Une journée de printemps

This is the first time in all the years I have been following imdb that I have seen a movie rating that I thought was too low. Call It a Day is the kind of movie that, depending on your taste, can be seen as charming or annoying. It's a gentle, pleasant little picture meant for those who like this sort of thing.

All the players here are attractive and, yes, charming--handsome, sturdy Ian Hunter, who deserved better than all those roles as a soon-to-be-discarded fiance; gracious Frieda Inescourt; adorable, bumbling Roland Young. Only the exquisite 21-year-old Olivia de Havilland gives a poor performance, way over the top as the love-crazed girl, one that a better director got her to tone down in the same role in It's Love I'm After later the same year.

The relentlessly nice, genteel atmosphere may seem phony to some--but this was a genteel time. Still, there is a wonderful performance from Alice Brady, as Inescourt's chattering, racy friend, and de Havilland throws herself at a married man with a shameless intensity not likely to be found in American movies of that date. The dialogue more often pleases by its familiarity than its cleverness, but it does please. There are more ways to be charming than to be Noel Coward.

It's a happy family, what with Ian Hunter as the father, Frieda Inescourt the mother, and three childre: Olivia de Haviland, Bonita Granville, and Peter Willes are the children. They live a well-to-do life and like each other. But it's spring, and it's not just young men that fancies come to.

It'sa well-produced movie version of Dodie Smith's play that we have here, under the direction of Archie Mayo. It's well stocked with capable players, like Anita Louise, Alice Brady, Roland Young, and Walter Woolf King, and of course, Asta is someone's dog here. Hunter and Miss Inescourt are right in the middle of their sweet spots for their roles, and as various people show up to tempt these people from their unconsidered and often staid lives, we can see the temptations. But those temptations never seem to be a real threat. Everyone is too polite for such a consideration. Who would give up Hunter for Young? Who would give such a mild King the time of day? That, alas, stays this from being more than a very good version of the play.

It is the first day of spring. "The first Spring day is in the Devil's pay." This is one day in the life of the Hiltons. The eldest daughter Catherine 'Cath' Hilton (Olivia de Havilland) is overly dramatic and falls for the married artist painting her portrait. Roger Hilton (Ian Hunter) is doing the taxes of famous actress Beatrice Gwynn. Other members of the family all deal with their own complications.

I do have issues with the parents' stories. I have issues with all of their stories. I guess that the Devil's pay means exactly that. I don't necessarily find any of it that funny. Maybe if you're prim and proper, it's fun to walk the other side of the road for a little while. That must be the source of the comedy here, but I get no laughs from that.

A YOUNG olivia dehavilland is Catherine Hilton, in a wacky family, with wacky maids and cooks. a few subplots raging in this story that started as a stage play. Catherine is falling for her (married) artist friend Paul. The amazing Alice Brady and Roland Young are brother and sister, along for laughs. SHE won an oscar; he was nominated. if you haven't seen them in other things, you really should; they are both hilarious. Muriel (Brady) has picked out a wife for brother Frank.. .but he isn't convinced he wants a wife. Dad Hilton is being pursued by a client, an actress! . Spring has sprung. even Mom Hilton accidentally gets mixed up in a love triangle. mistaken identities! mixups! Keep an eye out for Una Oconnor, the short, tiny housekeeper. she speaks her mind, and was always prim and proper. Director Archie Mayo made this right after Petrified Forest. sadly, Alice Brady would die quite young just two years after making this film. this film is fun... snappy. has a lot in common with Merrily we Live, but that is MGM.

Although given top billing for the first time in her career, it is not Olivia de Havilland who carries this low-key comedy of spring fever running rampant in an upperclass British family. Ian Hunter and Frieda Inescourt have the main burden--as well as Roland Young who makes amorous advances toward Frieda and Bonita Granville giving another of her irritating brat performances. Olivia makes scant few appearances as a lovesick girl batting her eyes at artist Walter Woolf King. Her role is so small it is a wonder the studio bothered to give her top billing. Likewise, Anita Louise is reduced to a small role as the attractive girl next door. Hunter and Inescourt do well in their parts but this minor comedy from a stage play is a trifle easily forgotten. Incidentally, Olivia's sister Joan Fontaine played a role in a Los Angeles stage version of the film. May have been the same one Olivia plays, but I'm not sure.