For those of you who may be fans, I apologize. But the few times I have watched Hedy Lamaar in a film, I've always thought the same thing: who thought she could act? I felt the same way this time around. Was she beautiful? No question. But her heavy accent here was uncomfortable to listen to for 95 minutes.
The other thing that didn't work here was the first third of the film. To put it simply, it dragged along. Yes, I know, they had to set up the story for the punch line, so to speak...but it just bored me. Then, all of a sudden, a little more than a third of the way through the film things got more interesting. There was some clever dialog.
What the film did have going for it was the cleverness and wittiness of one of the best actors of the generation: William Powell. His talent for something akin to slapstick is quite obvious here. To say he was a natural is putting it mildly.
The talents of some of the supporting actors here is disappointing: Fay Bainter was certainlyl misued here, as was Henry O'Neill. Spring Byington fared only slightly better.
I'm begrudingly giving this film a "7", but that's only because William Powell always shines brightly.
The other thing that didn't work here was the first third of the film. To put it simply, it dragged along. Yes, I know, they had to set up the story for the punch line, so to speak...but it just bored me. Then, all of a sudden, a little more than a third of the way through the film things got more interesting. There was some clever dialog.
What the film did have going for it was the cleverness and wittiness of one of the best actors of the generation: William Powell. His talent for something akin to slapstick is quite obvious here. To say he was a natural is putting it mildly.
The talents of some of the supporting actors here is disappointing: Fay Bainter was certainlyl misued here, as was Henry O'Neill. Spring Byington fared only slightly better.
I'm begrudingly giving this film a "7", but that's only because William Powell always shines brightly.