User Reviews

His man Godfrey gets a wife and a cook on thus amusing screwball comedy where a wealthy automobile industrialist takes on a butler position with a stranger he met in the park posing His wife, a cook. She has no idea who he really is, while their rather eccentric boss didn't have a clue that he was a being had. All it took was Jean Arthur, as the cooking candidate, to waft a clove of garlic over a pot of sauce rather than drop the whole thing in. Herbert Marshall is the deadpan millionaire posing as a butler, while Leo Carrillo is the rather crass employer with a dubious career and gravel voiced Lionel Stander as his sour assistant.

A year before the release of "My Man Godfrey", society got a poke in the nose with this dry screwball comedy which, while not quite a classic, is amusing extremely amusing. Carrillo, an underrated comic, steals every scene just by destroying every English word he speaks. Stander um is also dreadfully funny, filled with acid wit that brings on hysterics just by dropping an ordinary line. Frieda Ibescort is imperious as Marshall's nasty fiancé.

Typical but well written and superbly acted, this is formula fluff that Stoll has enough surprises along the way to keep it fresh. Arthur gives the impression that she may know Marshall's true identity. Stander gets to follow Marshall around, giving some mistaken confusion to the busy plot. This isn't earth shaking, but has many fun moments that makes it quite delicious.

Quite a delightful movie! I started watching expecting a rip-off of My Man Godfrey and wound up being entertained by its twists and turns. Herbert Marshall and Jean Arthur made a great pairing opposite the gangsters with hearts of gold and the corporate execs who were timid in business matters but very quick to make social judgments.

I thought the opening was an actual wedding because of the decor of the room, the large number of onlookers and the semi-formal attire worn by the men. The bride in a black suit momentarily surprised me but I figured it was a Depression era economy. It was only when the organist made his joking comment that I realized it was a rehearsal.

This was a fun introduction to a director whose name was unfamiliar but whose work I'd enjoyed in the past. Seeing it on MeTV (WBME) with a single commercial block about 2/3's of the way through added to the enjoyment.

My only question -- did Americans of this era and class really speak with such mid-Atlantic accents? Everybody sounded like modern BBC announcers. It wasn't until Jim met Joan that characters began speaking in American accents.

Perhaps they took this movie and improved on it and came up with the classic My Man Godfrey, which was released a year later. Both tell a story of a rich man who pretends to be a butler so as to get close to a woman he's infatuated with.

It's the sort of story I love, I have to admit, so I was quite disappointed that this movie wasn't as well-written as Godfrey, and that Herbert Marshall is not nearly as charming as William Powell. It's a bit silly that Jean Arthur's employer (she's a cook), who runs a bootlegging gang, would arrive at Marshall's wedding guns-ablazing to bring him back to her when in the first place he wanted her as his mistress.

It's only because I love Jean Arthur that I'm giving this movie a marginal thumbs-up.

A year before Universal Studios released "My Man Godrey," this film was made by Columbia Pictures. Both films are about rich men being mistaken for homeless, out-of-work men and then going to work as butlers in the home of a wealthy person. But, that's where the similarities in the two stories end. Of course, there are the leading ladies who become a big part of each man's life, but again, in quite different ways

"If You Could Only Cook" is a wonderful comedy-romance. It's the only pairing of Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall. Marshall was mostly known for his roles in dramas and romances. He was the handsome, proper English gentleman. He made a few comedies in which he kept that screen persona. In this film, it works quite well. This isn't a film with witty dialog. It has some humorous lines, but mostly the comedy is in the situations. Marshall plays Jim Buchanan, aka Jim Burns in much of the movie. Arthur is Joan Hawthorne. It's interesting that at this point in her career, Arthur had second billing to Marshall. Both had substantial careers behind them – but Arthur, with more than 70 films to her credit still alternated with her male leads, depending on the male star and the roles.

This film doesn't have a very large cast. The best among the supporting cast are Leo Carrillo as Mike Rossini and Lionel Stander as Flash. This is something of a caper comedy and romance, and while not filled with ecstatic laughter, its humor and romance are warm and enjoyable. This isn't on the level of "My Man Godfrey," but it's a very good comedy- romance. Here are some lines from the film.

Jim, "Any new tips on what the well-mannered butler should do?" Jennings, "Well, sir, it's mostly a matter of exercising good judgment. Except, no matter what you think, you never say it." Jim, "Oh, that's important? You never say what you think, but you do think what you say." Jennings, "Well put, sir."

Mike, "That's the trouble with you. Food is just food. But my stomach lives for good things."

Jim, "Jennings, tell me. Do you think I'm out of my mind?" Jennings, "I'm hoping for the best, sir." Jim, "And pack a few of my things, will you Jennings? Just what I shall need buttling."

