But it misses being great because of a single casting choice - Joan Blondell in the female lead.

As the very good actress she was, able to play diverse roles in many films, Blondell had a particular persona in comedy that should have limited the roles she played in that genre. I can't think of a single comedy film of the many I have seen with her in, in which her character didn't have a bubbly, wide-eyed, overly energetic and smiling personality. It was right or okay for some films, but not the best for others.

Blondell's Jenny Swanson can't shake the image of the cute, bubbly girl next door. While some of her lines impart some maturity, her mannerism remains almost childish. The biggest give-away of the miss in casting here is in the lack of any spark between Jenny and Melvyn Douglas's Ronald Brooke. With Blondell's giddiness, any potential chemistry is lost.

Unfortunately, much of the funny dialog is lost or so quickly glazed over by the overriding air of Jenny's giddiness. On a second viewing of the film, I could imagine another actress in the role who would give just the touch of maturity to the witty dialog and add some on-screen chemistry with Professor Ronnie Brooke. Jean Arthur, Carol Lombard or Constance Bennet would have been perfect for the part.

But, now for all the good things about this film. The story is fantastic, with half a dozen characters with misunderstandings of the main character. But the character herself, Jenny, feeds that because of the several different sub-plots she is part of or knows about that have to do with the others individually. All of the cast give very good performances. The cast is a superb collection of supporting actors of the day. Columbia, which was not one of the Big Five Hollywood studios at the time, managed to get two of the best-known actors of the time who played irascible characters - Walter Connolly and Clarence Kolb.

This is a wonderful comedy based on multiple cases of mistaken assumptions about the lead character. The film has much great dialog. Here are some favorite lines. For more funny dialog see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie.

Tearoom hostess, "And remember, you're waitresses, not entertainers. No unnecessary conversation with the students."

Tearoom Hostess, "The students are supposed to keep their minds on their studies. And you girls must remember, that we are only here to satisfy their appetite... for food."

Professor Ronald Brooke, "That was a flutter, Jenny. That was your conscience talking." Jenny Swanson, "Oh, does that mean I'll never be able to do anything wrong?" Ronnie Brooke, "Not with your solar plexus. No Jenny, I'm afraid you're doomed to be a good girl."

Jenny Swanson, "I've got to leave town tonight. If I don't, they'll scramble eggs on the sidewalk. Mr. Dayton said so."

Ronnie Brooke, "And, Jenny, keep away from young men with large cars and small characters. And don't accept things from them." Jenny Swanson, "Nothing?" Ronnie, "Well.... flowers, fruit and candy." Jenny, "And hospitality?" Ronnie, "Only of the right sort, Jenny."

Ronnie Brooke, "But, Jenny, don't be discouraged. Good girls go to Paris too."

Olaf Brand, "You modern girls certainly are cold fish. It wasn't that way when I was young."

Ronnie Brooke, "Jenny, why did you have to pick on this family to blackmail?" Jenny Swanson, "Oh, but I didn't. It was an accident."

Olaf Brand, "Oh, well, cheating in business, ha, ha, that's good. Where would you be in business if you didn't take advantage of the other fella?"

Ronnie Brooke, "Jenny, why are you running?" Jenny Swanson, fleeing from Paul Kingston, "I always run before breakfast. It stimulates your heart, c'mon."

Ronnie Brooke, "I suppose you didn't make yourself as pretty as possible last night. Why, you... you caught him like a rat in a trap." Jenny Swanson, "Did I really look pretty?" Ronnie, "You were wonderful. You looked radiant. You... you were positively starry-eyed. I tell you, I won't have it."

Ronnie Brooke, "Oh Jenny, don't you realize how empty a loveless marriage can be?" Jenny Swanson, "Yes, I do. That's why I told Tom I couldn't Marry him."

Ronnie Brooke, "Now look here, that's no answer. You started to say something." Jenny Swanson, "Aesop says 'Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.'"

Ronnie Brooke, "Good heavens, when I told you to steer clear of Tom, that wasn't a signal to go after every other male in sight."

Ronnie Brooke, "Jenny, have you lost your flutter?" Jenny Swanson, "Oh, no. I'm fluttering something awful right now."

Olaf Brand, "This is insane. You were out with Dennis. You're going to marry Tom. A...and Ronnie in in love with you." Caroline Brand, "And Paul has just proposed to her."

Olaf Brand, "Four men aren't enough. It had to be five. Jenny, weren't you at Briarmont with Sylvia? Were you a waitress?"

