Lua de Mel Perdida

Leigh Jason is so unknown to me that I even entertained the possibility that he might be a she (no doubt because of that great actress and beauty, Vivian!)

Anyway, no biggie! It set me on the right ramp to launch LOST HONEYMOON, which opens with the news of the passing of a mother of twins in England, with the husband living in the USA. A close friend (Richards) of the deceased decides that the father must live up to his responsibilities in regard to the children and she impersonates the deceased by using her passport (back in 1947 that was far more possible than today, and even today it is still done to forge your identity, so no dent on reality there!)

At a frenzied pace the spectator learns that good old Franchot is about to marry beautiful Rafferty, completely amnesic about the fact that he had already tied the knot in England some years earlier. That sets in motion a series of funny developments with Franchot in good form, ably assisted by good friend Conway who himself is interested in Richards, who seems deeply moved by Franchot who is betrothed to Rafferty, with her rich dad in tow...

I watched a poor copy that did not permit rating cinematographic quality, but the script by Joseph Fields deserves plaudits for sharp zingers, twists and turns.

I loved it right to the clever ending. 8/10.

Lost Honeymoon which was produced by the short lived Eagle-Lion studio is a somewhat silly comedy about a man who married while he was having a bout of amnesia. He went back to America where he is now a successful architect and set to marry the boss's daughter.

But the wife he married in wartime Great Britain has died and her best friend has taken the two small mementos of the short lived marriage. And the friend has forged the passport in the name of the deceased wife. That can and does raise the eyebrows of immigration officials.

Franchot Tone is the lucky man about to find out he's a proud father of twins and Ann Richards plays the woman pretending to be his wife. This sad to say is just plain bizarre. Why not just get a passport and take them over yourself? The premise of this comedy is just plain silly.

Frances Rafferty is the boss's daughter and Clarence Kolb her choleric father. Tom Conway chips in with a rather droll performance as Tone's doctor and best friend who takes an interest in Richards himself.

It strikes me but this whole plot premise was done in a most serious vein and much better in Random Harvest.

Though Franchot Tone does not ever wear a tuxedo, he almost does but not quite, he does spend a great deal of the last 10 minutes of the film being chased by cops driving an automobile in his pajamas.

A really fine group of players in roles type cast for them can't really raise Lost Honeymoon above the mediocre.

Ann Richards' friend and the mother of twins has just died. Apparently she was married to Franchot Tone during the War. Meanwhile, Tone is back in the US, about to marry Frances Rafferty. This will be explained by Tom Conway, Tone's best friend and doctor, as amnesia. Miss Richards, masquerading as the dead woman, comes to the US and says she is his wife, and these are your children. Complications ensue in a plot that becomes so fragmented that Tone has to wake Conway every night to explain what's going on.

There are some good lines in this movie written by Joseph Fields. Clarence Kolb seems to have more than his fair share of them, but perhaps Kolb, trouper that he is, is simply better at speaking them. Tone adopts an expression of satisfied stupidity that reminds me of Stan Laurel as time goes on, and Miss Richards speaks her lines as simply as possible, probably in an effort not to be held responsible. This is an Eagle-Lion production, produced by Arthur Krim and his crew as they worked at taking what had been PRC, and making it respectable. It seems to have been very early in the process.

Franchot Tone is "Johnny", an architect soon to marry "Lois" (Frances Rafferty). With the wedding day looming, all is ready until he receives a telegram telling him that his wife and two children are coming to visit from London. What wife and children, thinks he? A jest, surely. Thing is, he was in London so could it be true? Could he possibly have forgotten something quite that momentous? The arrival of "Amy" (Ann Richards) and her two kids throws multiple spanners into his life: his relationship and job are all on the line as we move, quite entertainingly, to establish just what is true! Tom Conway has some fun as his doctor ""Bob" and there is an always welcome cameo from Una O'Connor ("Mrs. Tubbs") at the start to set it off. The humour is all a wee bit predicable but Leigh Jason does manage to keep us guessing for some of the time; there is a bit of on-screen chemistry and some of the dialogue - especially at the start, is quite witty. It's a characterful film, not a memorable one - and I quite enjoyed it.

From a social point of view, the setup of this is quite interesting as it lightheartedly shows the post war problem of kids left behind by their forces dads returning to the USA. Some criticise it for being a ridiculous setup but the lead character is actually just trying to get a better life by taking advantage of the situation. How many people were desperate to escape ruined Britain at that time? Passport to Pimlico dealt with exactly the same problem but in a much superior way. This film's setup is a bit silly but then lots are.

This is an average comedy in the end but it's played well by the actors and isn't a waste of time at all.