Cafe Metropole

Last updated
Cafe Metropole
Cafe metropole poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Edward H. Griffith
Screenplay by Jacques Deval
Story by Gregory Ratoff
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Nunnally Johnson
Starring Loretta Young
Tyrone Power
Adolphe Menjou
Cinematography Lucien N. Andriot
Edited by Irene Morra
Music by David Buttolph
Cyril J. Mockridge
Production
company
Distributed byTwentieth Century Fox
Release date
  • May 7, 1937 (1937-05-07)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Cafe Metropole is a 1937 American romantic comedy film directed by Edward H. Griffith and starring Loretta Young, Tyrone Power and Adolphe Menjou. It was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on an original story by Gregory Ratoff who also appears in the film. It is part of the tradition of screwball comedies which was at their height during the decade. It was commercially successful on its release. [1]

Contents

Plot

In Paris in 1937, Victor Lobard owns the very exclusive Café Metropole. One night, he must expel drunk American Alexander Brown after closing time. He is then visited by Maxl Schinner, who had lent Victor 900,000 francs (which he embezzled), and Victor has repaid nothing. Victor asks for another 60,000 francs and promises to repay everything at 6:00 the next evening. Maxl gives him the money.

Victor risks the 60,000 francs at baccarat and wins 420,000 more. Alexander wagers the full amount against him, but loses. Victor seemingly has the money he needs, but then Brown confesses that he is penniless. Victor makes a deal with Alexander, convincing him to impersonate Russian nobleman Prince Alexis Paneiev and to romance heiress Laura Ridgeway, the daughter of Victor's old friend, so that Victor can have access to the girl's money.

"Alexis" arrives early at the café and visits the Metropole's flower shop for a boutonnière. There he is mistaken by Laura for an employee, and Alexis is enchanted, without knowing whom she is. When Laura joins her father at their table, she asks Victor to attract some celebrities or royalty. Alexis enters and is greeted by Victor as "your highness," embarrassing Laura. Alexis dances with Laura but is summoned by a waiter to answer a telephone call. However, there is no call; the waiter is the real Alexis Paneiev. Victor manages to soothe his outraged honor and obtain his silence for 50,000 francs.

Alexander falls in love with Laura, but he cannot bear to lie to her any longer. He tries and fails to discourage her love for him without revealing the sordid details. He tells Victor that he will tell her the truth, but when she telephones and asks him to marry her, he at last says yes. Victor has his lawyer, Monnet, present Alexander with a contract asking for money from Laura's father, Joseph Ridgeway: half a million dollars before the wedding, and the same amount after, as well as various sums for any children. This so disgusts Alexander that he tells Victor that he is through with the scheme. Victor, after trying to bluff him into submission, pretends to give up and gives him back his passport and his bad check. Then Victor tells Ridgeway that Alexis is a fraud. He cons Ridgeway into believing he bought Alexis off; Ridgeway writes him a check for a million francs to help with the costs.

Ridgeway tells Laura the news, but she surprises him by saying she knew all along. However, when he states that he bought Alexis off, Laura does not believe him. She is certain that Alexis is in trouble and insists on finding out what is going on.

Ridgeway asks the Sûreté to arrest Alexis. Instead, they jail the genuine prince. When Laura goes to the jail to see her Alexis, she is surprised to find an older man, who reveals that Victor is involved somehow. As Laura is leaving, she finds Alexander being charged with fraud. Joseph Ridgeway is arrested on the false charge that he was impersonating himself. They realize that they have all been played by Victor. They get out of jail and go back to the Café Metropole. Alexander and Laura, who are going to get married, get back the check that Alexander wrote, so he is no longer in danger of going to jail.

