Ah, Hollywood the 1930's. There was so much art deco one would think that the streets were lined with marble instead of cement. From the Ernst Lubitsch musicals of Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier, to the Picolino of Fred and Ginger, there was more glamor than Versailles in its hay day.
It's hard to believe that this era was only 70-80 years ago, and the first World War hadn't had a Roman numeral on it. But this was the depression, and over at Universal studios, director James Whale ("Frankenstein", "The Bride of Frankenstein", the very glamorous 1936 "Show Boat") staged this comic romance about a butler who pretends to be a Lord to seduce a great lady, who is actually a maid! That part is apparent from the moment the plot gets going.
The couple is played by Paul Lukas (Academy Award winner for "Watch on the Rhine" and the romantic co-star of Ethel Merman in Broadway's "Call Me Madam") and Elissa Landi, an Italian born leading lady who was charming in several dozen now forgotten films. Lukas is trained by his boss, Nils Asther, in the art of seduction, and when Asther comes home early from a date, he overhears Lukas in action and pretends to be his butler.
Up to that point, Lukas would turn off the power in Asther's apartment while his master was entertaining an unsuspecting young lady, then bring in a candelabra to set up a romantic tryst. Now, Asther does that for Lukas "just for the fun of it", then makes a play for Landi himself. She, however, is only interested in "the Lord of the manor". Husbands of Asther's playmates confront him, a cigarette case is lost, and delightful confusion erupts. Imagine Landi's shock when Asther's latest conquest ends up being her boss!
During the year that Universal introduced "The Invisible Man", introduced new sob queen Margaret Sullavan ("Only Yesterday") and spoofed Warner Brothers' "42nd Street" with "Moonlight and Pretzels", it released this art-deco gem, a fast-moving, well acted comedy of manners (or lack of...). Lukas, who up to that point was known in Hollywood as the leading man of many women's films, proves himself to be much more debonair than presented in the past. With Landi, he shares some great scenes on a train ride where they mingle with common folk at a town fair. Landi is good in a drunk scene, but its Lukas and Asther who get acting honors here. Whale does a great job with every single detail from the sets, photography, and unmannered performances that remain fresh today as they were in 1933.
It's hard to believe that this era was only 70-80 years ago, and the first World War hadn't had a Roman numeral on it. But this was the depression, and over at Universal studios, director James Whale ("Frankenstein", "The Bride of Frankenstein", the very glamorous 1936 "Show Boat") staged this comic romance about a butler who pretends to be a Lord to seduce a great lady, who is actually a maid! That part is apparent from the moment the plot gets going.
The couple is played by Paul Lukas (Academy Award winner for "Watch on the Rhine" and the romantic co-star of Ethel Merman in Broadway's "Call Me Madam") and Elissa Landi, an Italian born leading lady who was charming in several dozen now forgotten films. Lukas is trained by his boss, Nils Asther, in the art of seduction, and when Asther comes home early from a date, he overhears Lukas in action and pretends to be his butler.
Up to that point, Lukas would turn off the power in Asther's apartment while his master was entertaining an unsuspecting young lady, then bring in a candelabra to set up a romantic tryst. Now, Asther does that for Lukas "just for the fun of it", then makes a play for Landi himself. She, however, is only interested in "the Lord of the manor". Husbands of Asther's playmates confront him, a cigarette case is lost, and delightful confusion erupts. Imagine Landi's shock when Asther's latest conquest ends up being her boss!
During the year that Universal introduced "The Invisible Man", introduced new sob queen Margaret Sullavan ("Only Yesterday") and spoofed Warner Brothers' "42nd Street" with "Moonlight and Pretzels", it released this art-deco gem, a fast-moving, well acted comedy of manners (or lack of...). Lukas, who up to that point was known in Hollywood as the leading man of many women's films, proves himself to be much more debonair than presented in the past. With Landi, he shares some great scenes on a train ride where they mingle with common folk at a town fair. Landi is good in a drunk scene, but its Lukas and Asther who get acting honors here. Whale does a great job with every single detail from the sets, photography, and unmannered performances that remain fresh today as they were in 1933.