Cast:
Charles Boyer (Paul Dumond), Jean Arthur (Irene Vail), Leo Carrillo (Cesare), Colin Clive (Bruce Vail), Ivan Lebedeff (Michael, Vail's Chauffeur), George Meeker (Mr. Norton), Lucien Prival (Private Detective), George Davis (Maestro), and Pierre Watkin (Commodore Eldridge) Directed by Frank Borzage (#1611 - A Farewell to Arms)
Review:
Admittedly, some genre-bender movies work a bit differently from others. Particularly if they are romance movies that also happen to have a climax that echoes the Titanic disaster to go along with the towering power of love (or something like that). Who else but Walter Wanger to bring such an enterprising production to the screen? Wanger, who started his producing career with The Sheik (1921), certainly liked to bring both message movies and romantic melodramas to the big screen over an extensive career that saw him work both on his own and with studios, with this being distributed by United Artists. He presented the title and a bare script to Borzage (known already with 7th Heaven (1927) and Bad Girl (1931) for romance triumphs) to pitch him the film, which apparently got him on board. The eventual movie was written by C. Graham Baker while the screenplay was done by Gene Towne, Vincent Lawrence & David Hertz. This wasn't exactly a new idea to have a melodrama infused with a natural disaster, as evidenced by films such as Cavalcade (1933) and San Francisco (1936).
It's a pretty good melodrama, all things considered, if only because it actually has a little fun playing screwball humor to go with its eventual turn of suspense to encapsulate a 95-minute experience that mostly gets it done in the ways that matter. The classic melodrama of the time may have had its contrived moments, but one can always find something energetic or dazzling when it comes to the right hands at director or in the chemistry of its stars. It results in a tender experience wrapped with plenty of warmth that carries itself well without becoming wrapped in all of the contrivances possible. Sometimes one requires a bit of sacrifice and struggle when it comes to romance...one that makes us fall for these two folks in how they are together, right down to each of them getting to engage the other with a hastily created hand puppet. Boyer makes for a charming rogue, one who glides through the film with charisma to spare in a down-to-earth sort of way that we gravitate to pretty quickly in ways slightly different from what he wound up doing in countless other movies. Arthur had been acting on-and-off since 1923 with fleeting notice, but The Whole Town's Talking (1935) and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) put her on the radar, and she certainly excels at making a sort of every-woman kind of role. It is the foibles that each one shows (mostly in Arthur) that we grow to appreciate, where her vulnerabilities are our vulnerabilities, and her dancing in a vacant restaurant (while fiddling with her heels) certainly makes for one of the more interesting sequences of their fluorescent whirlwind together. This was the penultimate role for Clive (who had gone from the stage in 1925 to both stage and film by the 1930s), who died from complications of tuberculosis a couple of months after the release of this film at the age of 37. He makes for a conniving third lead, one perverted in obsession that believes in how righteous they are all the way to the bitter end, which makes a suitable cold ham performance. Carrillo dazzles well in support by acting as the partner for Boyer for sequences involving high-strung people making the best of interesting scenarios, such as exploring the differences for waiters in France compared to America or a cook finding an old friend on a boat. It's a warm and crispy kind of movie, one where all the parts move with resourceful zip and energy to the proceedings. By the time it maneuvers to the ship for its climax, I was having a pretty breezy time enjoying the surroundings that around these folks that is engaging without being overbearing. Sure, one might know where the end road goes, but the path to get there is the enjoyable part and seeing them have to deal with impending ship doom is still a fine way to handle entertainment. As a whole, it is a nice experience lifted by Borzage and company for a solid gem of smiles all the way around that would be ripe for curious filmgoers everywhere.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
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