Ladies Should Listen

Watching Cary Grant in any movies usually means you can expect it to be enjoyable. This movie although short is fine as a funny type of movie from that era. The director of this movie is obviously following the Lubitcsh formula for comedy although not as good as Lubitcsh. You have to give the director credit however in making this short movie interesting. There was obviously budget constraints, but looking at the core supporting players, they actually do an excellent job. George Barbier plays a familiar role of a father who demands his wife is to be married. This is also the role he played however as king in "The Smiling Lieutenant" and he has that role down. What's amazing is the performance of Nydia Westman as Susie Flamberg. She plays and has dialog which is much like Claudette Colbert's role as the daughter seeking the love interest.

In the case of The Smiling Lieutenant, Maurice Chevalier is the love interest the daughter seeks, but in this case it's Cary Grant. When watching an old copy of this movie I actually thought for a moment based on the dialog that Nydia Westman was Caudette Colbert and had to do a double take at the credits.

These are probably formula roles for comedy by this time in the 30s, kind of a formula for haphazard comedy. Never the less, it's fun to watch and not bad. Wish I had a better sounding audio on the copy I saw. I wonder if there are even any good masters of this film available that could meet Turner's quality requirements for release. I give it a solid 7 perhaps it would rate a little better if there had been better audio.

I can't quite figure out why so many reviewers here don't think this is much of a film. To me, never having seen it (or, quite honestly, heard of it) before, I found it a delightful time-waster and I was surprised at just how good Cary Grant was at comedy this early in the game. The story is fluff and really doesn't make much sense, but you can say that about THE BIG SLEEP (and everyone does) while still enjoying it. Anyway, any film with Edward Everett Horton in his prime is worth seeing, and to have the two of actors together is icing on the cake. (One might want to read the great Christopher Plummer's autobiography just to learn in what awe he held Horton when acting with him in the 1950s.) Frances Drake is also delightful (although I am more used to seeing her in thrillers like MAD LOVE and THE INVISIBLE RAY) and shows a gift for comedy. But the truly inspired performance in this film, which no words can adequately describe - you really have to see it - is Nydia Westman's. She is just a delight as a cute, pliant, headstrong ditz (no other word will suffice). Again, I've never seen anything like it except maybe Marie Wilson's lovably weird secretary to Warren William in SATAN MET A LADY. The performances are not alike, they are just weirdly different from anything you could possibly expect. Watch this and you'll see what I mean. Of course, the film depends totally on the performers - as a viable screenplay it may have a lot of words but it hardly exists - and they come through. Besides, who ever went to see a Cary Grant film for the screenplay? And Westman delivers lines like little lightning bolts from another planet. I thought the whole thing delightful.

An overly familiar romantic comedy, the paper-thin LADIES SHOULD LISTEN is a harmless, if trivial, addition to the genre. Neither the writing or direction is sharp enough to make the material really spark or crackle, but Cary Grant displays his increasing prowess in romantic farce, and the plot line of his character being romanced by the telephone operator who repeatedly saves him through eavesdropping is serviceable if hardly superior. The basic structure (as well as the Paris backdrop) is more than casually reminiscent of Grant's previous film KISS AND MAKE UP, only not as inspired or as energetically performed by the supporting players. Still, the film provides a solid hour of agreeable, lightweight entertainment.

This Cary Grant film is not among his better known pictures...and after seeing it, I understand why. The film is amazingly shallow and light-weight...and quite forgettable.

When the film begins, you learn two things about Julian (Grant)-- despite looking wealthy, he is about to go belly up AND he is an idiot. Why an idiot? Because he meets a lady and knows nothing about her but instantly he declares that he's in love. Later, to get her attention he pretends to shoot himself...and at this point, I was really wishing he'd do it for real!! The film was contrived and repeatedly Julian was just an idiot...and needed a switchboard operator to save him again and again. A very poor script make this a film mostly of interest to huge Grant fans...but no one else. A big misfire.

I had low expectations of this post-code film after having watched Cary Grant in the previous, KISS AND MAKEUP. The entry credits for this film let everyone know that this is/was a Hays Code approved film (pretty much they started inforcing this around 1934ish). The 59/62 minute length should be the give away. If you are a quick study you can see where they have chopped this (by a startling change of scene), and likely severely edited it. During the film you can also see only one person in a bed, not two, (and fully clothed everyone.) Kisses get panned away as well. You can find a full list of the dos and don'ts on Wiki (gratis Hays in conjunction with his Jesuit accomplice.). One of the things that they did with these transition heavily edited films was to attach them to full length features either as a prelude or postlude.

A pity in this case, since the script - cut as it is - is surprisingly funny, and the lead actors managed to pull this off quite well. It perhaps also says something about the person who was tasked with the job of patching together what was left after the cutting room floor debris, since it does make a tidy little film. A delightful 1930s romp.