Olaf Brand, "I've been having flutters all my life. Why else would I have three doctors?" Jenny Swanson, "You don't need a doctor for a flutter. That's just your conscience telling you what to do, and you don't pay any attention to it."

Olaf Brand, "What do you think of the idea of your son marrying my granddaughter?" Jeffers, "Well, Miss Sylvia is a little wild, sir, but Dennis is the right man for her." Olaf, "That's all I wanted to know."

...and dull rom coms like this go into the vault until or unless they are exhumed by TCM for god knows what esoteric reason. Just a hymn to the un funny with, as a previous reviewer noted, a too old Joan Blondell (at least too old to be playing a college town lunchroom waitress) and a too somber Melvyn Douglas with, as another previous reviewer noted, zero chem with Joanie. Throw in the usual trying too hard performance of Walter Connolly, dialogue that is at best half ass "Philadelphia Story", and a director who is clearly uncomfortable or unfamiliar with physical comedy of any sort and you can see why this thing is best forgotten. Solid C.

PS...Googled Joan Perry, who played Silvia. Saw that she survived marriage to both Harry Cohn and Laurence Harvey. Now there's a movie I'd like to watch.

Joan Blondell saved many a movie. Here, as the star, she tries hard, but she is given lines which change her character from minute to minute. The lines are seldom funny. She was always at her best, both early and late in her career, as the brassy city broad, cynical, but with a heart of gold. She doesn't have this kind of role here. Her gold digging ambitions are out of character and are only a minor plot device. Melvin Douglas is Melvin Douglas, urbane, sophisticated, with a dry wit, but no witty lines at all. Walter Connelly, as usual, shouts his lines, but none of them are funny.

The good films of this type seem effortlessly written and performed. This kind of film shows, by its failures, just how great an effort those good films required.

At Brand University, new professor Ronald Brooke (Melvyn Douglas) befriends waitress Jenny Swanson (Joan Blondell) who confesses her gold-digging plans. Two previous waitresses married rich college boys. Jenny gets Ted to propose, but his wealthy father runs her out of town. Brooke hopes to instill a conscience in her. She next sets her sights on Tom Brand whose family runs the university. She ingratiates herself with the patriarch Olaf Brand. She doesn't know that the daughter Sylvia Brand is getting married to Brooke.

Joan Blondell manages to straddle two opposing sides. She has to be a greedy gold-digger, but she also has to do it with sweetness. She may be a gold-digger, but she has to be nice about it. The relationships get too complicated. It's a mess. I feel that Ronald Brooke is more a mentor to Jenny than anything else. There's no heat there. I do not like taking the relationship beyond that. Otherwise, I do like Blondell's performance and her managing the role.

This does start off pretty badly, well very badly but then, all of a sudden it turns into something really good and very funny. So don't get fooled by the false start, stick with it. If you liked TOPPER and MY MAN GODFREY, you'll probably enjoy this as well.

The beginning is not promising - in fact, after ten minutes of cringingly awful stereotypes, I nearly switched this off. I'm glad I kept with it because it switched from being a tiresome corny comedy set in the world's most sexist university (you ladies are here to serve the young gentlemen not to distract them by showing them your legs etc. Etc.) to a fast, well written, well acted witty comedy of errors.

I wasn't too sure at first about Joan Blondell's character: on one hand she's blatantly setting out to blackmail the young gentlemen (who all look like they're in their 30s) yet also innocent and naive. Her character makes no sense - how can such a calculating schemer be so genuinely sweet? Well she can't, you just have to park that gaping plot hole in the darkest recesses of your mental garage which you can because Joan Blondell plays this impossible character so well.

As she stands directly in front of their faces, looking straight into their eyes, smiling and fluttering her eyelashes, it's perfectly obvious that she's got that confidence, that ability to turn a man to jelly. She does it without trying, without even knowing what she's doing. It's quite an interesting change of character for her and she does it remarkably well. I'm not sure anyone else could make such an unbelievable character so believable and of course likeable.

Once it gets going, it's got a feel of MY MAN GODFREY about it. Unlike most of those so-called screwball comedies, this one is actually funny. Although this is very much a Joan Blondell movie, the real star is Walter Connolly. A lot of reviews have commented that he horribly overacts in this but so what - so did Basil Fawlty! Don't know why but when he exclaims: 'What kind of house is this that doesn't have a herring?' I laughed out loud. Out of context that just sounds weird doesn't it - but just watch it, it's great, stupid but great.

Two frivolous observations: 1) Joan Blondell's dress is (sadly) not as short as it is in the poster. 2) Walter Connolly looks absolutely identical to the 'matured' Mr Scott from 1980s Star Trek movies.