Cocktail Hour

Bebe Daniels stars here as a successful commercial artist who refuses to marry even though she is surrounded by men who pursue her. She likes her independence and her own salary of $60,000 per year (a fortune in 1933). The film opens with Daniels finishing off a sketch to deliver to her boss (Randolph Scott) while hosting a cocktail party of mostly men. She explains that while most women want marriage and a baby, she wants her "cocktail hour." She delivers her sketch and Scott proposes for the umpteenth time. She says no so he locks her in a bathroom so she'll miss her boat to Europe, where she is escaping all for a vacation. She escapes. Onboard she is deluged by all her male friends until the gong for sailing. Scott shows up again and proposes again.

She meets a famous Russian pianist onboard (Muriel Kirkland) who turns out to be a fake and is from Kansas. Also onboard is Philippe (Barry Norton) who is in love with Daniels, and his mother (Jessie Ralph). She also meets the smooth William Lawton (Sidney Blackmer) with whom she falls in love. Things get very tricky onboard until they land in England and Blackmer pulls a surprise out of his hat.

Daniels heads to Paris and visits the country estate of Philippe's where a tragedy occurs and Daniels is hauled away by the cops. Scott to the rescue? Daniels looks great, wears nice clothes, and even sings "Listen Heart of Mine." The rest of the cast is quite good, especially Blackmer and Kirkland. Others include Marjorie Gateson, John St. Polis, Forrester Harvey, Willie Fung, Phillips Smalley, and Dennis O'Keefe as a party guest.

This was Daniels' follow-up film to 42nd STREET and one of five films she made in 1933. It's a pity Daniels wasn't more successful in talkies. She had a good singing voice and excelled at playing the independent women of the era that were more famously played by Ruth Chatterton, Kay Francis, and Norma Shearer.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT.

Saw this at a Library of Congress screening in the Spring of 2003; it was a pleasing, if minor, Depression-era diversion. By this I mean it was (and is) a perfect way for any put-upon person to lose 73 minutes. "Cocktail Hour" has almost no edgy, precode vibes, a la Warner Bros. Instead there're attractive well-dressed people in chic apartments (better art direction then I expected from Columbia) doing moderately interesting, but non-taxing things, and a shipboard romance capped by Bebe Daniels warbling a cute song. Randolph Scott had just come from doing a batch of memorable Paramount B-Westerns. This was one of his only loan-outs during this period, and the chemistry between the two leads is just fine.

Melodrama intrudes into "Cocktail Hour" once the cast reaches Paris, including a threatening character getting shoved through a window, but rather then jar this works to keep things lively. Budgetary constraints mean no exteriors, either in the early "Manhattan" sequences or in "Paris"—you have to use your imagination—but it's OK; whatever you do see is slick enough to get by. Being a second tier studio, Columbia couldn't or wouldn't bring a first-rate supporting cast together for every production, and as a result "Cocktail Hour" had to settle for, along with a lot of other people I didn't recognize, the obscure Muriel Kirkland as an amusing fake countess (Dennis O'Keefe was listed in the IMDb credits doing a bit, but I didn't notice him). All in all, good escapism.

This film was presented by TCM's Ben Mankewiecz as unabashedly pre code in its account of a woman who "happily" has an affair with a married man. I beg to differ. If anything, it is a post code film masquerading as pre code since the woman having the affair is anything but happy about it, especially when she discovers that the man is married, whereupon she suffers the usual guilt and torment that the Hays Office would regularly visit upon all such wayward gals, post 1933. And, of course, her ticket out of this adulterous hell she is in is...are you ready?... MARRIAGE! So you can understand the general air of deflation that settled upon me halfway through this irksome affair, especially considering Ben's bait and switch intro. Give it a C plus.

PS...For the record, I found Bebe Daniels fairly delightful, although she should learn to play drunks better), Sidney Blackmer (who could do drunk as he showed in "Come Back Little Sheba", on stage) horribly miscast as a rake who is irresistible to women, and Randolph Scott surprisingly good as an international business tycoon (I say "surprisingly" because I always pegged this guy as strictly Paris, Texas).

Cynthia Warren (Bebe Daniels) is a successful magazine illustrator. She has her cavalcade of friends in her lavish New York City penthouse for a bon voyage party. She has many male admirers but she doesn't want to be tied down. Her magazine publisher Randolph Morgan (Randolph Scott) proposes marriage to her but she rejects him like all the rest. She heads off for a cruise vacation by herself. She befriends fake Russian Olga Raimoff. She can't escape the attention of men like the single-minded William Lawton and momma's boy Prince Philippe.

This is a pre-Code romantic comedy drama. Cynthia is the 'modern' self-sufficient single gal. Of course, even a modern girl needs to pine for romantic love. I would like her to be much more forceful with Lawton. I disliked him from the first moment he shows up on the screen. I didn't get her being charmed by him. He's a horrible creep. She doesn't come well to ever like him. The resolution of that relationship is totally jarring. The whole movie is a light romp up to that point. It all goes out the window with the incident.

Kind of a lover's farce. JUST before the enforcement of a much stricter film code! This kind of shenanigans was about to disappear for twenty years, or at least be watered down beyond recognition when discussed in film. Bebe daniels is cynthia, who doesn't follow the rules of conduct, done by most women of the time; she insists on living her life her own way, and with whom she desires. Married, or not. And she likes to do the chasing. Randolph scott is her boss, who wants her all to himself. So cynthia runs off to paris and has adventures. Keep an eye out for sydney blackmer and jessie ralph. Some real twists and turns in this one! Due to the edits from the censors, we see photo stills in several places, where the scene was physically removed, but the sound track remained. This was also done in the "lost horizon", and "a star is born 1954", possibly due to lost or damaged scenes, instead of censorship. Story based on "pearls and emeralds", by james mcguinness. Directed by victor schertzinger. Was nominated for "one night of love". He also made a couple of the "road" movies with bob hope. Died young at 53, of a heart attack. The film is quite good! Lots of energy, keeps moving right along. I like the friendship between olga and cynthia. And cynthia's sporting spirit, even when things are going against her. Not thrilled with the wishy washy ending, but i guess it's to be expected for the time it was filmed.