Gary Cooper believes in marriage. In fact, he believes in it so much, he has done it seven times. Will new amour Claudette Colbert be the eighth and last one? Only 90 minutes will tell.
Wealthy banker Cooper is in France and while desperately searching for pajama tops (he never wears the bottoms) he meets pretty Claudette Colbert who agrees to purchase the bottoms. This hysterical sequence (featuring some very funny obscure character actors fretting over how buying only pajama tops will lead to another revolution) leads into an even funnier sequence where a prissy hotel manager (Franklin Pangborn) takes Cooper to a hotel suite where he finds impoverished marquis Edward Everett Horton in bed and proceeds to kick Horton out. Cooper learns that Colbert is Horton's daughter and proceeds to scheme to make her his 8th wife. Cooper is not really a blue-beard, but the story focuses on how Colbert works to change her new husband into the man she intends to spend the rest of her life with.
This was not a critical hit in its day, but in reflection, it is very good to look at and filled with a lot of droll humor that makes it lightly funny and very fast moving. Cooper and Colbert are lovely to look at, while the "veddy" British David Niven does what he can with a mostly miscast role (Colbert's French suitor who discovers that Cooper is his employer). The rest of the cast is a character actor lover's dream. To see Pangborn and Horton together is to compare the art of how two different types of "prissy" men made their characters so totally different, yet are remembered as the golden age of Hollywood's most notable obviously gay characters. Warren Hymer is his typical dumb tough guy as the prizefighter Colbert hires to make Cooper jealous. The always wonderful Elizabeth Patterson adds delicious imperiousness to her matriarchal character. Finally, Herman Bing is always good for a laugh (with his over-the-top accent) as Cooper's private detective who isn't above switching allegiances to Colbert if it brings him another buck or two.
While Ernest Lubitsch's line of films has some credits that are certainly greater than this piece of French Pastry, the film is actually quite better than its reputation has made it out to be. Post-depression and pre-World War II audiences loved these art decco slices of strudel, and no studio did it better or more than Paramount. Forget about the premise of a charming rogue getting his comeuppance and just enjoy the fluff. You'll find your funny bone tickled as much as the champagne bubbles tickle Colbert and Cooper's noses. And just remember---that isn't a tub. It's a wash basin!
Wealthy banker Cooper is in France and while desperately searching for pajama tops (he never wears the bottoms) he meets pretty Claudette Colbert who agrees to purchase the bottoms. This hysterical sequence (featuring some very funny obscure character actors fretting over how buying only pajama tops will lead to another revolution) leads into an even funnier sequence where a prissy hotel manager (Franklin Pangborn) takes Cooper to a hotel suite where he finds impoverished marquis Edward Everett Horton in bed and proceeds to kick Horton out. Cooper learns that Colbert is Horton's daughter and proceeds to scheme to make her his 8th wife. Cooper is not really a blue-beard, but the story focuses on how Colbert works to change her new husband into the man she intends to spend the rest of her life with.
This was not a critical hit in its day, but in reflection, it is very good to look at and filled with a lot of droll humor that makes it lightly funny and very fast moving. Cooper and Colbert are lovely to look at, while the "veddy" British David Niven does what he can with a mostly miscast role (Colbert's French suitor who discovers that Cooper is his employer). The rest of the cast is a character actor lover's dream. To see Pangborn and Horton together is to compare the art of how two different types of "prissy" men made their characters so totally different, yet are remembered as the golden age of Hollywood's most notable obviously gay characters. Warren Hymer is his typical dumb tough guy as the prizefighter Colbert hires to make Cooper jealous. The always wonderful Elizabeth Patterson adds delicious imperiousness to her matriarchal character. Finally, Herman Bing is always good for a laugh (with his over-the-top accent) as Cooper's private detective who isn't above switching allegiances to Colbert if it brings him another buck or two.
While Ernest Lubitsch's line of films has some credits that are certainly greater than this piece of French Pastry, the film is actually quite better than its reputation has made it out to be. Post-depression and pre-World War II audiences loved these art decco slices of strudel, and no studio did it better or more than Paramount. Forget about the premise of a charming rogue getting his comeuppance and just enjoy the fluff. You'll find your funny bone tickled as much as the champagne bubbles tickle Colbert and Cooper's noses. And just remember---that isn't a tub. It's a wash basin!