Jim l'excentrique

When one reads Wodehouse novels and short stories one is in a world of gentlemen's clubs, social lion aunts and tyrannical mothers, henpecked husbands, merchants who are overly proud of their products (in one short story the rich uncle deals in jute and has a house decorated in models of birds made out of his product), would-be dictators of England who have family fortunes based on woman's lingerie, Earls who are more concerned about prize winning pigs than propriety, bartenders who have funds of stories to illustrate life with, butlers who are smarter than the aristocrats around them, idiot scions of noble houses who convince their potential in-laws of their good intentions by swallowing dog biscuits (which the in-laws manufacture), brilliant social tacticians whose schemes always come apart at the end, and golf lovers - always golf lovers. You rarely find a comment on the real world - the nobleman who made money from ladies underwear was an exception (a satire on Sir Oswald Mosley). But his variations on the artificial world of the rich and the powerful works a charm to this day. Unlike so many of his contemporary fellow novelists his works are still largely in print (mostly through the British publisher Penguin). And Wodehouse wrote over 100 books!

It is a great formula, but it can be spoiled. Arthur Treacher played Jeeves, the great butler, in two forgettable comedies in the 1930s (one with David Niven as Bertie Wooster) did not make a great impression due to poor productions. But a film like A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS or this version of PICADILLY JIM shows how it's done properly. The characters are not arch or overdone - but they all take themselves seriously. Montgomery is a night person, enjoying the nightclubs and such. But he does remember to have a caricature ready for his newspaper, folded in the pocket of his coat. Eric Blore is the perfect butler, trying to awaken his employer using bird calls (a talent he would also display with amusing results in IT'S LOVE I'M AFTER). But he is intelligent and loyal. When Cora Witherspoon's Mrs. Pett makes a sneering comment on Jim's formidable abilities as a caricaturist (as opposed to a real artist like Leonardo or Raphael), Blore's butler Bayliss boils over and rattles off a list of great artists who were gifted caricaturists, such as Daumier and Thomas Nast, and ending with Goya. Frank Morgan has not performed on stage in 20 years, but he is proud of his greatest role - as Osric in Hamlet (Peter Cushing in the Olivier film, and Robin Williams in Keneth Branagh's version). He uses it (successfully) to fool the Petts into accepting him into their family, while he secretly romances Mrs. Pett's younger sister (Billie Burke - the only one who realizes the truth in the masquerade).

In Wodehouse the road to love is never easy. Robert Montgomery makes a successful comic strip out of the Pett family (Witherspoon, Grant Mitchell, and Tommy Bupp) in revenge for their snootiness (actually it is the snootiness of Witherspoon - she thinks Morgan is a fortune hunter, and Mitchell is her henpecked husband who goes along with her; the boy Ogden Pett is one of those obnoxious kids in Wodehouse who enliven his books - actually Ogden is thoughtless and rude, but he actually thinks it's cool that he's in a comic strip). Montgomery learns that Madge Blake, the woman he loves, is angry at the comic strip and it's artist. He has to try to undue the damage his successful strip has done to try to win Madge back.

The film is a sparkling little drink of champagne, which the best of Wodehouse usually is. It's nice to see that for a change, Hollywood got the literary property's spirit right.

How on earth could one not enjoy a screwball comedy like "Piccadilly Jim?" Directing a nimble cast that included Robert Montgomery, Eric Blore, Billie Burke, Cora Witherspoon, Robert Benchley and Frank Morgan, Robert Z. Leonard kept this '36 movie popping merrily along, stirring up mayhem of one kind or another and garnering plenty of laughter along the way. Yes, okay, it's dated, and one can see the denouement coming a long way off, but -- despite its predictable nature -- the film has a satisfyingly madcap flavor that can only from the comic timing and talent of the team of acting pros assembled here. Veteran Eric Blore (playing yet another of his seemingly unlimited roster of butlers) steals every scene he is in. P.G. Wodehouse wrote the story on which the movie is based and -- for once -- none of the multitude of writers and re-writers hired by the studio for screenplay adaptation purposes managed to deflate Wodehouse's airy insouciance. It's a small gem of a movie and one too infrequently seen. Nab it!

In August, 1934, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer offered $5,000 for the screen rights to the 1917 novel Piccadilly Jim, first filmed in 1919. The remake was initially to be produced by then M-G-M producer David O. Selznick in early 1935, with songs provided by Harold Adamson and Burton Lane. Rowland Lee was assigned by Selznick to complete work on the screenplay, which was initially written by Robert Benchley. J. Walter Ruben was set to direct, and Chester Hale had prepared dances.

