Michael_Elliott Cafe Metropole (1937) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Decent comedy about the American Alexis (Tyrone Power) who loses a big bet to Monsieur Victor (Adolphe Menjou) and afterwards has to admit that he doesn't have the money to pay up. Through what's basically blackmail, Victor forces Alexis to romance the beautiful and rich Laura (Loretta Young) so that she will marry him and in return Alexis can pay Victor. CAFE METROPOLE offers up a terrific cast but sadly the screenplay is just a tad bit too silly and too far-fetched to be believable. Yes, you might argue that any type of comedy can be silly as long as it makes you laugh and this is certainly true but there's not enough laughs here to really call this a comedy and what happens at the end is just so out of touch with reality that you really can't help but roll your eyes. However, the two leads are in fine form and manage to have that wonderful chemistry that they did throughout their careers. Power isn't believable playing "Russian" but this here isn't all that important as I can overlook this as part of the comedy. Young is as charming as ever and just floats with her grace on camera. The two of them have that good chemistry together and help keep the film moving. Menjou is also good in his supporting role even though the screenplay does very little to actually help him. I think the film works best early on when we see Power and Menjou going after one another as they try to solve the issue with the money. Once Young enters the picture you have the before mentioned chemistry but the screenplay just becomes too wacky for its own good. I think a dose of reality would have really helped things and the various crosses in the final fifteen-minutes just don't work. Still, fans of the three stars will still want to check this one out.

David (Handlinghandel) The character players are the best here. Adolph Menjou was generally reliable and here he is plausible as a shady restaurateur. Charles Winninger and Helen Westley are somewhat amusing as Americans. (This takes place in Paris.) Gregory Ratoff is less interesting. He was Russian but if his Russian dialogue is legitimate, I must have misheard my Russian grandparents and wasted four years in Russian class at an Ivy league school. (And both are possible. The point is, he is not well directed.) Tyrone Power seems uncomfortable as the male lead. Loretta Young's character is written well. It is probably the most complex in the movie. And she was almost always good.Somehow she doesn't seem to have filmed well, albeit often in soft focus. She was one of the greatest beauties in Hollywood history and had a long, illustrious career. Here, though, her overbite is very noticeable and she seems unnecessarily thin.Nothing about the movie is offensive but it never really convinces.

shrine-2 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.

jenny-103 Tyrone Power shows his considerable comic flare in his role as a young American in Paris who is blackmailed into posing as a Russian prince to court a wealthy heiress (Loretta Young). The script is extremely witty with fast-paced, sharp dialogue that keeps the viewer in stitches from start to finish. Highly recommended! Unfortunately, this movie is not available on video, but it is played on the Fox Movie Channel from time to time.