Good Girls Go to Paris: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|1939 film by Alexander Hall}} |
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{{Infobox film |
{{Infobox film |
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| name = Good Girls Go to Paris |
| name = Good Girls Go to Paris |
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| image = |
| image = |
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| image_size = |
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| caption = |
| caption = |
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| director = [[Alexander Hall]] |
| director = [[Alexander Hall]] |
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| producer = [[William Perlberg]] |
| producer = [[William Perlberg]] |
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| writer = {{plainlist|*[[Gladys Lehman]] |
| writer = {{plainlist| |
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* [[Gladys Lehman]] |
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*Ken Englund}} |
* [[Ken Englund]]}} |
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| ⚫ | |||
| story = |
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| starring = {{plainlist| |
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| ⚫ | |||
* [[Melvyn Douglas]] |
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| narrator = |
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* [[Joan Blondell]]}} |
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| music = |
| music = |
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| cinematography = [[Henry Freulich]] |
| cinematography = [[Henry Freulich]] |
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| editing = [[Al Clark ( |
| editing = [[Al Clark (film editor)|Al Clark]] |
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| studio = [[Columbia Pictures]] |
| studio = [[Columbia Pictures]] |
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| distributor = Columbia Pictures |
| distributor = Columbia Pictures |
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| gross = |
| gross = |
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}} |
}} |
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'''''Good Girls Go to Paris''''' is a 1939 American romantic comedy film starring [[Melvyn Douglas]] and [[Joan Blondell]]. |
'''''Good Girls Go to Paris''''' is a 1939 American romantic comedy film starring [[Melvyn Douglas]] and [[Joan Blondell]]. |
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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Jenny Swanson is a waitress in a small college town whose dream is to go to Paris by any means necessary. She confides her plan for a little gold-digging and blackmail to Ronald "Ronnie" Brooke, a professor on exchange from England. Brooke tries to dissuade her, telling her that "good girls go to Paris, too." |
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Jenny Swanson ([[Joan Blondell]]), a waitress in a small University town, may be seen as a gold-digging person. In fact her attitude towards blackmailing a boys father is summed by her in short as: she has a good time, the boy has a good time and the father has so much money he doesn't even notice, the money was spent. Every day, she explains the new Greek professor Ronald Brook - called Ronnie - ([[Melvyn Douglas]]) in magazines and newspaper one can read about a girl that succeeded in being proposed by a rich boy, whose father doesn't agree to a wedding and who is willing to give the girl a lot of money in order she disappears. The girl takes the money and leaves for Paris. That's what she would like to do. |
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In fact she gets involved with a rich family the Daytons. But Dayton senior doesn't fall for her blackmail, so she has to leave town, as he threatens her. |
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Her first attempt ends badly. Although she attracts rich Ted Dayton Jr., his father refuses to pay her off, insisting she back up her claim that she has a written marriage proposal. When she does not produce it, the father threatens her with the police, unless she agrees to leave town and never come back. She tells Brooke she had the letter in her purse, but at the last moment, could not bring herself to take it out. Brooke advises her to go home, then reveals that he is getting married in New York City and returning to England. Jenny starts to buy a ticket home, but then decides to go to New York instead. |
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Meantime she is grown very fond of professor Brook. He convinces her to leave for her hometown in Minnesota. But in the last moment she buys a ticket for New York City. So she meets Tom Brand ([[Alan Curtis (American actor)]]), the future brother in law of Professor Brook. They travel together, they go places in New York until Tom is finally drunk and has to be taken home by Jenny. There Tom's grandfather Olaf Brand ([[Walter Connolly]]), a despotic millionaire, suffering from nobody knows what wakes up and shouts around, until Jenny treats him with some very simple and old methods of her minnesotian swedish-origined family. As Brand is also Minnesotian and of swedish ancestors he is delighted at once about Jenny. |
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The various romantic entanglements of the family members and herself are then ground for many ambiguities, secrets but also surprises, and a happy end, for most of them. |
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At the train station, she runs into Brooke and his fiancée's brother, Tom Brand. She and Tom become acquainted on the train. He likes her very much, even after she tells him all about her blackmail attempt. In New York City, he takes her to nightclub after nightclub. At one, she encounters Tom's mother Caroline, out with her boyfriend Paul Kingston. At another, she spots Sylvia Brand, Brooke's fiancée, dancing with medical student Dennis Jeffers, whom Sylvia has known since childhood. Jenny eavesdrops and learns that Sylvia is in love with Dennis, but fears being disinherited by her very wealthy grandfather Olaf if they married (Dennis is the son of the family butler). She also discovers that Tom owes $5000 in gambling debts to Mr. Schultz. |
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After Jenny brings a drunk Tom home very late at night, she encounters Caroline sneaking in. They wake up an irritable, ailing Olaf, so Caroline introduces her as Sylvia's friend from college. Jenny prescribes traditional Swedish remedies, which soon make Olaf much pleasanter. When Brooke shows up the next morning, he is flabbergasted to find she is a houseguest ... and one of Sylvia's bridesmaids. She soon becomes a great favorite of Olaf's. He would be very pleased to have Tom marry her. |
