Une femme qui tombe du ciel

Robert Montgomery has fled England for Labrador, where he runs a radio shack with the aid of Inuit Otto Yamaoka. He hasn't seen a girl in two years -- the two Eskimo girls that Yamaoka brought in are kept discreetly out of sight in another building. In pop Myrna Loy and fiance Reginald Owen for some reason or other. Montgomery falls in love with Miss Loy instantly. It takes her the entire first act to concede. Matters are settled, when up pops Montgomery's fiancee, Winifred Shotter, and Act Two begins.

As always, Owen's presence is a mystery to me; his idea of express emotion is to half close his eyes and speak emphatically. His method of conveying disinterest is also to half close his eyes and speak emphatically. His idea of telling a joke is to half close his eyes and speak emphatically. If he was ever cast as a corpse, I'm sure he half closed his eyes and spoke emphatically. It's certainly a pleasure to see Miss Loy, of course, whose voice has come down on the British side of the Transatlantic accent, while Montgomery, being very English, speaks as he always does. George Fitzmaurice, having finally returned to the majors, directs this essentially one-set comedy for efficiency, and wraps the whole thing up in a brisk eighty minutes. More than good enough.

The Turner Classic Movie Channel has spent the month of January doing the films of one of my favorite actors, Robert Montgomery. His films are mostly rarely watched these days, except for those that were atypical for most of his career - meaning that the roles that frequently reappear on television are THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, THE LADY IN THE LAKE, JUNE BRIDE, NIGHT MUST FALL, THE SAXON CHARM, RIDE THE PINK HORSE, RAGE IN HEAVEN, THE EARL OF CHICAGO (in short the films he fought to get the roles in because they were not the usual comic fluff he usually appeared in). It's ironic that nowadays when one thinks of Montgomery's career it is the films that were mostly made after 1937 that are pushed - the ones that broke the original image that MGM and Louis B. Mayer pushed. The pity of this is that Montgomery was a gifted comedian, and saved many films from being routine.

PETTICOAT FEVER is one such film. Made in 1936 with PICADILLY JIM and TROUBLE FOR TWO it was a banner year of good performances by Montgomery, and helped lead to his being able to convince the powers that be at MGM to allow him to play "Danny" in NIGHT MUST FALL the next year.

PETTICOAT FEVER is set in Labrador, and Montgomery is a weather station operator there named Dascom Dinsmore. He has been living there for five years, and has not been in the company of a woman (except for Inuit women) for most of that time. He has a girlfriend of sorts named Clara (Winifred Shotter) who he sort of proposed to, but it's been two years since he has heard from her, so that he believes she has given up on him.

Dinsmore's world is rocked when Sir James Felton and Irene Campton (Reginald Owen and Myrna Loy) show up. They were flying to Toronto for a business meeting that Felton was to address. Felton is engaged to Campton, but Dinsmore finds her enchanting...and gradually she finds him equally attractive. Certainly the pompous, self-important, and hopelessly inept Felton is no competition (it is a measure of Owen's acting that he keeps the character entertaining even if one finds it hard to believe such a boob is a Canadian captain of industry).

There is something surreal about this film - probably due to the original play. While the "Labrador" scenery is quite phony looking it does serve it's purpose for the comedy (witness th polar bear sequence). But the height of the surrealism is the dinner Dinsmore serves his guests, a dinner of "pemmican steaks", which Owen eats with real gusto. Owen (a minor noble as a baronet) is dressed in normal clothing - a winter suit for the climate). But Montgomery is dressed in his suit of evening dress (as though attending a ball at the embassy). Loy, seeing him dress up, likewise puts on a gown. They are being served by Dinsmore's servant - assistant, the Inuit Kimo (Otto Yamaoka), who is wearing a suit of evening dress too - it turns out that it is Owen's! Owen, who earlier insisted that Dinsmore change into clothing more suitable to his station, is the only person who is improperly dressed for this dinner!! Montgomery was MGM's most elegant actor in a tuxedo or evening dress (Franchot Tone was the his closest rival). It is a toss-up in movie if Montgomery or Fred Astaire was the more elegant figure in such suits. Hard to decide.

The course of love does not move smoothly in comedy or drama. Clara shows up (we are tipped off too early about this at the start of the film when we see her on an icebound ship). Will Dinsmore break with Clara? Will Irene break with Felton? The film is funny, and Loy and Montgomery make a nice couple. They had appeared together in one other film, and both were in separate scenes in a second, before this movie. But this would be their last film together.

One last interesting point - at the start of the film when the credits are shown, you see illustrations of men and women in comic situations. They are based on the art work of John Held Jr., the great cartoonist/illustrator of the 1920s and 1930s - who was the recorder of the flapper and "Jazz Age". It's an unusual choice - as it has absolutely nothing to do with the film's plot or Labrador.

This 1936 picture was one of the three that Robert Montgomery did for the studio that year. "Petticoat Fever", directed by George Fitzmaurice, pairs Mr. Montgomery with another star, who was an excellent comedienne, as well as a dramatic actress, Myrna Loy.

The film is a typical movie of those innocent years where the viewer is asked to believe the small plane that crashes on the ice is only a minor inconvenience, as nothing happens to the two occupants of the aircraft. It also sets in motion a love triangle where Dascom Disnsmore gets in the middle of Irene and Sir James when he falls head over heels in love with the beautiful woman from the wreck.

Robert Montgomery did better films than this one, of course, but his chemistry with Myrna Loy is about the best thing going for the movie. Reginald Owen tries, but his character is not as well drawn as the others. Winifred Shotter puts in an appearance as the lovely Clara, who complicates things a bit for everyone.

"Petticoat Fever" offers a mild entertainment for viewers of these type of films.

Dascom Dinsmore (Robert Montgomery) is a lonely telegraph operator in the frozen isolation of Eskimo Point, Labrador. He can't get a wife to live in such a remote place and it's been 2 years since he's seen a beautiful white woman. Sir James Felton (Reginald Owen) lands his plane in the snow with companion Irene Campion (Myrna Loy).

Dascom is not wrong. Myrna Loy is one beautiful white woman. I would do much of the same to keep her around. Only problem is that Dascom is all wrong. He shouldn't be trying for a proper Englishman. He should be a wild man of the north. In that way, he and Myrna Loy can have a clash of cultures comedy. I never got to the point of rooting for Dascom despite agreeing with him.

Robert Montgomery is a fine actor with an impressive range in both comedy and drama. His default settings would have seemed to make him a sort of good-looking, dapper chump, usually a funny one, and he could have sailed through a fine career as well-dressed arm-candy, but he was far too talented to fall into any such persona. In comedy, he was at his sharpest playing dryer, edgier funnymen who were in on the joke. "Petticoat Fever" gives him the funniest character I've seen him play, and he energizes this oddly claustrophobic and icebound screwball sleeper in a way that is purely masterful.

Montgomery is a sour, mumbling radio operator stuck in a frozen isolation that is slowly grinding his nerves until Myrna Loy and her fiancé, Reginald Owen, are stranded in his rustic cabin by airplane trouble. Screwball comedies usually move rapidly from place to place, but the fun here is in Montgomery's scheming and manipulation to keep Loy within reach. His sparring with her and especially with a wonderfully over-the-top Owen- who knew he could be this funny?- is a case of a fine script made special in performance. The dialogue is terrific at times, and the pacing is briskly fun, but Montgomery's face tells the story in every scene- he's a clown on a mission and he brings this one home with a bang. There isn't a wasted moment. "Petticoat Fever" deserves to grow a reputation.