Sans tambour, ni trompette

"Paradise for Three" is a wonderful movie, full of laughs and winter sports. The delightful and handsome Robert Young is a contest winner who is mistaken for a millionaire by villainous Herman Bing, with Frank Morgan (at his befuddled best) as the real millionaire, mistaken for a hobo. It's also got Sig Rumann, and Mary Astor as a shameless gold-digging hussy. 10 out of 10.

Multi-millionaire soap industrialist Frank Morgan (as Rudolph Tobler) holds a slogan contest for his company, with the winner and runner-up prizes awarded a two week vacation at his ritzy Palace hotel in the Swiss Alps. Unbeknownst to all, Mr. Morgan has entered his own contest under the name "Edward Schultz" and come in second place. First place winner is Robert Young (as Fritz Hagedorn), an unemployed American in Vienna who is several months behind in his rent payments. Morgan decides to go on the vacation and see how poor people live. Concerned about her eccentric boss receiving less than spectacular service, his possessive housekeeper Edna May Oliver (as Mrs. Kunkel) calls to let the hotel staff know Morgan is arriving incognito...

Due to a mix-up, the staff thinks Mr. Young is the soap tycoon. Both men attract attention from fortune-hunting divorcée Mary Astor (as Irene Mallebre). Long-time MGM editor-turned-producer Sam Zimbalist scores a real winner with this comedy. It started with the common "rich/poor" switcheroo, given a good treatment by successful story-teller Erich Kastner. Hollywood writers added some fine lines for the marvelous cast. The skiing segments reveal a less than spectacular budget, but these type of silly skiing scenes were common, at the time. Under the circumstances, not having Edna May Oliver mug and take a tumble on the Alps would have been filmmaking blasphemy. Everything is skillfully managed by director Edward Buzzell.

******** Paradise for Three (2/15/38) Edward Buzzell ~ Frank Morgan, Robert Young, Mary Astor, Edna May Oliver

I read the original novel "Drei MŠnner I'm Schnee" many years ago when I was an undergrad at my university and thought at the time it would make a fun movie. To my great delight I watched "Paradise for Three" not knowing it was adapted from that book and was more than pleased when I recognized the story. Frank Morgan was always one of my favorite actors, Robt Young was at his youthful and handsome best and Ms Rice was, as could only be expected, exceptionally beautiful as Tobler's daughter. The manager and butler at the hotel were classic and hilarious -- a more appropriate cast would have been difficult to assemble.

I doubt if today's youth would appreciate such a movie, but those of us who like the old ones definitely would. What a shame to realize that the setting was Vienna in 1938, a city destined to be overrun by Hitler's hordes and its society shattered within 2 years.

The Tobler Soap Company has sponsored a slogan contest that an unemployed young man (Robert Young) wins and the owner of the company (Frank Morgan) places second (!). They both win a two weeks vacation at a fancy resort in the Alps. For the trip Morgan's Rudolph Tobler decides to go incognito and uses the name he won the contest under – Edward Schultz. The movie revolves around mistaken identities – who is rich and who is poor. The snobby hotel head staff (the wonderful Herman Bing and Sig Ruman) and the gold digging Astor character think Young is wealthy and Schultz poor. In the hopes that he will leave the hotel, Bing and Ruman give Schultz not a guest room but the crummiest little room in the hotel. To spice things up, Astor finds out that it is Schultz who is wealthy, Schultz (i.e., Tobler's) daughter (Florence Rice) shows up and immediately falls for Young, and along with her comes Tobler's long time – and nagging – housekeeper played by Edna Mae Oliver. The cast – especially Edna Mae Oliver and Frank Morgan make this movie a delight. It was also fun to see Jack Norton playing yet another drunk – this time at a water fountain. Talk about being typecast! And what an impressive (and somewhat sad) list of uncredited actors – Gustav von Seyffertitz, and Anna Q Nilsson for heaven's sake. Except for the crummy skiing scenes, this movie is a joy to see.

MGM certainly used a low budget to make PARADISE FOR THREE, and it shows when it comes to the outdoor winter scenes supposedly taking place on ski slopes at an Alpine resort. The use of process photography for all those mountain tops covered with snow is obvious.

Nor did they use a top cast but the results are splendid nevertheless.

An up and coming Robert Young has the star role of a contest winner who is mistakenly thought to be a millionaire by Herman Bing and Sig Rumann when he arrives at his destination at a swank hotel. He immediately attracts the attention of Mary Astor, hard on her luck as far as money is concerned and looking for an easy catch.

But the fun begins when Frank Morgan decides to check on how the hotel treats the lower class and finds himself mistaken for a mere contest winner without money. The pretty blond Florence Rice plays his daughter who naturally falls in love with penniless Robert Young, who doesn't know she's a rich girl until the final reel.

It's predictable and silly, with great support from Edna May Oliver as Morgan's housekeeper of thirty years who joins the group at the hotel to look out for Morgan's health and keeps an eye on his "woman trouble" with Astor. She makes the most of an amusing role in true Edna May Oliver fashion.

This is one that's little known today. To put it in context, it probably played the lower half of bills in the "double feature" days which is why I call it a programmer. I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of those B-films that surprised audiences by being more entertaining than the main feature, which happened occasionally.