J'épouse ma femme

I was looking at the Citadel Film series book The Films of Fredric March while watching Bedtime Story and the author there makes the point that this seemed to be something that might have been originally designed for Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. That might be the case, but I doubt even those two could have done as good a job as Fredric March and Loretta Young did in this film.

March and Young both knew how to play comedy and well, despite both of them primarily known for drama. With something like Nothing Sacred among March's best films who would doubt that? As for Loretta, she's every bit as sparkling as Irene Dunne at her best.

To make the analogy complete, there's even a Ralph Bellamy part in this film, ably done by Allyn Joslyn. In fact in many ways Joslyn's the best thing in the film.

The lead characters seem to me to be based on that noted theatrical couple, playwright Charles MacArthur and actress Helen Hayes. The film begins with Loretta Young taking a curtain call and giving a farewell to the theater. She and her hubby want to settle down and enjoy life. But Loretta should have suspected something when March wasn't around to take the bow with her.

Good reason because that isn't March's idea at all. In fact he's written a new play for his wife, but she wants nothing to do with it. She's made her mind up and that breaks them apart. And good old Allyn Joslyn, stuffy banker in the Ralph Bellamy tradition, is ready on the rebound. He catches her all right, but the game isn't over, not from March's point of view.

Bedtime Story starts out a little slow, but really makes up for it in the end. That final scene as the newly married Joslyn and Young are trying to get down to business is absolutely hysterical. The situations are funny enough, but Joslyn's reactions are what really put it over. It's something borrowed from A Night At The Opera.

In fact I spotted elements from The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday, and Twentieth Century as well as the Marx Brothers classic. And producer B.P. Schulberg and director Alexander Hall make it all work.

Rounding out the cast in familiar type cast parts are Helen Westley, Robert Benchley, Eve Arden, Joyce Compton and Grady Sutton. You just mention those names and any devoted film buff can tell you exactly what they played.

I'm surprised Bedtime Story isn't rated higher by fans of both leads. It's a real gem of a screwball comedy, don't miss it.

"Bedtime Story" is an enjoyable comedy with a plot that seems to have been borrowed from other, most successful films. This 1941 Columbia release is fun to watch because it is seldom seen and the brilliant cast that was put together for it. Frederic March and Loretta Young are wonderful as the sparring Drakes, a theatrical couple, at the center of the story. The Broadway scene of the times is captured in the film.

Alexander Hall directed this stylish comedy with sure hand. Mr. Hall got excellent performances all around, especially of the two principals. Frederic March was at the height of his movie career and he shows why he was one of the best actors working in films at the time. Loretta Young also has some wonderful moments in the film as the suffering wife of Luke Drake, the playwright of the moment.

As with other comedies of that period, the supporting cast in "Bedtime Story" shows some accomplished actors of the caliber of Eve Arden, Allyn Joslyn, Helen Westley, and Joyce Compton, among others.

The film will delight classic movie fans.

For the most part, "Bedtime Story" is a piece of light-hearted fluff, pleasant enough, often amusing and sometimes downright funny. The last 15 minutes or so, in fact, are downright hilarious. It features a couple of very good leads in Fredric March and Loretta Young, and a good supporting cast alongside them. It's an enjoyable watch, with only one exception that hung over me all the way through and prevents me from saying that I found this to be a truly good movie: for a light-hearted comedy, March's character of Paul Drake came across as too manipulative and self-serving most of the way through to be really likable, and somewhere along the way - especially in a comedy - you have to be able to develop some warmth for the main characters; some sense that you like them and care about them. Young's Jane Drake you feel that for, because of course she's the one who has to put up with Paul's manipulative, self-serving ways, but Paul never came across to me as sympathetic.

The Drake's are a theatre couple - Paul a playwright and Jane his leading actress. They've been very successful, but as the movie opens we discover in a closing curtain call speech from Jane that they've decided to retire and leave the theatre behind while they're still young enough to enjoy life. They've bought a farm in Connecticut and the show is over. But Paul has had second thoughts, and the rest of the movie basically details the various ways in which Paul tries to manipulate Jane into changing her mind. Some of the story is funny, yes, but I just did not find Paul likable. A good performance from March (and from Young) but I had no sense of connectedness with the character. Mind you, the last 15 minutes of this are truly quite hilarious. Jane has remarried, and Paul has come up with all sorts of ways to disrupt their wedding night in the forlorn hope that he'll be able to win Jane back. It's a good culmination to the movie, and in the end Paul doesn't get what he wants, although he does get good news - which is perhaps the best ending possible for the character.

This is enjoyable enough. Not great, but worth watching. (6/10)

Fredric March is credible as a great playwright. Loretta Young, whom I love, is somewhat less so as his actress wife. Young was indeed a good actress but I don't quite buy her as the toast of Broadway.

The plot is reminiscent of "The Awful Truth." However, if it's difficult to imagine going from Cary Grant to Ralph Bellamy, imagine going from March to Allyn Joslyn! Young's character does it, though.

The Joslyn character is treated no less shabbily than had been (in many movies) the Bellamy. But there is a touch of hostility in it, or so I felt. He is not presented as gay, exactly. But he is a prissy creep.

Joyce Compton, of "The Awful Truth," turns up, as does Robert Benchley. Benchley isn't given much of a part. Of the supporting players, Eve Arden is given the juiciest role. She is delightful.

Everything is right about the production except for one thing: It seems forced. Chic -- but forced.

All the previous commenters are right: you'll find some things to like here. Exactly which things they are will depend on what you're hoping for. I think Fredric March is terrific as Luke, for the same reason other folks didn't enjoy him so much -- he's not what you're expecting, perhaps because his buttoned-down good looks make a great foil for his deviousness. Here, in mid-career, March's role is the kind Harrison Ford occasionally takes to lighten up. Benchley's Benchley (that's a plus) and Eve Arden has a great turn as an actress who must absorb withering directorial scorn for no good reason. Loretta Young is where this potentially fizzy movie goes flat in spots. She's ladylike to a fault.

After I saw this movie on TCM I decided it must've been written as a Powell-Loy vehicle -- theirs is the kind of chemistry that would've put more zip in this script. But March's performance is a treat.