La regina di picche

Very imaginative reworking of Stevenson's classic short-story, The Suicide Club. Montgomery and Russell make a well-matched and very attractive couple, and Frank Morgan is superb as his faithful and loyal second. Reginald Owen is marvelous as the head of the club. And, the rest of the supporting class including a young and handsome Louis Hayward, is equally compelling. The score and photography are exquisite as well. This is one to be watched and enjoyed.

ROBERT MONTGOMERY and ROSALIND RUSSELL head the cast of this comedy/mystery based on "The Suicide Club" by Robert Louis Stevenson. After an intriguing start, it gets lost in a strand of threads that are never unraveled with any finesse. The result is a less than satisfying mystery but told in an entertaining manner.

Victoria London is the setting for the story which, like most Stevenson tales, wanders into the dark side with some proper mood and atmosphere. Frank Morgan is his usual blustery self (what a great Dr. Watson he would have made if Nigel Bruce weren't around), but his mannerisms are played for less comic effect than usual.

The plot unwinds in a snappy one hour and fifteen minutes of running time but explanations are skimpy and you have to be paying close attention to catch certain facts. As the President of the Suicide Club, REGINALD OWEN is burdened by some obvious make-up alterations but does a competent enough job in his unusual role.

Passes the time and is worth a watch as a programmer of mildly entertaining interest. Louis Hayward is impressive in a brief and rather thankless role.

"Trouble for Two" is a benign title that belies what an unusual film this is. Robert Montgomery plays a foreign prince who is approached by a beautiful, mysterious woman (Rosalind Russell) on board ship to London. She asks him to hold an envelope for her until they disembark, at which time she will meet him at the bottom of the gangplank. She never does. It turns out the envelope is full of blank paper. While in London, Montgomery meets Louis Hayward, who tells him and his aide (Frank Morgan) of the existence of a suicide club. The prince insists on accompanying Hayward there, over his aide's objections. There, in this exclusive club where people pay to die with another member's assistance so it looks like natural causes, he sees the mysterious lady again...

This is a very intriguing story with twists and turns that will keep the viewer interested. Montgomery and Russell did five films together and make a good team. She's quite striking-looking and somber in this. Montgomery does an excellent job as the prince, a young man who can't resist the idea of adventure and who is willing to take even foolish risks. Louis Hayward's role is small but a different one for him. He looks heavier and softer. As the actor who first portrayed The Saint, he normally was quite suave and dashing.

You have to pay attention during "Trouble for Two" - it moves fast. Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's story "The Suicide Club," the script could have been stronger, but it's a good effort and a change from the usual fare.

Starts off really intriguing and seems to differentiate itself from other films of its era. A successful mix of comedy and suspense at the beginning, and Rosalind Russell looking so surprisingly beautiful, that she seems to come across in her early scenes as a black-haired Garbo. I've never seen her look more beautiful. The film is worth seeing for Russell's early scenes alone. But unfortunately, silly and unbelievable coincidences surface midway in the plot that considerably weaken and conventionalize the film. At its finish, I ended up feeling vaguely disappointed at what could have been a really unique and special film. I still think its worth seeing though, as the performances were all around quite good. A great film that could have been!

At first sight this MGM oddity looks like a typical over-the-top 30s effort, but I found it growing on me (despite the ever-increasing number of loose ends - why? what? how?). If you can accept Montgomery and Russell as 18th century foreign Royals who blend perfectly in a Britain even more nutty than it's usually depicted, then this is quite an enjoyable and unusually imaginative slice of early Hollywood.