Man of the World

Not every vintage film from Hollywood's Golden Era is a classic, and "Man of the World" exemplifies this. Michael Trevor is the shady operator of a scandal sheet that blackmails Americans who are in Paris. Trevor meets a young woman, who is visiting the city with her fiancee, and who is also the niece of his latest target. Despite the complications, he quickly falls for her, experiences a change of heart, and wants to clean up his act. Unfortunately, the plot plods, and the cast coasts. Ordinarily, viewers would expect much from a film that stars William Powell and his then-wife, Carole Lombard, who plays the American tourist; however, the cast disappoints.

The script is credited to Herman J. Mankiewicz, whose name also raises expectations; however, the pedestrian story is strange and un-involving. While Powell is competent in his role, he seems uninterested, and his character never comes alive; although he and Lombard reportedly met on the set, his romantic interest in Lombard is tepid and lacks sparks. Lombard's Mary Kendall is bland as well, and the part could have been played by any number of young actresses of the period. Guy Kibbee as Lombard's uncle is always fun to watch, and Wynne Gibson and George Chandler as Powell's partners in crime are professional. Director Richard Wallace, whose credits are somewhat underwhelming, does not distinguish himself here, and the entire film seems tired. Within a few years, Powell would hit his stride with "The Thin Man" and Lombard would develop her comic style in "No Man of Her Own;" however, "Man of the World" does little for the reputation of anyone.

This 1931 film with a screenplay by Herman Mankiewicz, co-writer of Citizen Kane, is credited in the books if not in the film to two directors, one of whom, Edward Goodman, must have been replaced somewhere during the production by Hollywood veteran Richard Wallace who receives sole screen credit. The sluggishness of the film is probably due to Goodman, one of the many successful Broadway theater directors lured to the west coast in the early days of sound pictures. He staged dialogue scenes in a conventional manner as he might have done a play. (Oddly enough, no film editor is listed in the credits, possibly because no one at Paramount wanted their name associated with what must have been perceived then as a talky failure.) Nevertheless, the fiIm is worth watching because it brings together two future stars, William Powell and Carole Lombard, soon to marry. She, a very popular ingenue of the early1930s, does her best as she always did with the thankless role of the rich American girl abroad. He has a few scenes in which he displays his suave charm. It would take a few more years before Hollywood learned how to use sound and how to pace sophisticated stories such as this, but even this failure has its moments. Guy Kibbee is particularly effective. Five years later, Powell and Lombard, three years divorced, would be reunited at Universal to make the comedy classic My Man Godfrey, directed by someone who really knew how to make movies move-the great Gregory LaCava. LaCava insisted on Powell who insisted on Lombard. Wise choice.

About the only thing that this pre-Code drama is significant for is that William Powell and Carole Lombard met on the set of Man Of The World and were married shortly thereafter. They did another film while both were at Paramount, Ladies Man and then were divorced with Powell leaving Paramount for Warner Brothers and a short stint there. Neither of these films is anything close to that third film they did, My Man Godfrey.

Powell along with Wynne Gibson and George Chandler has a nice little racket going in Paris. A former reporter he prints a newspaper if you can call it that of gossip distributed among visiting Americans. But for a consideration he'll make sure the item never gets printed. We have a political blogger in my area who actually does the same thing, so this racket I know well.

But problems ensue when he actually falls for visiting American tourist Carole Lombard who is a niece of Guy Kibbee whom Powell has already put the bite on.

Bill Powell was at a crossroads in his career, during the silent era he mostly played villains, that clipped mustache of his was guarantor of those kind of parts. Here he is a rat, but a rat with a conscience. How that plays out you have to watch the film for.

Powell and Lombard are good, but Wynne Gibson as a woman who knows the score in life gets all the acting kudos in Man Of The World. She should have done a film called Women Of The World.

Man Of The World is not a classic like My Man Godfrey, but Powell and Lombard do have good chemistry. Of course they had better chemistry once they were divorced.

Paramount had a specialty of sex comedies set in Paris, France from the mid-twenties until the Production Code closed them down in 1935. At that point, the Screwball Comedy arose.

As long as they were doing comedies in Paris, they did a couple of straight programmers set there too. In this one, William Powell plays an American in Paris who, while trying to write, makes a living by an interesting blackmail scam -- I've never heard of it before.

This movie, with a script by Herman J. Mankiewicz and a good cast has a chance of being very good. But except for William Powell, as always, charming, and Guy Kibbee's emphatic muddleheadedness, director Richard Wallace seems to be unable to raise a decent performance. Carole Lombard keeps threatening to disappear into the background, Lawrence Grey seems impossibly callow, and Wynne Gibson seems to be reading her speeches phonetically off a blackboard.

One wants to like this movie and there are a few moments when it appears on the brink of turning into something very interesting, like the scene over onion soup at 1 AM, but then it turns into another pointless costume change.

William Powell's career was stuck at this point: he was trying to make the change from screen villain to leading man, but couldn't quite get the right vehicles. He would leave Paramount for Warner's until he struck gold at Metro in 1934. But he always remained a character actor, capable of small or broad performances that would delight the audiences. It's a pity he's not strong enough to carry this movie by himself.

The pre-code where William Powell meets Carole Lombard. story by Herman Mankiewicz. Harry Taylor (Guy Kibbee) is in Paris, and doing things he doesn't want known back in the states. Powell is Trevor.. he pretends to help these americans get out of a jam, but is really blackmailing them. but he falls for Mary (Lombard). and his co-conspirator Irene sees it (Wynne Gibson), and the irony when she says "you've fallen in love with that kid." since Powell really did fall for Lombard. and they got hitched. Some speed bumps in Trevor and Mary's plan for a wedding. Irene throws wrenches into the works, so things aren't what they were just a short time ago. lessons learned. or are they?? It's good. and kind of exotic, since it takes place in a "foreign country." Directed by Dick Wallace. died quite young of a heart attack. was a founding member fo the Directors Guild. probably his best known works are the Girl, the Guy, and the Gob and Bombardier. and Carole Lombard was tragically killed quite young as well.