Loretta Young LORETTAYoung.jpg
Loretta Young
Tyrone Power Tyrone Power - still.jpg
Tyrone Power

Cast

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Frank S. Nugent wrote: "[I]ts plot has a warmed-over look about it and bulks no larger than Tyrone Power's chance of winning an academy award. Yet, it comes pleasantly seasoned with comedy and it has been served with a modest flourish or two ..." [2]

Chicago Tribune critic Mae Tinée praised Cafe Metropole: "Sparkle, zest, and a cunning touch to this scenario ... Direction was excellent and the film is beautifully put on. Not a dull moment in 'Café Metropole'—you have my word for it." [3]

Writing in Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene compared the film to "a plain, honest, inexpressibly dull guest at a light and loony party." [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Gold Diggers of 1935</i> 1935 American film

Gold Diggers of 1935 is an American Warner Bros. musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley, his directorial debut. It stars Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady, Hugh Herbert, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh, and features Joseph Cawthorn, Grant Mitchell, Dorothy Dare, and Winifred Shaw. The songs were written by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film is best known for its famous "Lullaby of Broadway" production number. That song, sung by Shaw, also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The screenplay was by Manuel Seff and Peter Milne, based on a story by Robert Lord, who also produced the film, and Milne.

<i>Clockers</i> (film) 1995 film directed by Spike Lee

Clockers is a 1995 American crime drama film directed by Spike Lee. It is an adaptation of the 1992 novel of the same name by Richard Price, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Lee. The film stars Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, and Mekhi Phifer in his debut film role. Set in New York City, Clockers tells the story of Strike (Phifer), a street-level drug dealer who becomes entangled in a murder investigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Ratoff</span> Russian-American actor (1893–1960)

Gregory Ratoff was a Russian-American film director, actor and producer. As an actor, he was best known for his role as producer "Max Fabian" in All About Eve (1950).

<i>I Like It Like That</i> (film) 1994 American film

I Like It Like That is a 1994 American comedy-drama film about the trials and tribulations of a young Puerto Rican couple living in a poverty-stricken New York City neighborhood in the South Bronx. The film stars Lauren Velez, Jon Seda, Lisa Vidal, Griffin Dunne, Jesse Borrego and Rita Moreno, and was written and directed by Darnell Martin who, in her filmmaking debut, became the first African-American female filmmaker to take helm of a film produced by a major film studio.

<i>Under Two Flags</i> (1936 film) 1936 film by Frank Lloyd, Otto Brower

Under Two Flags is a 1936 American adventure romance film directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen, and Rosalind Russell. The picture was based on the 1867 novel of the same name by the writer Ouida. The film was widely popular with audiences of its time. The supporting cast features Nigel Bruce, John Carradine, and Fritz Leiber.

<i>Seventh Heaven</i> (1937 film) 1937 film by Henry King

Seventh Heaven is an American romantic drama film released in 1937 by 20th Century Fox, directed by Henry King and starring Simone Simon and James Stewart. The supporting cast features Jean Hersholt, Gregory Ratoff, Gale Sondergaard, and John Qualen.

<i>Ladies in Love</i> 1936 film by Edward H. Griffith

Ladies in Love is a 1936 American romantic comedy film based upon the play by Ladislaus Bus-Fekete. It was directed by Edward H. Griffith and stars Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett and Loretta Young. The film revolves around three roommates in exotic Budapest and their comical romantic adventures. Gaynor, Bennett, and Young were billed above the title, with Gaynor receiving top billing. The movie also featured Simone Simon, Don Ameche, Paul Lukas, and Tyrone Power.

<i>A Farewell to Arms</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

A Farewell to Arms is a 1932 American pre-Code romance drama film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou. Based on the 1929 semi-autobiographical novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, with a screenplay by Oliver H. P. Garrett and Benjamin Glazer, the film is about a tragic romantic love affair between an American ambulance driver and an English nurse in Italy during World War I. The film received Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Art Direction.

<i>Head over Heels</i> (1922 film) 1922 film

Head over Heels is a 1922 American comedy film starring Mabel Normand and directed by Paul Bern and Victor Schertzinger. This is a surviving comedy film at the Library of Congress. The supporting cast includes Raymond Hatton and Adolphe Menjou.

