Il piacere dello scandalo

Only because CAROLE LOMBARD and FERNAND GRAVET (he played Johann Strauss in "The Great Waltz") are shown enjoying themselves during a blooper moment on the dinner set of FOOLS FOR SCANDAL (in The Big Breakdowns of '38), did I want to see this romantic comedy. Turns out not to be quite the lark I expected, even though it has the usual Warner contract players in the supporting cast, including RALPH BELLAMY, ALLEN JENKINS, ISABEL JEANS and MARIE Wilson.

In the blooper, Carole had trouble digging into her steak which triggered an outburst from her and giggles from the other players. It was so amusing that I wanted to see the actual scene in the movie.

Unfortunately, FOOLS FOR SCANDAL is the screwiest kind of screwball comedy. None of the characters are the least bit grounded in any kind of reality, strictly cut-outs with dull one-liners as they confront one silly situation after another. The plot is something about a screen actress (Lombard) being stalked by a charming Frenchman whom she eventually hires as a cook. All of her female friends are crazy about him--and she's just, well--crazy. CAROLE LOMBARD plays her role at a fever pitch of fast talking nonsense and FERNAND GRAVET joins the mad pace with good humored sportsmanship. RALPH BELLAMY has his usual third wheel role of a man earnestly in love with Carole but obviously not headed for the altar at the final reel. He plays his role like an eager puppy wanting to please, but the results are still rather meager.

Summing up: Contrived screwball comedy is enjoyable only for the performances of the three leads, but the situations are unbelievable and overacted in the sledgehammer style of acting prevalent in Warner comedies of the '30s.

Carole Lombard and Ferdinand Gravet are "Fools for Scandal" in this 1938 comedy from Warner Brothers, also starring Ralph Bellamy and Allen Jenkins.

Lombard plays an incognito Hollywood star in Paris who meets Gravet, who falls for her. He's totally broke, and the best parts of the film are the trips to the pawn shop to free his tux, etc., which means his buddy (Jenkins) has to wear a sandwich board around town to advertise the shop. There's also a masquerade party where everyone goes as their favorite animal.

This is a very slight comedy, with Bellamy in the familiar role of Lombard's eager fiancée. Lombard's acting is quite frantic and high pitch, but she's lovely. Such a sad and early end to her life, I always feel sad when I see her.

Good performances, but unless you're a Lombard fanatic, you can skip this one.

American actress (Carole Lombard) visiting Paris meets a penniless Frenchman (Fernand Gravet). He becomes smitten with her and pursues her for the rest of the movie. This doesn't sit well with her dull American beau (Ralph Bellamy).

Carole Lombard tries too hard in this to overcompensate for the weak script by acting like she's in one of her other (better) screwball comedies. She shouts a lot, for some reason, and it's annoying. She is beautiful, though. French actor Fernand Gravet has no chemistry with Lombard and seems ill-suited to being a leading man. It doesn't help matters that he's French yet has a nasally English accent. Presumably this is because Gravet was raised in England. Ralph Bellamy is fine in a role he was very used to by this time. Poor Ralph Bellamy. His career was built on playing the boring nice guy who gets thrown over for the more exciting, flirtatious guy. Nice support from Allen Jenkins, Marie Wilson, and Isabel Jeans. A huge box office flop when released, it's considered by many Lombard fans today to be her worst movie. It's not very funny, that's for sure.

Carole Lombard plays a famous American actress staying in Paris; she encounters handsome but broke Fernand Gravet, who spends the first part of the film trying to rescue various items from the pawn shop, and then ends up as Lombard's chef—whether she wants him or not. It's all mildly amusing.

Allen Jenkins does his best as Gravet's sidekick but is hampered by lack of strong dialog. Isabel Jeans gives a deliciously gossipy performance as "Lady Malverton," a pillar of society who knows a good scandal when she smells one.

Ralph Bellamy is good as always, playing his usual chump in love with easily-distracted Lombard. One of the picture's few highlights is when Bellamy tries to tell a joke about a man ordering a steak—it's a really crummy joke made worse by Bellamy's chuckling as he tells it. (That this is a highlight unfortunately says a lot about the rest of the picture.)

The story is okay, the production slick, the dialog decent….but it's all just a little slow, or flat, or too predictable. Lombard is beautiful and frenetic as always—but there's just not much to her character, and certainly nothing memorable or unique from her other similar roles. And Fernand Gravet? Whether he was miscast or mismatched, I don't know—but he's just not very appealing.

Overall, a nice try but pretty forgettable. Too bad.

An enjoyable character-driven romantic comedy, and a delight it was. Don't expect the best thing since sliced bread, but for a genre which I don't particularly find to be my cup of tea, this made me smile a bit.

Most of the smiling due to Fernand Gravet's performance, slick, charming, funny and clever, as well as the chemistry between he and Lombarde. The supporting roles filled by Bellamy and Jeans were also spot on, creating a great comedic environment.

I don't put much stock into plot when it comes to romantic comedies, regardless of whether it was made yesterday or 60 years ago, so if you can get past that, then you'll truly enjoy yourself.

7/10