O Clube dos Suicidas

Adapted from a Robert Louis Stevenson story called "The Suicide Club", this is a rapid-fire brain teaser with plenty of terrific acting and witty dialogue, Robert Montgomery is wonderful in the lead, and Frank Morgan matched him parry for thrust. Reginald Owen (later Scrooge) is marvellous whenever he appears. I enjoyed it immensely.

Fanciful comedy based on an R.L. Stevenson story that is not as ghastly as it sounds. It is an underrated, 'sleeper' comedy masterfully played by a cast of Hollywood veterans, and relies heavily on Hollywood's British colony for support. The two principals, Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, are at their best and get help from Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen and Louis Hayward, to name a few.

Montgomery is heir to a throne and scheduled for an arranged marriage he wants nothing to do with. He goes to London incognito and meets some strange people enroute and stumbles upon a Suicide Club. Keen for an adventure, he involves himself in the dangerous club and with a mysterious woman. Sound funny? Well, it is. The principals are two of Hollywood's best in this type of off-beat story. Very enjoyable and entertaining film from MGM and runs a quick 75 minutes.

Prince Florizel of Bohemia -- where have I heard that before? In one of Shakespeare's final plays, 'The Winter's Tale.' There, the young prince falls in love with a beautiful shepherdess, Perdita, who is actually a princess. She doesn't know that, of course (it's a version of the Cinderella story). Roz Russell is also incognito in the film, but she knows who she is. So 'Winter's Tale' gives MGM the idea for filling out the Stevenson story by giving a role to Russell. The film also has traces of Henry IV, where the king admonishes his son, and where, at the end, the son must fight for his kingdom, as Prince Hal does against Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury. There's also a trace of 'As You Like It,' a play in which a disguised woman administers a love-test to the man in whom she is already interested. I do not believe that the Shakesperean elements of this film have been noticed. I'll have to reread the Stevenson "Suicide Club' stories, which I do not have at hand, to see how much of the Shakespearean context is there. It's a strange and sometimes compelling film, beginning with a musical comedy format, where we expect to see Nelson and Jeanette any moment, and then moving into a fogbound London mystery. Montgomery is very convincing as an absolutely fearless prince and Russell is lovely as the mystery woman assigned to kill the prince. This one is worth watching. I just read the Stevenson story. Prince Florizel is of Bohemia (a la 'Winter's Tale'), but there is no woman in the story, only the mention of a failed love affair at the outset that motivates the young man who introduces the two Bohemians to the Club. So Roz's role as the disguised princess is an addition to the story -- and a good one at that!

This is an intriguing version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Suicide Club", with ever-urbane aristocrat being recruited by an apparent group of boring rich people, willing to kill themselves for sport ! All is not as it seems and after Montgomery encounters mysterious Russell, the stage is set for a surprising revelation and an exciting climax.

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!