<i>Forbidden</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

Forbidden is a 1932 American pre-Code melodrama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, and Ralph Bellamy. An original story inspired by the 1931 novel Back Street by Fannie Hurst, with a screenplay by Jo Swerling, the film is about a young librarian who falls in love with a married man while on a sea cruise.

<i>The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo</i> (film) 1935 film by Stephen Roberts

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo is a 1935 American romantic comedy film made by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Stephen Roberts, and starred Ronald Colman, Joan Bennett, and Colin Clive. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and Howard Smith, based on a play by Ilya Surgutchoff and Frederick Albert Swan. The film was inspired by the song of the same name popularised by Charles Coborn.

<i>The Story of Alexander Graham Bell</i> 1939 film by Irving Cummings

The Story of Alexander Graham Bell is a somewhat fictionalized 1939 biographical film of the famous inventor. It was filmed in black-and-white and released by Twentieth Century-Fox. The film stars Don Ameche as Bell and Loretta Young as Mabel, his wife, who contracted scarlet fever at an early age and became deaf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Beranger</span> Australian actor (1893–1973)

George Beranger, was an Australian silent film actor, director and film writer in New York and Hollywood. He is also sometimes credited under the pseudonym George Andre de Beranger. and multiple variations of the same.

<i>Sinners in the Sun</i> 1932 film

Sinners in the Sun is a 1932 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Alexander Hall, and starring Carole Lombard, Chester Morris, Adrienne Ames, and Alison Skipworth. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsty Soames</span> Soap opera character

Kirsty Soames is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Natalie Gumede. She made her first on-screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 7 September 2011.

<i>Love Is News</i> 1937 film by Tay Garnett

Love Is News is a 1937 American romantic comedy film starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, and Don Ameche. The movie was directed by Tay Garnett and was the first film for which Power had top billing. The picture was remade in 1947 as That Wonderful Urge, with Power again and Gene Tierney.

<i>Sing, Baby, Sing</i> 1936 film by Sidney Lanfield

Sing, Baby, Sing is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Alice Faye, Adolphe Menjou and Gregory Ratoff. It was produced and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. Richard A. Whiting and Walter Bullock received an Academy Award nomination in Best Original Song at the 9th Academy Awards for their song "When Did You Leave Heaven".

<i>Lost: A Wife</i> 1925 film

Lost: A Wife is a 1925 American silent comedy film directed by William C. deMille and written by Clara Beranger based upon a play by Clare Kummer and Alfred Savoir. The film stars Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen, Robert Agnew, Edgar Norton, Mario Carillo, and Genaro Spagnoli. The film was released on July 13, 1925, by Paramount Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Borden</span> French-American actor (1897–1971)

Eugene Borden was a French-American actor, active in Hollywood from the silent era until the mid-1960’s. Born in Paris, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, and entered the film industry a short time later. He appeared in over 150 films, as well as shorts, serials, and television shows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Cheron (actor)</span> French-American actor (1880–1952)

André Cheron was a French-born American character actor of the late silent and early sound film eras. During his 16-year career he appeared in over 100 films, usually in smaller roles, although with the occasional featured part.

References

  1. Halbout p.9
  2. Nugent, Frank (1937-04-29). "The Screen". The New York Times . p. 17.
  3. Tinee, Mae (8 May 1937). "A Smart Cast Puts Sparkle in Clever Movie: You Won't Be Bored at 'Cafe Metropole". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 19. ProQuest   181843341.
  4. Greene, Graham (30 September 1937). "Knight Without Armour/Café Metropole". Night and Day. Reprinted in: Greene, Graham (1980). Taylor, John Russell (ed.). The Pleasure-dome: The Collected Film Criticism, 1935-40. Oxford University Press. pp. 171–172. ISBN   978-0-19-281286-5.

Bibliography