La dama e il cowboy

A modern fairy-tale in the tradition of Cinderella and Snow White. This movie has aged well and should be easily absorbed by today's audience. When you think of it, that is a hallmark of Gary Cooper films. He is the everyman, the themes are simple and timeless.

Cooper is in typically good form in this movie, and so is his beautiful and delightful co-star Oberon. The film is loaded with humor, romance and a touch of social commentary. A must see for fans of Cooper, Oberon, Jimmy Stewart or Frank Capra. A perfect "date" movie. One of my most favorite films. Hidden gem.

A thin comedy which has a few amusing moments but isn't as funny or charming as it clearly believes itself to be. Oberon looks stunning, which, after seeing her in The Divorce of Lady X, shows the importance of the cinematographer to a leading lady.

Definitely the most somber 30s rom com I can recall thanks to Greg Toland's camera which seems most at home in fog enshrouded Gulf steamers and shadowy, dark Palm Beaches of the mind. And since the film is not very funny, with endless variations on the tiresome Capra-esque trope of urban=bad while rural=good, you tend to remember the cinematography way too much. C plus.

"The Cowboy and the Lady" starring Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon was written after Sam Goldwyn thought up the title - so it's the reverse of the usual process. It's a 1938 film about a wealthy, sheltered young woman (Oberon) whose father is about to announce his candidacy for President. One night, she slips out for a night of fun with her uncle (Harry Davenport). When her name is discovered on a list of people who were in attendance at a club during a raid, she is sent out of town so her father can say she wasn't in town at the time. Since her name is Mary Smith, it could easily be another person.

While on her vacation, Mary meets a tall, gorgeous hunk of man - a cowboy named Stretch Willoughby (Gary Cooper). As any red-blooded woman would do, she falls for him. It's young Gary Cooper. He's a hottie. To put them in the same class, she says she's a maid. Before she knows it, she's married to him.

The stars are very good in the film, as is Harry Davenport as the uncle with a twinkle in his eye. Cooper and Oberon are darling together - he's so tall and broad-shouldered and she's beautiful and petite, and they have a nice chemistry. When she first asks him about himself, Stretch answers with Cooper's famous "Yep" several times. Parts of the film are a little slow but it's a nice romance. I realize some people think it's a preposterous love story but I can see any woman, rich or poor, flipping out for Gary Cooper and any guy falling for Merle Oberon. They were, after all, two of Hollywood's great beauties.

Very enjoyable.

Leo McCarey was one of the co-writers of this romantic/screwball comedy which might account for the fact that it is several notches above the average, (though Dorothy Parker and Lillian Hellman and a whole host of others are also said to have contributed), and is both very funny and very likable. Like so many other comedies it's based on the premiss of mistaken identity, in this case when cowboy Gary Cooper assumes rich Merle Oberon is a lady's maid. Naturally they fall in love. H C Potter directed, very nicely indeed while the excellent screenplay is credited to S.N. Behrman and Sonya Levien. Both Cooper and Oberon are very good indeed though a decent supporting cast are given too little to do. It won an Oscar for Best Sound Recording and was also nominated for it's score and for Best Song.