After two years of scripting by at least nine writers, the new version of PICCADILLY JIM became overlong, finally clocking at 100 minutes. One-time screenwriter Benchley joined the cast. Rather than a musical, PICCADILLY JIM turned into a vehicle for Robert Montgomery. As the title character, he was aptly cast, one of the few Hollywood comedians who could simultaneously play an Englishman who combined intelligent and "silly ass" traits. Equally appropriate were Eric Blore as his valet, Frank Morgan as his father (the elder Jim Crocker, an unemployed ham actor), and many of the supporting players. However, leading lady Madge Evans brought no sense of comedy to her role.

As adapted for film, the story concerned how father and son both fall in love, not with the same woman, but with related women, although neither knows this, and Jim initially does not yet even know Ann's last name. When Jim's father is rejected as a suitor by the arrogant in-laws, the son conceives of a comic strip, "From Rags to Riches," centered around the dictatorial mother, the henpecked husband, and their obnoxious son Ogden. (Unlike the novel, in the movie Jim's nickname derives from his skill as a caricaturist, more than his reputation for late London nights.) When the strip becomes a hit, it makes further romantic progress impossible, but contractually Jim must continue drawing it. The family can't remain in England because they are so widely recognized, so the Crockers pursue their beloved to America, father in disguise, and son by concealing his true identity. Jim gradually changes the characterizations in the comic strip to make the family proud of the association, until only Ann, the niece, resists him.

Little of this is from the book; the main thread in common is the Pett family, with its meek father and rambunctious child, the title character's newspaper experience, and a few brief chapters which become the middle third of the movie, in which Jim follows Ann on board a transatlantic ship, using the name of his butler and pretending he is his father. Many of the movie's elements which had appeared in the novel and were standard Wodehouse devices, such as the eccentric butler, the henpecked husband, and the use of disguise and masquerade, compounded by mistaken identity, were also typical conventions of 1930s romantic comedy. Genuinely amusing passages scattered throughout the film are finally overwhelmed by too many dull stretches. Although PICCADILLY JIM had potential, under the direction of Robert Z. Leonard (who had previously directed the estimable THE CARDBOARD LOVER) it fails to achieve the standard of many other more memorable comedies of the period. Nonetheless, this version of Piccadilly Jim, when compared with the 2004 remake, retains the spirit of Wodehouse, his tone and characterizations. The 1936 film is amusing and ideally cast, with a cast and crew who know how to make the brand of charming romantic comedy seemingly unique to that era. And despite its shortcomings, it succeeds in that regard, displaying the skills of the studio era that are so obviously absent in the confused 2004 version.

Jim (Robert Montgomery) is an artist and his father (Frank Morgan) a real lady's man. When the father falls for a rich society woman, her family turns out to be very snooty and condescending. Jim is infuriated and responds by creating a series of cartoons lampooning these jerks--and the series becomes VERY popular. However, when Jim meets Ann, he's smitten by her and is then shocked to learn she's from this same snooty family. So, Jim decides to stop doing these wildly popular cartoons and intends to keep his profession from Ann. To do so, he makes up a wild pack of lies...and has his butler (Eric Blore) pose as his father since they already dislike Jim's real father since the father is JUST an actor! Will Jim be able to keep this secret from Ann forever? And, if she learns, what will happen to their relationship? And why does Father show up...in disguise and with a thick German accent?!

In many ways, this film must have inspired the wonderful Errol Flynn film "Footsteps in the Dark". In this other film, Flynn lampoons society with his stories and all of these rich swells hate him...not realizing he's one of them himself! Both films are quite clever and worth seeing. Goofy, fun and the sort of movie they unfortunately don't make any more.

Supporting players Cora Witherspoon and Eric Blore steal the show in this funny 1936 film.

A guy, (Robert Montgomery)who is a cartoonist and his father, a Shakespearian actor, who hasn't played Shakespeare in 20 years, (a very funny Frank Morgan) vie for the attention of two women.

Morgan is after Billie Burke, from a wealthy family, who is a plain ordinary lady. The trouble is her sister, Nesta, played with an aristocratic humor by Witherspoon. She sees Morgan as a fortune hunter and tries to end the liaison. Montgomery starts a cartoon series based on the family which is soon a hit throughout England. Little does her know that the girl he is after is the niece of Witherspoon.

There's a ship-board romance to America. Morgan dresses up as a European aristocrat to impress Witherspoon and her family. Further complications leads him to have the butler, Blore, play his father.

The ending is predictable but it's funny to see how things entangle in this screwball comedy of 1936.