Runtime: 91 minutes
Directed by: Ernst Lubistch
Starring: Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Franklin Pangborn
From: Paramount
Instead of watching the Oscars this was my entertainment on the television for the night. No, I’d rather not discuss the big winner of the night or how I’m one of the few people on the planet who doesn’t think it’s a masterpiece-I WILL say a bit about that tomorrow, though-as instead I’d rather talk about this comedy that actually did make me laugh and entertained me for about an hour and a half. This is based on a Noel Coward play… incredibly loosely, so I understand. That means nothing to me as not even a word of said play has been read or seen by me.
You see, pals Fredric March and Gary Cooper meet Miriam Hopkins and fall in love with her. She is a pretty blonde and a commercial artist so that would be appealing to many. She likes both suitors so she decides… to have a “platonic relationship” with them both! As this is a Pre-Code movie she actually gets to say that this partnership involves “no sex”. Of course it’s funny to imagine it as a full-fledged polyamorous relationship with all sorts of wild moments and hot steamy action… or that Cooper (an artist) and March (a playwright) were more than just heterosexual buddies. However, in actuality she was more a muse and gave them both encouragement. That doesn’t mean there weren’t risqué moments or rather suggestive hints of sexuality.
Of course there are complications and of course her boss Edward Everett Horton has unsuccessfully try to woo her; the joy of this movie is not just all the funny moments that typically hit their mark perfectly and made me laugh. It’s also the direction from Lubistch and the performances of the four actors previously mentioned which helped make me believe this rather improbable scenario. The fact that the director made movies even better than this is more a credit to Lubistch than a slight on this movie where one character is successfully presented as someone with a rather dark side without that being explicitly stated. Thank goodness this is currently on the Criterion Channel as otherwise it is hard to track down, streaming-wise.
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