Cairo

• Robert Young is a reporter from a small town who gets assigned to the War as a stringer for all the small town papers. We see various headlines of his, then see him floating on wreckage in the Mediterranean Sea. Up pops Reginald Owen, who deputes him to do a spot of spying for him when he gets back to land. Then next thing he's in Cairo, where he thinks Nazi spy Mona Barrie is copacetic, but American movie queen Jeanette MacDonald is a Nazi spy. So he gets a job as her butler. Soon enough, she decides he's a spy, and they have a go-around until the inevitable happy ending.

It's Miss MacDonald's last movie on her contract at Metro. So they set up this piece of work, with lots of opportunities for director Woody Van Dyke to offer pratfalls, confusion, and Miss MacDonald singing. Ethel Waters is present as her maid, and she sings too; I prefer her interpretations. Even Young sings, in between the arguments about Northern and Southern California and general flag waving, With Grant Mitchell, Lionel Atwill, Eduardo Ciannelli and Dooley Wilson.

'Cairo' is a World War II spy story with Jeanette MacDonald and Robert Young each suspecting the other of being a spy. It's a spoof of all the spy stories popular in the '40s and strains to be funny--but the script defeats the purpose. Despite obvious flaws, it's interesting to see Jeanette looking her very best and in fine voice for a good number of songs--including a clip from one of her old films. The cast includes the dependable Ethel Waters (but the script makes poor use of her abilities), Lionel Atwill, Eduardo Ciannelli and Reginald Owen. It's a muddled mixture of musical comedy and espionage intrigue salvaged in part by Jeanette's occasional bursts of song. She's obviously having fun with her role as a movie star suspected of being a spy--and there are some inside jokes thrown in for good measure--but nothing really helps. One outstanding number is a night scene using a dramatic pyramid as the background for one of her songs--too bad it's just about the only musical highlight of the film.

In one of her last movies, Miss MacDonald shows a real gift for light comedy - along with her well known vocal talents.

And for the guy who said there were too many songs...WAKE UP!!!...it's a musical! LOL That's like saying there are too many explosions in an action flick or jokes in a comedy.

Cairo doesn't open in Cairo. It opens in that garden spot community of Cavity Rock, California in the northern part of the state where the local paper has won a contest by being declared the best small town newspaper in the USA. That contest carries with it the distinction of having their star reporter, one Homer Smith played by Robert Young, the appointment of foreign correspondent to cover World War II personally.

Previous to getting the news Young is watching his favorite film star Marcia Warren on the screen. It happens to be a scene from Maytime with Jeanette MacDonald singing Les Filles Des Cadiz. In the film MacDonald had gone to Europe to make a film three years earlier and the outbreak of war forced her to flee to North Africa from France.

In the meantime Young gets torpedoed in the Mediterranean and finds himself on a floating piece of wreckage with a garrulous, but mysterious Englishman played by Reginald Owen. They're forced to split up, but Young's given a message for someone in Cairo by Owen who tells him he's with British Intelligence.

Of course Young meets the movie star girl of his dreams in Cairo and what follows is a comedy of errors in which each believes the other is a spy. The enemy does have a dastardly bit of business cooked up, but that's for you to watch the film to find out.

As a satire on spy films Cairo is uneven. Some of the stuff is brilliant, some of it trite. One of the gags involves Jeanette's ability to hit a high C because that opens certain doors. Even the bad Nazi lady, Mona Barrie, says why don't we just have doorknobs like everyone else.

The master plot itself is kind of dumb. It's an elaborate scheme, but it only involves the destruction of one troop transport which it the long range scheme of things seems a waste.

But what really makes Cairo worth watching isn't Jeanette so much as Ethel Waters. Ms. Waters is playing a maid, but she's quite a bit more than that as Jeanette's girl Friday and personal assistant. She's not subservient in the least. And of course she gets a couple of numbers to sing with her style contrasting quite nicely with Jeanette. Ethel sings the Harold Arlen-E.Y. Harburg tune Buds Won't Bud and in grand style.

Jeanette's highlight is a song about the Lady in the Harbor, the Statue of Liberty. She sings it in grand bravura style and I'm sure brought many a tear to the eyes of GIs when this film was shown abroad.

Fans of Jeanette will love this film, others might find it amusing but only in spots. And fans of Ethel Waters shouldn't miss it.

Although not very funny, it does have its moments. Jeanette and Ethel are the classiest folks in this and one wishes the vehicle were more worthy as they are a great team, both vocally and in easy going comedy.

I won't go into the story line as it can be found elsewhere on this page. Robert Young tries valiantly, but is miscast. A light comedy actor with a penchant for bumbling or being a bit dumb, such as Ralph Bellamy or Fred MacMurray, may have been a better choice, although they were not under an MGM contract at the time.

The score, by Arlen and Harburg, is lackluster with the exception of the classic "Buds Won't Bud," which Ethel Waters does full justice to in what is for me the high point of the film.

Jeannette takes part in 6 numbers: Les Filles de Cadiz, The Waltz is Over, No Place Like Love, Avalon, Cairo, and a bizarre patriotic medley, including Keep The Light Burning Bright, Waiting For The Robert. E. Lee, Sky Blue Waters, Home Sweet Home and The Beautiful Ohio.

This is the sort of film that needed an Ernst Lubitsch at the helm to make it a frothy and fun spoof on espionage and mistaken identity. W. S. Van Dyke takes the script a bit too seriously and loses most of the comedic opportunities.

All in all, harmless fun with a splendid Jeanette and Ethel duo.