Cocktail Hour

It is Columbia doing a Paramount movie, judging by the opening titles and the sound of the house orchestra. Kay Francis.... I mean Bebe Daniels is taking a break from her high-paying job illustrating ads for Randolph Scott's ad agency, taking a trip to France, despite all the men who want to marry her. This includes old-fashioned Randy, French Count Barry Norton, and her shipboard conquest, Sidney Blackmer. Only he conquers her, before revealing on the dock at Southampton that he's married.

The big-city, sophisticated naughtiness is implied, except for the cocktail party at the beginning and one brief sequence in which Miss Daniels is with her friend Muriel Kirkland in her slip. Columbia might have a big-city audience, but they made most of their money in the hinterlands, and the disapproving and old-fashioned tone that Mr. Scott takes is that of the movie; the audience knew what was what, but didn't think it necessary to show every detail. If the audience wanted that, they could go see the latest Demille spectacle. The audience for this movie knew where babies came from just as well as they did in New York and Paris, and the ending is just as normative as Demille's epics; only Columbia did it in five reels instead of nine, and kept the costs way down.

Miss Daniels sings one song, composed by the director, Victor Schertzinger. It's okay, just not memorable. Which is what this movie is.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT.

Saw this at a Library of Congress screening in the Spring of 2003; it was a pleasing, if minor, Depression-era diversion. By this I mean it was (and is) a perfect way for any put-upon person to lose 73 minutes. "Cocktail Hour" has almost no edgy, precode vibes, a la Warner Bros. Instead there're attractive well-dressed people in chic apartments (better art direction then I expected from Columbia) doing moderately interesting, but non-taxing things, and a shipboard romance capped by Bebe Daniels warbling a cute song. Randolph Scott had just come from doing a batch of memorable Paramount B-Westerns. This was one of his only loan-outs during this period, and the chemistry between the two leads is just fine.

Melodrama intrudes into "Cocktail Hour" once the cast reaches Paris, including a threatening character getting shoved through a window, but rather then jar this works to keep things lively. Budgetary constraints mean no exteriors, either in the early "Manhattan" sequences or in "Paris"—you have to use your imagination—but it's OK; whatever you do see is slick enough to get by. Being a second tier studio, Columbia couldn't or wouldn't bring a first-rate supporting cast together for every production, and as a result "Cocktail Hour" had to settle for, along with a lot of other people I didn't recognize, the obscure Muriel Kirkland as an amusing fake countess (Dennis O'Keefe was listed in the IMDb credits doing a bit, but I didn't notice him). All in all, good escapism.

Kind of a lover's farce. JUST before the enforcement of a much stricter film code! This kind of shenanigans was about to disappear for twenty years, or at least be watered down beyond recognition when discussed in film. Bebe daniels is cynthia, who doesn't follow the rules of conduct, done by most women of the time; she insists on living her life her own way, and with whom she desires. Married, or not. And she likes to do the chasing. Randolph scott is her boss, who wants her all to himself. So cynthia runs off to paris and has adventures. Keep an eye out for sydney blackmer and jessie ralph. Some real twists and turns in this one! Due to the edits from the censors, we see photo stills in several places, where the scene was physically removed, but the sound track remained. This was also done in the "lost horizon", and "a star is born 1954", possibly due to lost or damaged scenes, instead of censorship. Story based on "pearls and emeralds", by james mcguinness. Directed by victor schertzinger. Was nominated for "one night of love". He also made a couple of the "road" movies with bob hope. Died young at 53, of a heart attack. The film is quite good! Lots of energy, keeps moving right along. I like the friendship between olga and cynthia. And cynthia's sporting spirit, even when things are going against her. Not thrilled with the wishy washy ending, but i guess it's to be expected for the time it was filmed.

Bebe Daniels stars here as a successful commercial artist who refuses to marry even though she is surrounded by men who pursue her. She likes her independence and her own salary of $60,000 per year (a fortune in 1933). The film opens with Daniels finishing off a sketch to deliver to her boss (Randolph Scott) while hosting a cocktail party of mostly men. She explains that while most women want marriage and a baby, she wants her "cocktail hour." She delivers her sketch and Scott proposes for the umpteenth time. She says no so he locks her in a bathroom so she'll miss her boat to Europe, where she is escaping all for a vacation. She escapes. Onboard she is deluged by all her male friends until the gong for sailing. Scott shows up again and proposes again.

She meets a famous Russian pianist onboard (Muriel Kirkland) who turns out to be a fake and is from Kansas. Also onboard is Philippe (Barry Norton) who is in love with Daniels, and his mother (Jessie Ralph). She also meets the smooth William Lawton (Sidney Blackmer) with whom she falls in love. Things get very tricky onboard until they land in England and Blackmer pulls a surprise out of his hat.

Daniels heads to Paris and visits the country estate of Philippe's where a tragedy occurs and Daniels is hauled away by the cops. Scott to the rescue? Daniels looks great, wears nice clothes, and even sings "Listen Heart of Mine." The rest of the cast is quite good, especially Blackmer and Kirkland. Others include Marjorie Gateson, John St. Polis, Forrester Harvey, Willie Fung, Phillips Smalley, and Dennis O'Keefe as a party guest.

This was Daniels' follow-up film to 42nd STREET and one of five films she made in 1933. It's a pity Daniels wasn't more successful in talkies. She had a good singing voice and excelled at playing the independent women of the era that were more famously played by Ruth Chatterton, Kay Francis, and Norma Shearer.

This film was presented by TCM's Ben Mankewiecz as unabashedly pre code in its account of a woman who "happily" has an affair with a married man. I beg to differ. If anything, it is a post code film masquerading as pre code since the woman having the affair is anything but happy about it, especially when she discovers that the man is married, whereupon she suffers the usual guilt and torment that the Hays Office would regularly visit upon all such wayward gals, post 1933. And, of course, her ticket out of this adulterous hell she is in is...are you ready?... MARRIAGE! So you can understand the general air of deflation that settled upon me halfway through this irksome affair, especially considering Ben's bait and switch intro. Give it a C plus.

PS...For the record, I found Bebe Daniels fairly delightful, although she should learn to play drunks better), Sidney Blackmer (who could do drunk as he showed in "Come Back Little Sheba", on stage) horribly miscast as a rake who is irresistible to women, and Randolph Scott surprisingly good as an international business tycoon (I say "surprisingly" because I always pegged this guy as strictly Paris, Texas).