Credit probably goes to producer Lawrence Weingarten for noting the striking similarities of playwright Frederick Lonsdale’s mid-‘20s hit about a pair of con artists moving in on a string of pearls (B’way with Ina Claire; Norma Shearer’s second Talkie in ‘29) with Ernst Lubitsch’s TROUBLE IN PARADISE/’32, and getting it’s author, Samson Raphaelson, for this update. Though the plot goes its own way, the real difference is a gender swap as con artists Joan Crawford & William Powell (Miriam Hopkins & Herbert Marshall in TROUBLE), out to fleece a rich grande dame, tap titled Brit Robert Montgomery (in the Kay Francis spot) to unknowingly get them in the door. Montgomery the ‘mark’ that morphs into love; threatening scam and relationships. Smart and clever at moments, but spotty; generally not as good as it might have been. And for a host of reasons, starting with a ship-set prologue overloaded with forced romantic interplay, Crawford’s heavy tread as high society fraud, and Production Code restrictions Lubitsch didn’t have to deal with in 1932. Happily, and in spite of the mid-shoot death of director Richard Boleslawski, plot & performers start to strike on all cylinders (well, five out of six) once we hit dry land and Crawford must decide whether to follow old or new instincts: the call of larceny or call of the heart. And while Powell gets the short end of stick dramatically, he’s still (as usual) the best thing in here.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, the nearly perfect TROUBLE IN PARADISE.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: In passing remarks as they cross stage, Nigel Bruce mentions an affair he had with a girl whose skin was ‘a lovely nut brown.’ An inter-racial allusion that has Frank Morgan do a disapproving double-take. And it is startling to hear in 1937. How’d it get past the Production Code office?
No comments:
Post a Comment