mark.waltz His man Godfrey gets a wife and a cook on thus amusing screwball comedy where a wealthy automobile industrialist takes on a butler position with a stranger he met in the park posing His wife, a cook. She has no idea who he really is, while their rather eccentric boss didn't have a clue that he was a being had. All it took was Jean Arthur, as the cooking candidate, to waft a clove of garlic over a pot of sauce rather than drop the whole thing in. Herbert Marshall is the deadpan millionaire posing as a butler, while Leo Carrillo is the rather crass employer with a dubious career and gravel voiced Lionel Stander as his sour assistant.A year before the release of "My Man Godfrey", society got a poke in the nose with this dry screwball comedy which, while not quite a classic, is amusing extremely amusing. Carrillo, an underrated comic, steals every scene just by destroying every English word he speaks. Stander um is also dreadfully funny, filled with acid wit that brings on hysterics just by dropping an ordinary line. Frieda Ibescort is imperious as Marshall's nasty fiancé.Typical but well written and superbly acted, this is formula fluff that Stoll has enough surprises along the way to keep it fresh. Arthur gives the impression that she may know Marshall's true identity. Stander gets to follow Marshall around, giving some mistaken confusion to the busy plot. This isn't earth shaking, but has many fun moments that makes it quite delicious.

Maddyclassicfilms If You Could Only Cook is an easy and undemanding underrated little film. Set during the Great Depression of the 1930's it tells the story of car giant owner Jim Buchanan(Herbert Marshall)who is due to be married to an upper class lady who he isn't really sure he truly loves. So a couple of days before the wedding he takes himself off for a while to really think about his decision.Sitting on a park bench he meets the kind outgoing and unemployed Joan Hawthorne(Jean Arthur),she assumes that he is out of work as well and they look through the jobs section of the newspaper. Jim decides to play along and pretend he needs a job and they both go for a double vacancy of butler and cook.Thanks to Joans cooking talent the wealthy Mike Rossini(Leo Carrillo)hires them.With the help of his own butler Jim learns how to be convincing and helps Joan with household duties all the while realizing he is falling in love with her.He is torn about if he should tell Joan the truth about who he really is or continue to be "Jim Burns" hardworking dedicated butler. Although not the best film of all time this is well made and enjoyable if you don't expect much from it. Herbert is superb as the upper class man who learns about life and love and is able to do things for himself so he can enjoy them and not do things that others think he'll enjoy.He and Jean Arthur have a great chemistry and their characters are very likable and this is just a fun film that'll cheer you up as you wait to see if they can get together and get married.Worth watching.

bensonj This dry, low-key romantic comedy is very satisfying. Arthur is excellent, and Marshall is well cast as an automobile executive who wants to get away from his stuffy board of directors and his pushy fiancé, and finds happiness posing as a butler (initially so that Arthur can get work as part of a butler-cook team). Lionel Stander (as he often does) steals the show as the acerbic sidekick of gangster Carillo, and he's given some great lines. Carillo is pleasing, too, as the gangster who wants to live like the gentry, and who's romantically interested in Arthur, but who's willing to hold back because he's a gourmet and is even more interested in retaining her as a cook. The best thing about the film is that it never gets tripped up in excessive plot complications, or telegraphs its humor. Giving Carillo a gustatorial as well as romantic interest allows him to take certain actions without burdening the romance of the principals. And, after giving us enough of a glimpse of the snotty fiancé to know what Marshall's in for, the film has the grace not to show her face again; no silly "scheming" or tiresome bared claws. In the final scene, when all are trying to convince Arthur through a locked door that she should marry, they move from straight arguments to playing roles in a "routine," but there's no winking and signaling to signify a change in technique, it just flows quickly and naturally. The film has enough confidence in the unfolding of the relationship between the principals that the intrusion of other characters and mechanical "plot complications" can be kept to a minimum Thus Carillo's proposal and interference at the denouement serves mainly to allow Arthur to voice her feelings about Marshall, and Carillo actually brings them together rather than holding them apart. Nice film.

joe robertson this movie is in the spirit of pursuing your dreams and following your heart. it's the wonderfully silly story of a auto designer whose company wants to keep making what sells rather that try his new designs. while soul-searching in the park he meets unemployed Jean Arthur who thinks he's down on his luck also. she sees a job for a married couple (a live in butler and cook), turns to him and ergo, the title. anyway, it's a lot of fun. for some reason this isn't available on video and isn't shown on TCM etc. so i had to find a copy on eBay. and now our town is having a Jean Arthur film festival (why didn't they consult me!? :-)). this is my favorite of Jean Arthur's movies not available on video, followed by Party Wire.