Topaze

"Topaze" is another of those quality movies from the early 1930s that showed in theaters once, and then vanished for decades. There was a laser disc release of this movie on the CBS label 60 years after "Topaze" original release in 1933, but nothing in between. TCM probably showed the movie, but I never spotted it on that cable channel's schedule. John Barrymore was at the peak of his Hollywood career when he made this movie, playing Professor Topaze, who learns the hard way that nice guys finish last. "Topaze" was just another movie on the studio production schedule, but try and find now a movie with the quality and entertainment value of "Topaze," along with commentary thrown in on the world of business.

Ben Hecht wrote that he only spent a few weeks writing the screenplay for "Topaze," considering the work just another job for hire, fast money. That attitude, take the money and run, probably applied to John Barrymore, who worked for the studio that agreed to pay his $25,000 a week salary. David O. Selznick, the movie's producer, knew that RKO Studios was in financial trouble, heading for bankruptcy, but Barrymore was one of the biggest Hollywood stars in the early 30s, worth the money. "Topaze," the end result of the work of the talent RKO brought to the screen, is part cynical take on business, part romantic comedy and all original for Hollywood. Henri d'Abbadie d'Arrast, the movie's director, does a great job of pacing this story of a school teacher thrown in the big world as a pitchman for a company selling tainted bottled water. D'Abbadie d'Arrast had no career in Hollywood after this movie flopped.

In one scene in the movie, the backers of the bottled water, thinking over who they can get to promote the water, think about hiring a famous general as their shill. Instead, they decide on a teacher named Dr. Topaze, a teacher at the school one backer's child goes to, and name their product Topaze water. Over 70 years later, advertisers still use researchers and scientists in their commercials to push their products.

Maybe D'Abbadie d'Arrast career went south after going over budget on the movie by not doing everything possible to film all of Barrymore's scenes within two weeks, as William Wyler did making a later Barrymore picture, "Counsellor at Law." Hollywood lost a top craftsman when D'Abbadie d'Arrast stopped directing movies. In "Topaze," Barrymore is great as Dr.Topaze, Myrna Loy looks great and the audience even learns something about the Punic Wars. What a class picture.

FYI: At the 42 minute mark of Topaze, John Barrymore and Myrna Loy are in a cab driving down a main thoroughfare in Paris during a rainstorm. The rear window of the cab shows the traffic behind them and, once or twice, a pedestrian behind them crossing the street in the rear projection shot. At 44 minutes, the image dissolves for a fraction of a second, whiting out, and the special effects technician replays some of the one and one half minutes of stock footage previously rear-projected. Someone at RKO made a copy of the stock footage and spliced some of this copy footage to the end of original footage to end up with the two or so minutes of rear projection footage needed for the cab scene. Clever, huh, and you would never notice it if not for that momentary glitch as the rear image whites out. All routine for Vernon Walker's RKO special effects unit. But, as usual, very well done.

Watching Topaze this morning I was amazed at how well John Barrymore was playing the title role in this film and how he seemed to be getting inspiration from Frank Morgan. Then I did some research and found out that in the American debut of Marcel Pagnol's play Frank Morgan did indeed play the lead.

The play ran for 215 performances on Broadway in 1930 and it concerns a French school teacher who's a rather old fashioned pedantic fellow who believes the simple maxims of life about honesty and decency. His reputation is such that an unscrupulous industrialist wants to use his name on a soft drink that is not manufactured with the highest of standards.

When he finds out and how he deals with it are the subject of Topaze and let's just say this mild mannered school teacher turns out to be more than capable of dealing with the cold and cruel outside world.

John Barrymore never did anything quite like Topaze or at least I've not seen it. You can best compare this performance to a couple of Frank Morgan roles. It's very much like his Professor Roth in The Mortal Storm although the results are far happier for the title character.

Myrna Loy is on hand as the mistress of Baron Reginald Mason and gives a good account of herself as does Mason as the unscrupulous industrialist. You can see why Mason's doing a little kanoodling with Loy on the side when you get a look at Jobyna Howland, the Baroness. Let's just say she's formidable.

Loy would soon follow Barrymore to MGM from where he was being loaned out for Topaze by Louis B. Mayer to his son-in-law, David O. Selznick the producer. Selznick would also opt for MGM soon. But director Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast would depart for Europe shortly unable to work within the constraints of the Hollywood studio system. He did a great job here, possibly in another era he would have had a more substantial American career.

For a John Barrymore you've not seen before I recommend Topaze.

Topaze (1933)

** (out of 4)

Extremely weird film about a nice and honest school teacher (John Barrymore) who gets fired from his job after failing a 12-year-old boy but soon gets a job but unknowingly starts ripping off the public with fake sparkling water. The majority of the film deals with the nice guy Barrymore being taken advantage of by bad people and being forced to do bad things without knowing it. That's all good and fine but I'm not sure if this was suppose to make me laugh or not. It's listed as a comedy in every guide book but not once did it make me laugh so on that level the film certainly didn't work for me. The movie kept me entertained from start to finish but all of that is due to Barrymore who delivers a terrific performance. I'm slowly going through Barrymore's filmography and I've mainly watched his wacky, over the top film but here he actually stays within the mild mannered character and doesn't resort to any of that weirdness. He is totally believable as his character and delivers something very fresh. Myrna Loy is his assistant but doesn't get much to do.

Yes, indeed. Barrymore at his best. Charming story about a French schoolmaster who is unwittingly embroiled in a controversy that forces him to face truth, honesty and integrity outside of his classroom walls.

Barrymore and a fresh-faced Myrna Loy are the stand-outs in this engrossing part melodrama, part comedy. And I mean comedy in the most strictest, serious forms. Full of pathos and irony.

The final scenes of comeuppance and the balancing of justice have been done over and over in many movies since and probably before, but never so deliciously biting as in this simple but strong story.

Recommended without reservations.

This film proves that just because a film is old doesn't mean it isn't worth seeing! This simple film captivated me with the cleaver plot and the acting of John Barrymore as he lights up each scene! The story is about a company that is looking for a stooge to be the figurehead for their bottled water company. They want some obscure scientist to state that the liquid has health-inducing properties even though it's nothing special. They happen upon Barrymore--an apparently simple-minded old professor who is a paragon of virtue. They use his good name to hoodwink the public and the good professor who appears to have no idea what is going on around him,...or does he? Watch the movie through to the end, as it really grabs you when the eventual show-down occurs!

By the way, this film was from a story by the wonderful French writer, Marcel Pagnol. Try to find the original French language version if you get the chance or any of his other wonderful films, such as THE BUTCHER'S WIFE or the FANNY trilogy.