This pairing of Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson doesn't gel as past teamings did simply that Morgan seems really miscast to me as a Balkan prince. He gets drunk with Carson, falls into his bed and wakes up dazed and confused, steals Carson's gal (Dorothy Malone), and is sought after by the FBI, hired to keep an eye on him. There's also count S. Z. Sakall ("Leaving no turn unstoned") being amused by a jukebox, flirtatious younger sister Janis Paige (always a delight) and precocious Patti Brady, trying to sound more clever than she is.
I found Carson to be particularly obnoxious in this film (a fault of the script, not him), distracting manicurist Malone while she's working on a customer (Chester Clute), and not going away. A scene with Malone and Morgan watching an attempt by Lauren Bacall to sing in a movie in the theater had more ironic laughs than genuine ones, because of Bacall's later questionable musical experience on the stage. Bogart appears onscreen with Bacall in a newly filmed film within a film later on.
That scene in the movie theater goes on way too long and is interrupted by a very bizarre moment involving nervous movie theater manager Franklin Pangborn. Scenes that are supposed to be funny like that just end up falling flat. Overall, I found this just to be a bizarre movie anyway, strangely directed by David Butler. The fault lies in the script by Charles Hoffman and future Billy Wilder collaborator I. A. L. Diamond who hadn't yet hit his stride. The whole European royalty angle seems like a musical premise from the early 30's, and certainly not the post war world. Quite a disappointment with the overly cute Sakall way too forced.
I found Carson to be particularly obnoxious in this film (a fault of the script, not him), distracting manicurist Malone while she's working on a customer (Chester Clute), and not going away. A scene with Malone and Morgan watching an attempt by Lauren Bacall to sing in a movie in the theater had more ironic laughs than genuine ones, because of Bacall's later questionable musical experience on the stage. Bogart appears onscreen with Bacall in a newly filmed film within a film later on.
That scene in the movie theater goes on way too long and is interrupted by a very bizarre moment involving nervous movie theater manager Franklin Pangborn. Scenes that are supposed to be funny like that just end up falling flat. Overall, I found this just to be a bizarre movie anyway, strangely directed by David Butler. The fault lies in the script by Charles Hoffman and future Billy Wilder collaborator I. A. L. Diamond who hadn't yet hit his stride. The whole European royalty angle seems like a musical premise from the early 30's, and certainly not the post war world. Quite a disappointment with the overly cute Sakall way too forced.