Thanks for the memories!

Excellent but underrated film

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Blistering performances.

Having embezzled money from the night club he manages, Adolph Menjou must now replace the money before the auditors arrive or face prison. He sees the opportunity with handsome Tyrone Power, a broke American whom he makes pose as a Russian prince in order to bilk American millionaires Charles Winninger, Loretta Young, and Helen Westley. However, the real Russian prince he has Power impersonating is there, under the guise of one of his own waiters (Gregory Ratoff). Related to the czars of Russia 25 times (5 times illegitimately), Ratoff is indignant over the use of Power with his identity. When asked by Winninger if Ratoff is a real Russian, Menjou says he is. Winninger's feisty sister, Westley, retorts, "Then how come he isn't driving a cab?" That's the type of humor to expect from this very enjoyable non-sensical screwball comedy the year of "The Awful Truth", "Topper" and "Nothing Sacred" (all-time classics), as well as duds like "True Confession" and "Double Wedding". "Cafe Metropole" falls closer to the classic mark. Looking at Tyrone Power and Loretta Young (here before she became Attila the Nun), it's impossible not to see why they were a popular screen couple. William Powell and Myrna Loy were sophisticated and witty, but Power and Young are downright beautiful to look at together. You can't help but wonder what their children would look like. Young is great when she's sinning a little; A few years down the road, she'd be a lot more difficult to watch. Power always remained easy on the eye, even if by the mid 40's he looked like a man-boy that resented his own prettiness and yet unable to face the on-coming middle age.There's also some rather humorous gay moments, particularly with an obviously gay hat seller who sells Power his own hat, and is then told by Power to throw the other one out. Adolph Menjou makes a wonderful scoundrel. You want to see him get his come-uppance, even if it's just the leads conning him on his own con. Winninger and Westley, as usual, are great scene-stealers. Westley gets the last word, and is so amusing. What would we do without those salty character people like Jessie Ralph, May Robson, Marie Dressler, Alison Skipworth and Ms. Westley? They are like the grandmothers we'd love to have---filled with both love and discipline, yet bubbling with an earthiness that makes us want to see them a bit under the influence to reveal what they are really like. Predictable, but lots of fun!

It must be 35 years or so since I saw this film in an "Art House" Theatre. But it still has left one, strong, lingering impression.There is one scene on the dance floor that took my breath away. Power is wearing a tailcoat and white tie. Young is in a satin floor length gown that clung to even inch of her elegant form. They were dancing like a young god and goddess.I remember thinking, "At that moment in time, they had to be the two most beautiful people on the face of the earth." I recall nothing else about the film save this moment. But it's quite sufficient.Sometimes, all it takes is just one scene to leave an impression that makes the memory of a film vivid for decades. In an era when class and style are neither appreciated, celebrated or understood, a film like this is a reminder of these words mean -- or at least meant.

This is a harmless though brainless film. However, due to the many logical errors in the film, I can't recommend it as anything other than a time-passer--and only if you can manage to turn off your brain for a while while you watch. Otherwise, what happens in the last portion of the film might make you either throw something at the TV or curse yourself for investing this much time in a dopey film. Now I know that there are many Loretta Young and probably more Tyrone Power fans out there and I don't mean to offend them. Heck, I usually love these actors, too, but I also can't lie and say it's one of their better films.The film starts off well enough and I really liked the first half. Adolph Menjou is the co-owner of this restaurant but he needs to pay off a "loan" FAST or lost his restaurant. So, on a lark, he gambles and actually earns enough to pay off the money he lent himself (illegally) and save his butt. However, it turns out that the young guy (Tyrone Power) who he won the money from is broke. Instead of sending Power to jail for writing a bad check to cover his losses, Menjou decides to force Power into becoming his slave. And, as his slave, he has Power pose as a Russian prince so they can both bilk a rich young lady (Young) of the money to save the restaurant. So far so good.Now the fact that Power didn't do so well with impersonating a Russian wasn't a problem--after all, he wasn't supposed to be perfect and she was supposed to eventually figure out that he was a phony. However, and here's where the film gets dumb, although she knows he's a criminal, she falls in love with him(????) and insists she must marry him. Now we could assume that either Miss Young's character is schizophrenic or suffered a massive brain injury, but when her aunt agrees with her and they work hard to get Power (even after he's robbed them), this strains common sense way beyond the breaking point. She barely knew the guy and most of what she knew about him was terrible---yet she insisted on marrying him and having everyone live happily ever after. And on top of this, Ms. Young yells and bellows and over-emotes like mad when she argues with her father about this. Oh, brother, give me a barf bag!! The only reason I even gave the film a score this high is that despite being brainless, the film had some nice moments and the actors seemed to try hard with material that was simply beneath them. Also, the film deserves no better than a 4 because some excellent dance scenes with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson were in the film but they were cut before it was released!! Fortunately, they are included on the new DVD version of this film. You'll find the first one simply brilliant--and probably better than anything Fred Astaire ever did. The second cut scene is less brilliant and rather politically incorrect, but it's still a shame it was eliminated.

Gregory Ratoff's idea of a Parisian restauranteur with debts that drive his bookkeeper to thoughts of suicide became a vehicle for rising star Tyrone Power. He's handed what can be coyly referred to as an ingenue role (the kind that does not demand much more than standing straight and looking pretty), more specifically, an American dilettante with scarcely any money to live on and no way to get home. Owing a rather tidy sum to the restaurant owner (played by wily Adolphe Menjou), he is blackmailed into passing himself off as Russian royalty to charm a Yankee heiress. And in walks the breathtaking Loretta Young under a white lace mantilla, aware from the start that he's a fake, and working her own little scheme to land him. Young is as assured as Katharine Hepburn was in "Holiday," although you get the feeling, when she's throwing fits and tossing heavy objects at her millionaire father (Charles Winninger), the people in charge wanted to invest her performance with a little of the spirit of Carole Lombard. It's all over Tyrone Power, and considering how dapper he looks in his tie and tails (His hair has the high-gloss, Art-Deco sheen of a baby grand piano.), who could blame her? There's a funny sequence in a haberdashery with his accent waxing and waning like the phases of the moon. It's blithe, and loony, and lovely all at once, and ends with Ratoff (as the real Cossack) spouting indignantly at Power's pitiful imposture. Duplicity abounds, and everyone is wise to it including Helen Westley as Winninger's canny sister whom the mock Russian aristocrat at one point coyly slips a bodice boutonniere.