Petticoat Fever

An atypical screwball film with two charming stars, Petticoat Fever is a fun popcorn flick, but don't expect a snowbound My Man Godfrey or anything.

It takes place in the arctic- we're meant to believe Labrador, but I'm Canadian and can tell you that our winters DO NOT look like what the M-G-M backlot want you to believe. That's the main problem with this film- you can tell it's an arctic backlot, and no amount of suspending disbelief will change that.

Myrna Loy and Robert Montgomery are good in roles that seem to be a bit underwritten- but this was one of those "Churn 'em out weekly!" flicks that M-G-M were so good at in the 1920s, 30s and early 40s. Myrna Loy's character is a bit overly stupid, to the point of groaning, but she's a good enough actress that you can (mostly) ignore it.

The actors that played the respective fiancé(e)s of Loy and Montgomery were cardboard people, so that it wouldn't be a two person show. The casual casting of Asian people as Eskimos (their words, not mine) is a bit cringey, but I can live with it. I'm not that sensitive.

The plot is threadbare and the screenplay is sub-par- but Robert Montgomery looks very handsome in his furs (and later, his three-piece dinner jacket). It's nice to see Loy playing a single woman instead of the perfect wife/mother.

All in all, good escapist M-G-M fluff. You won't be wanting to beat your brains out by the end.

Robert Montgomery is a fine actor with an impressive range in both comedy and drama. His default settings would have seemed to make him a sort of good-looking, dapper chump, usually a funny one, and he could have sailed through a fine career as well-dressed arm-candy, but he was far too talented to fall into any such persona. In comedy, he was at his sharpest playing dryer, edgier funnymen who were in on the joke. "Petticoat Fever" gives him the funniest character I've seen him play, and he energizes this oddly claustrophobic and icebound screwball sleeper in a way that is purely masterful.

Montgomery is a sour, mumbling radio operator stuck in a frozen isolation that is slowly grinding his nerves until Myrna Loy and her fiancé, Reginald Owen, are stranded in his rustic cabin by airplane trouble. Screwball comedies usually move rapidly from place to place, but the fun here is in Montgomery's scheming and manipulation to keep Loy within reach. His sparring with her and especially with a wonderfully over-the-top Owen- who knew he could be this funny?- is a case of a fine script made special in performance. The dialogue is terrific at times, and the pacing is briskly fun, but Montgomery's face tells the story in every scene- he's a clown on a mission and he brings this one home with a bang. There isn't a wasted moment. "Petticoat Fever" deserves to grow a reputation.

This diverting little comedy is refreshingly different from the standard rich boy-wolf chases girl comedies of the 30s. It's set in the Alaskan wilderness instead of of swanky night clubs and penthouses, the situations are set up to be amusing rather than hilarious, and it's played by Montgomery and Loy with a kind of knowing delicacy rather than wryness or zaniness.

This 1936 picture was one of the three that Robert Montgomery did for the studio that year. "Petticoat Fever", directed by George Fitzmaurice, pairs Mr. Montgomery with another star, who was an excellent comedienne, as well as a dramatic actress, Myrna Loy.

The film is a typical movie of those innocent years where the viewer is asked to believe the small plane that crashes on the ice is only a minor inconvenience, as nothing happens to the two occupants of the aircraft. It also sets in motion a love triangle where Dascom Disnsmore gets in the middle of Irene and Sir James when he falls head over heels in love with the beautiful woman from the wreck.

Robert Montgomery did better films than this one, of course, but his chemistry with Myrna Loy is about the best thing going for the movie. Reginald Owen tries, but his character is not as well drawn as the others. Winifred Shotter puts in an appearance as the lovely Clara, who complicates things a bit for everyone.

"Petticoat Fever" offers a mild entertainment for viewers of these type of films.

I was never a big fan of ROBERT MONTGOMERY but have to admit he acquits himself very well in this light romantic comedy opposite the very adroit MYRNA LOY, who could play either comedy or drama with equal finesse. The two of them hold this little tale together--and since the camera is on them most of the time, it's not really that difficult to do.

The film might more aptly be titled "Cabin Fever" because once Loy's plane crashes (with would-be husband Reginald Owen aboard), she spends most of the movie cabin bound with lonely wireless operator Montgomery in the wilds of Labrador. All of it has a stage-bound look and is obviously photographed on the MGM sound stages with artificial snow and ice for a few background shots. The flimsy tale has Montgomery falling head over heels in love with the stranded Loy, who at first resists his charm but soon becomes undecided about being Reginald Owen's fiancé.

It's so simple and yet it plays extremely well because of some bright dialog and the effortless ease with which Montgomery and Loy play screwball comedy. Not as fortunate is REGINALD OWEN, given to the kind of mugging and overplaying that usually sinks a film like this. But it's the skillful emoting of the two stars that saves the day.

A pleasant trifle, typical of '30s film fare in this realm.

Trivia note: Watch for a glimpse of handsome young DENNIS MORGAN as a band singer in a nightclub scene in an uncredited bit role.