Mr. Balderson (played by Pierre Watkin, uncredited), "I've seen some brazen confidence men, but that girl in there is …"

Watching this film I was reminded of similar films by Frank Capra since this film has a different director but the same sentiment and similar themes. That's funny because Columbia originally promoted this as A Frank Capra production even though he wasn't the director! A frustrated executive, Jim Buchanan (played by Herbert Marshall) quits/takes a break from his job at a huge auto company, leaving the corporate world behind as they will not accept his ideas for new types of cars. This conception reminds me of some similarities in the 1991 Simpson's episode Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (Season 2, episode 15). Back to the film, Buchanan meets a woman whom is down on her luck, Jean Hawthorne, played by Jean Arthur, on a park bench, with both looking through help wanted ads. From that, the idea is floated by Jean that they be a cook and butler together since she is a very good cook even though he knows nothing about being a butler. In fact, after they are hired he tries to learn how to "butle" from his own personal butler, sneaking away in the night.

This leads to a romantic and comedic movie. Jim, posing as "Jim Burns," and Jean posing as his wife, take on personas of sorts. He lives a double life and is planned to be married to another socialite named Evelyn Fisher (played by Frieda Inescort), but he does not tell Jean this. As such he is interested to hear what Jean has to say about Jim Buchanan as she has no idea it is him. Both Jim and Jean work for Mike Rossini, played by Leo Carrillo, and Flash, his right-hand man, played by Lionel Stander, whom seem to be gangsters/mafia type. Flash begins to suspect something is fishy about Jean but never delves into it much, but he does easily find out Jim's double life. He also questions their story because he sleeps out on the porch while she sleeps in the bed since it is custom for married people to sleep together. At the same time, Rossini tries to be sweet on Jean but she quickly rebuffs his advances.

As the film comes to a close, Jim's double life is exposed. Soon Jean finds out and is angry, devastated, but begs them to save Jim rather than killing him. Then, Jim is kidnapped at the altar by Rossini, Flash, and their thugs, leaving his wife-to-be at the altar, literally. He is brought back to the Rossini residence and said he has to marry someone. He is obviously the groom, but what about the bride? Well, it's Jean of course. She resists this and his packing her bags, ready to leave, but then Flash acts like he is shooting Jim so she opens the door in terror and flees to him. This makes me think that Jim planned this, telling Rossini and Flash this plan, with the idea they would capture him and bring him back to marry Jean. The only problem is this would involve telling them the truth about him, which could gave led to problems and it would assume that he knew that Jean loved him. But this is still a plausible theory.

Both Arthur and Marshall play off each other well in this movie, but Stander is the one whom plays comic relief, just like in the 1936 film Mr. Deeds Comes to Town, playing a similar type of role. This makes the movie a mix of romance and comedy. You could also say this has a sense of social commentary in that class barriers are not stopping them from working together, with Marshall literally being fluid between his posing as working-class to his life as a capitalist atop an automobile corporation.

With that, my review concludes about this riveting romantic drama, but only riveting enough to be a 9 out of 10 rather than a 10.

In this day in age the only audience that would appeal to If You Could Only Cook would be either devoted fans of the two main leads or enjoy the conventions of Screwball Comedy.

I belong to the first category, being as Jean Arthur is a firm favourite of mine who is her usual delightful self in this film even if she has been in better efforts. The plot consists of automobile entrepreneur Jim Buchanan (Herbert Marshall) who unsure about his position in life reflects upon his situation. Along the way he bumps into Joan, played by Arthur, who teams up with Jim as a Butler/Cook working partnership. Their pairing works well for dramatic and comedic purposes, bouncing back from one another's lines to create a few laughs and satisfactory acted scenes along the way. However as a romantic pair in which they are eventually placed comes across as mismatched, there is never really such a spark between them even as the narrative brings them together in a far - fetched finale.

When the attention was not on Jim and Joan's relationship it was on the pairing of the suspicious Mike Rossini and his associate Flash, played by Leo Carrillo and Lionel Stander respectively. They are the employers of Jim and Joan who serve on them in Mike's home where before long things become conflicted with Flash constantly snooping around the pair and Mike being infatuated with Joan, adding slightly to the film's dynamic. Mostly Mike and Flash are around to provide the laughs with Stander's distinctive voice contributing to the comic delivery of his lines, though he is an acquired taste.

Despite the flaws If You Could Only Cook contains, in some ways it is an interesting reminder of the effects of the Great Depression and the film will satisfy those who love the acting abilities of Jean Arthur and/or Herbert Marshall even if the film was not a greatly executed piece of story telling.