Harlan Thompson only directed two films and if you watch this, you'll understand why. Having directed AND written this, nobody else can be blamed for its awfulness. I don't think I've ever endured such a totally unfunny comedy for years. How could something as disappointing as this come from the same studio which launched The Marx Brothers!
Celebrity plastic surgeon - and at this time in his career, plastic actor Cary Grant creates the ideal most beautiful woman in the world. He then falls in love with his Frankenstein monster only to discover that she is as artificial as his own superficial personality. Had this been written better, it could have been quite a witty critique of the cynical beauty industry. A clever script could have made this a satirical indictment on how we judge people solely on their looks. Annoyingly though, none of this potential is realised because it's definitely not well written. If there is any moral in this then it's that looks are more important than personality!
One aspect of pre-code cinema this film exploits to the full is having sexy young ladies gratuitously in just their underwear. As my closing paragraph below reveals, that's a quality of these films which I love and admit to being a huge fan of but the way it's used in this, along with its sexist narrative feels a little distasteful.
I feel genuinely annoyed that so much talent was wasted in such drivel. Did the big wigs at Paramount actually think that this was entertainment? Apart from one scene where the wonders of corned beef are exhorted in song including the line: Oh do you're so plebeian, you're fit for a Quee-an, it is NOT funny. For a comedy to work the characters have to be at least half-believable but these are less than one dimensional and the direction is so irregular that in its last ten minutes, as if realising that the previous hour didn't work it suddenly becomes a third rate Keystone Cops comedy.
Cary Grant displays none of that comic genius he showed in his later films. He was in two of the funniest films ever: BRINGING UP BABY and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE but in this he's atrocious. I feel even more sorry for Genevieve Tobin who is as amusing as she can be working with such rubbish material. She was a superb comedy actress and could, if allowed and given a proper character, be very funny. In this she plays 'the perfect beauty' a role someone as beautiful as she indeed was, was perfect for. It's such a wasted opportunity.
The person I blame however for making me suffer this is Toby Wing. She, if you don't know was the stunning 'extra' who graced a handful of pictures in the 30s by spicing them up with one or maybe two minutes of incendiary sexiness. In this, she has a rare speaking part and appears in the film's first five minutes. She walks into Cary Grant's office whereupon he says: 'Take your clothes off please.' An absolutely understandable reaction to meeting her I think. But baiting us with her sex appeal is a dirty, mean trick from Paramount if you ask me!
Celebrity plastic surgeon - and at this time in his career, plastic actor Cary Grant creates the ideal most beautiful woman in the world. He then falls in love with his Frankenstein monster only to discover that she is as artificial as his own superficial personality. Had this been written better, it could have been quite a witty critique of the cynical beauty industry. A clever script could have made this a satirical indictment on how we judge people solely on their looks. Annoyingly though, none of this potential is realised because it's definitely not well written. If there is any moral in this then it's that looks are more important than personality!
One aspect of pre-code cinema this film exploits to the full is having sexy young ladies gratuitously in just their underwear. As my closing paragraph below reveals, that's a quality of these films which I love and admit to being a huge fan of but the way it's used in this, along with its sexist narrative feels a little distasteful.
I feel genuinely annoyed that so much talent was wasted in such drivel. Did the big wigs at Paramount actually think that this was entertainment? Apart from one scene where the wonders of corned beef are exhorted in song including the line: Oh do you're so plebeian, you're fit for a Quee-an, it is NOT funny. For a comedy to work the characters have to be at least half-believable but these are less than one dimensional and the direction is so irregular that in its last ten minutes, as if realising that the previous hour didn't work it suddenly becomes a third rate Keystone Cops comedy.
Cary Grant displays none of that comic genius he showed in his later films. He was in two of the funniest films ever: BRINGING UP BABY and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE but in this he's atrocious. I feel even more sorry for Genevieve Tobin who is as amusing as she can be working with such rubbish material. She was a superb comedy actress and could, if allowed and given a proper character, be very funny. In this she plays 'the perfect beauty' a role someone as beautiful as she indeed was, was perfect for. It's such a wasted opportunity.
The person I blame however for making me suffer this is Toby Wing. She, if you don't know was the stunning 'extra' who graced a handful of pictures in the 30s by spicing them up with one or maybe two minutes of incendiary sexiness. In this, she has a rare speaking part and appears in the film's first five minutes. She walks into Cary Grant's office whereupon he says: 'Take your clothes off please.' An absolutely understandable reaction to meeting her I think. But baiting us with her sex appeal is a dirty, mean trick from Paramount if you ask me!