Délicieuse

Delicious (1931)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Really bad musical/drama from Fox about a Scottish immigrant (Janet Gaynor) who arrives in America with a detective (Lawrence O'Sullivan) hot on her trail. She's able to duck him for the time and this is how she meets Larry Beaumont (Charles Farrell), a rich man and it doesn't take long for the two to fall in love. DELICIOUS was the ninth film to feature Gaynor and Farrell together so needless to say the duo were very popular and audiences loved them. I do wonder how audiences originally reacted to this film. I mean, it's so poorly made but I wonder if they would eat this type of thing up anyways. We've got a poorly made movie that runs way too long with a story with so much sugar on it that it almost caused this diabetic to go into a coma and to make matters worse it features some horrid and embarrassing songs from George and Ira Gershwin. We can start with the ugliness of the movie. Yes, production levels hadn't reached their highpoint in 1931 but there's still no reason for this film to look as badly as it does. The cinematography is among the worst I've seen from a major studio and even the editing is poor. The film, for some reason, was shot way too dark and the special effect dream sequences look poor as well. The music numbers are so small and silly that it almost seems like they took a camera into a local bar and just filmed some drunks trying to dance. The story itself is a very predictable one but what they did to the Gaynor character is make her so child-like and "sweet" that she almost comes across as being slow. The character is so fake and boring that you can't help but not care what happens to her. It also doesn't help that Gaynor is really bad in the role. She was one of the best actresses of this era so it's pretty sad seeing her work with nothing. Still, she deserves some of the blame as well and especially for that Scottish accent that goes in and out as the movie flows. Farrell and the rest of the supporting players are equally bad. Clock in at 106-minutes also shows that the producers just wanted to throw everything into the movie no matter if it worked or not. I'm sure DELICIOUS will have people interested due to the talent involved but sadly it's a complete misfire not worth anyone's time.

Although I am not necessarily a fan of such cookie-cutter fare (same studio, same director, same stars, same premise, different setting, but once profit is made, keep em cooking until it burns you), I find this film enjoyable on several levels. Sure, there's Janet Gaynor at the peak of her adorability, and El Brendel, the first master of comedic talent in the talkies, but tossed into director David Butler's mixing bowl are this tale's little forays into the multitude of human emotion, all very well expressed, and captured, on screen. Oh, to see this one on the big screen! Perhaps I will get the chance one day, if you will help me scream loud enough, and buy enough tickets, to get these old gems circulating widely through the "retro" theater circuit.

David Butler directed Delicious in 1931. Janet Gaynor stars as Heather, a Scottish immigrant to America. Charles Farrell plays wealthy Larry Beaumont. El Brendel provides comic relief as Swedish prankster Kris Jansen and Raul Roulien plays Sascha, a Russian immigrant in love with Heather. This film is a romantic comedy with musical segments written by the legendary George Gershwin.

Delicious begins on a ship to America. Heather and Sascha sing a song Sascha wrote for her called "Delicious." There is no piano in steerage, so they trespass to first class to find one. When discovered, they run away, and Heather finds herself in a horse's stable. There she meets Larry and the two connect immediately. When the ship docks, they lose contact, but find that fate intervenes. Heather discovers she cannot enter America on a formality, but she is desperate. She hides in Larry's horse's stall and is sent to his estate. There, Kris, Larry's valet, cares for her until Larry discovers her.

This film has four noticeable elements; sound, movement, costume, and acting. It is a realistic musical because no one bursts randomly into song. The first is sung during a celebration, a traditional song which displays the ethnicity of the performers. The title song exhibits the relationship between Sascha and Heather, but is appropriate because Sascha is a songwriter. The most elaborate number "The Melting Pot" is excusable because it is performed in a dream. It exemplifies another element, movement. Animation causes actors to appear and re-appear magically through stop-motion photography. The director utilizes motion in other scenes, like pans to establish new surroundings and zooms to highlight facial expressions. Later, a pull-back dolly exhibits Heather exiting the horse stall and a tilt follows Larry's eyes when he receives a letter. The stars' costumes are telling. Larry wears dark, solid suits while lower class characters like Sascha wear light, patterned suits. Heather begins in a plaid dress to reflect her Scottish heritage but changes to over-sized pajamas which emphasize vulnerability. Lastly, Brendel's stage-trained acting style exemplifies personality acting. He dons a comic Swedish accent in his films and here he sings his trademark and hilarious, "Blah Blah Blah." Musicals from the early 1930s are generally static, but this one is surprisingly innovative. The story is fun and the cinematic elements make it a joy to watch. Fans of classics and light-hearted comedies will love Delicious.

In 1931, America was in love with Janet Gaynor. Not only was this lady very popular in films, but she had already won the first Oscar for Best Actress and played a sweet, diminutive sort of character. However, because she was so beloved, it presents a problem in "Delicious". The filmmakers picked her to play a part way beyond her abilities--a Scottish woman with an accent that comes and goes and sounds too much like a cute little cartoon character! It's ridiculous--and almost Scottish Betty Boop-ish!! I am pretty sure had it been made a few years after, the accents wouldn't have been this bad, but it was only a few years after talkies debuted and stilted dialog and bad accents were pretty common.

As for the film, it's an episodic picture set aboard a cruise ship full of immigrants heading to America. The idea of such a film is great--since this is something most viewers in the US could relate to. But the story comes off as very lightweight and, at times, clichéd...and incredibly dated and old fashioned. The singing is particularly bad. While many of Gaynor's films (particularly those with Charles Farrell--who is also in this film) are considered classics, this one is pretty much awful.

Janet Gaynor is a pretty Scottish lass who has trouble maintaining her accent, but rather winsome nevertheless as a stowaway hiding from the authorities. Charles Farrell makes an engaging co-star, so it's no surprise when they find true romance by the final fadeout in which he declares her "delicious." El Brendel has a largely sympathetic role but gets a little too much screen time for my taste and some of his comic moments have a rather flat affect.

The songs are forgettable, particularly a little ditty Janet Gaynor sings without much voice or style. Still, she does a fair job of carrying most of the film with her own brand of charm, but the script is really a lot of hokum.

Contemporary audiences will find it hard to sustain interest in this tale. The TCM print was too dark for comfortable viewing, only accenting the primitive B&W photography and sound system.