La boule de cristal

THE CRYSTAL BALL has such a hackneyed plot about a conniving woman out to get herself a wealthy husband (in fact, two women with the same idea), but the plot complications have serious undertones and there's not enough witty banter to make it digestible. Audiences must have been starving for light, fluffy nonsense like this during WWII, but despite some funny moments it's nothing but a predictable romantic comedy.

What does help are the performances of Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland and Virginia Field as the romantic trio. Lost in the shuffle are William Bendix, Cecil Kellaway and other supporting players who have very little to do but stand around agape at the stupid plot whose ripest comic moments include a waiter who inevitably trips and falls whenever Goddard is within close range.

Paulette is a down on her heels gal with 38 cents in her pocketbook who needs help from fortune-teller Gladys George (totally wasted). When GG becomes ill, it's Paulette who is designated to take her place as the crystal ball fortune-teller who gets involved in the budding romance between rich playboy Milland and his widowed sweetheart Field.

None of it makes any sense and the situations are played for screwball comedy effect with only a couple of successful moments where the comedy is pitched to the right key. Both stars try hard, but the material is really beneath them.

However, fans of Goddard and Milland will find it easy enough to forgive the nonsensical plot and enjoy the stars at their physical peak.

"The Crystal Ball" is a screwball that's genuinely *hilarious* for much of its runtime. In fact, I'd venture to say this one's a good bit funnier than many critically acclaimed top-tier comedies of the period. I'm puzzled by the middling reception it's gotten over the years. Every single actor is cast perfectly and the script, courtesy of the ingenious Virginia Van Upp, remains whip-crack through its brief runtime.

In fairness to the movie's detractors, the plot really is ludicrous beyond words. Things kick off when a maid hides the emerald ring of her dizzy society dame employer, advising her to visit a fortune telling psychic who's aided in retrieving similar objects. Things just progressively wackier from there: we get to spend time at carnival shooting gallery manned by Cecil Kellaway (of all people) and watch Ray Milland get genuinely crushed in an avalanche of watermelons!

All the scenes with Gladys George in her fortune teller's tent are pure gold. I loved that she had a small arsenal of "Who's Who" books to assist in her hot readings of society matrons, somewhere near the side room where she keeps her ectoplasm handy! Paulette Goddard, who's been hired as George's assistant, affects a terrific Southern belle accent when she's in a spirit trance (her character's from Texas).

The best scene has Ray Milland bringing Goddard home to a random apartment because she doesn't want to reveal she's living with a fortune teller. It happens to be the home of a bitterly feuding alcoholic couple, with poor Paulette quickly getting caught in the fray. The wartime propaganda in this one is kept to a minimum, although there's a cute bit where Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo serve as targets at the shooting gallery. When hit in the right order, they trigger a musical number and kick each other in the rear!

I can't rave enough about this one. That "The Crystal Ball" is so good yet so comparatively unheralded is a reflection on how accomplished the Hollywood studio system was at this time. They were making so many great pictures at such a fast clip that gems like these get lost in the shuffle.

Texan Paulette Goddard pursues rich lawyer Ray Milland, while working for fake fortune teller Gladys George in this funny romantic comedy.

It's a fine, cynical little late screwball comedy, starting off with Gladys George running a con on Milland's man-hungry client, Virginia Field, and Miss Goddard pursuing Milland using her fake psychic abilities. There are plenty of character-based gags for a supporting cast that includes William Bendix, Cecil Kellaway, Sig Arno, and Ernest Truex (who gets to pop Milland in the kisser). Some of the jokes refer to wartime conditions and haven't aged well, but the script keeps them coming, and Elliot Nugent directs it in a breezy manner.

Shapely Paulette Goddard (dressed to the nines, but with only thirty-eight cents to her name) takes a job as decoy in a shooting gallery, but when the phony fortune teller she's bunking with throws her back out, Goddard subs for her at a fancy affair. Flimsy romantic fluff from Paramount studios (but acquired and released by United Artists). Though set mainly in 'ritzy' surroundings--with gowns by both Edith Head AND Adrian!--the picture appears to be a second-biller, though one given a pinch of star-power from Goddard and Ray Milland (even if the colorful supporting players tend to upstage them both). Elliott Nugent's direction has little feeling for slapstick pratfalls and comedic misunderstandings; coupled with the silly script, it isn't any wonder why the film builds no momentum. Two quirky highlights: the eccentric singing ladies on the tandem bicycle; also, Milland's sports car (a Crosley) that rocks back and forth like a toy auto. ** from ****

The Crystal Ball (1943)

Utterly fun, snappy, well written, smartly filmed, and all round entertaining. Yes. But also dependent on a plot device or two that push credulity. It's made to be a bit mad-cap, if not true screwball, and so it's easy to look the other way. If Paulette Goddard as the leading lady (ladies, in this case) is charming and friendly (and pretty, which is her main calling card to some), she is also a bit thin, and even comedies need complexity of character. Across from her is Ray Milland who has always been an odd leading man, likable and probably handsome to some, but lacking some kind of gravity or depth or charm to make him truly leading.

So this movie has it all and yet not quite all.

Goddard became famous when she got involved (literally) with Charlie Chaplin, and starred in his fabulous "Modern Times" in 1936. She was then set for all kinds of roles including comedy spots like playing opposite Bob Hope a couple times. I find her always fun, and maybe she's perfect for movies that have no pretensions, just as much as she seems to have none. Ginger Rogers was originally intended for this role in "The Crystal Ball" but the Goddard stepped in, and you can feel (maybe) the part fitting Rogers just as well or better.

Milland, a British (Welsh) actor who still hadn't found his stride in Hollywood, is almost working too hard here. At times he pours on the cheerful energy and you see his inner playfulness, but it comes off a little intentional. He isn't, maybe, actually playful on camera, always too self aware. He is, though, a decent substitute for Charles Boyer, who would have played the part with more mystery but maybe, judging from his other films of the time, less natural humor.

And then there is the story itself, a clever, marshmallow version of a Shakespearean identity switch. The main idea, that the same woman can put a veil over half her face and fool people who already know her, is one of the conceits of the movies (seen in masquerade balls most often) and I don't buy it. You won't either. Instead you have to just enjoy the idea and the fun to be had. The additional twists of an actual swindle involving the government and, briefly, a government agent is a bit much, too, but just go with the flow.

I'm being a bit critical all along because I really liked this film and found the weaknesses unfortunate. It has the bones and the great filming style of a great one. I'd watch it again, if that's some clue. William Bendix is fun, as always, and Cecil Kellaway, the man at the carnival booth, is pretty terrific.

Director Elliott Nugent is one of those workaday standard bearers who can pull a good crew together and he does well here (in the same way as he did in "The Cat and the Canary"). Cinematographer Leo Tover, though less known that some of the legends, has a whole slew of great movies to his name ("The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Heiress," "Dead Reckoning") and he deserves a lot of the credit for holding this all together and giving it ambiance. It's the small things like this that make this film look and feel even better than it is, all told. Give it a cheerful chance. It may surprise you.