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Crises abound. First, Schultz comes for his money. Jenny keeps him from seeing Olaf, who knows nothing about Tom's debt, and promises to pay him tomorrow. Next, Dennis injures a man while driving; Sylvia is a passenger and gives her name as Jenny Swanson to avoid scandal. She asks Jenny to play along, so Jenny demands $5000 to do it. That takes care of Tom's IOUs. When she learns that Paul and Caroline plan to elope, Jenny arranges it so that Caroline learns the truth: that Paul is only after her wealth. Then, Olaf announces Tom and Jenny's engagement at his party. Finally, an attorney representing the injured man barges in to speak to Olaf, followed a little later by the Daytons, who have their own quarrel with Olaf. Olaf gathers his family together to figure out what is going on. Eventually, everything is straightened out: Sylvia gets Dennis, and Brooke gets Jenny. |
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==Cast== |
==Cast== |
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* [[Melvyn Douglas]] as Ronald |
* [[Melvyn Douglas]] as Ronald Brooke |
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* [[Joan Blondell]] as Jenny Swanson |
* [[Joan Blondell]] as Jenny Swanson |
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* [[Walter Connolly]] as Olaf Brand |
* [[Walter Connolly]] as Olaf Brand |
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* [[Joan Perry]] as Sylvia Brand |
* [[Joan Perry]] as Sylvia Brand |
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* [[Isabel Jeans]] as Caroline Brand |
* [[Isabel Jeans]] as Caroline Brand |
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* |
* Stanley Brown as Ted Dayton Jr. |
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* [[Alexander D'Arcy]] as Paul Kingston |
* [[Alexander D'Arcy]] as Paul Kingston |
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* |
* Henry Hunter as Dennis Jeffers |
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* [[Clarence Kolb]] as Ted Dayton Sr. |
* [[Clarence Kolb]] as Ted Dayton Sr. |
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* [[Howard Hickman]] as Jeffers |
* [[Howard Hickman]] as Jeffers |
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* [[Mary Field]] as Ada - Brand's Maid |
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== Production == |
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The film was originally intended to star [[Charles Boyer]] and [[Jean Arthur]]. Arthur pulled out first, followed by Boyer.<ref>{{cite book |title=Jean Arthur; the Actress Nobody Knew |first=John |last=Oller}}</ref> Boyer rejected the offer to star in ''[[Love Affair (1939 film)|Love Affair]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Swindell |first1=Larry |title=Charles Boyer: The Reluctant Lover |location=Garden City, New York |isbn=0385170521 |page=130 |edition=first |url=https://archive.org/details/charlesboyerrelu00swin/page/130/}}</ref> |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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''[[New York Times]]'' reviewer [[Frank Nugent]] was of the opinion that the cast was trying too hard, and "the general effect, consequently, is not so much that of an appeal to the humorous instinct of the onlooker as an attack upon it".<ref name=NYTrvw/> [[P. S. Harrison]] rated it "a pretty good comedy" and advised exhibitors: "It should go over with the masses, for the light story presents no problems".<ref name=Harrison/> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{reflist |
{{reflist|refs= |
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<ref name=NYTrvw>{{cite news |title=In the Farce Vein Is 'Good Girls Go to Paris,' at the Music Hall |author=Frank S. Nugent |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 23, 1939 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0CE2DB163BE333A25750C2A9609C946894D6CF |accessdate=2015-11-02}}</ref> |
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<ref name=Harrison>{{cite journal |author=P. S. Harrison |title=Good Girls Go to Paris |journal=[[Harrison's Reports]] |date=July 1, 1939 |volume=XXI |issue=26 |page=102 |url=https://www.archive.org/stream/harrisonsreports21harr#page/n121/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> |
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}} |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*{{ |
* {{IMDb title|0031383}} |
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*{{tcmdb title|28116}} |
* {{tcmdb title|28116}} |
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*{{ |
* {{AFI film|4659}} |
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{{Alexander Hall}} |
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[[Category:American films]] |
[[Category:American black-and-white films]] |
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[[Category:American romantic comedy films]] |
[[Category:American romantic comedy films]] |
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| ⚫ | |||
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]] |
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]] |
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[[Category:Films based on short fiction]] |
[[Category:Films based on short fiction]] |
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[[Category:Films directed by Alexander Hall]] |
[[Category:Films directed by Alexander Hall]] |
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[[Category:Films set in New York City]] |
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[[Category:Films set in Paris]] |
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[[Category:1939 romantic comedy films]] |
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| ⚫ | |||
[[Category:Films produced by William Perlberg]] |
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[[Category:1930s American films]] |
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Latest revision as of 22:26, 21 December 2024
| Good Girls Go to Paris | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Alexander Hall |
| Written by | |
| Based on | "Miss Aesop Butters Her Bread" by Lenore Coffee and William J. Cowen |
| Produced by | William Perlberg |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
| Edited by | Al Clark |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Good Girls Go to Paris is a 1939 American romantic comedy film starring Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell.
Plot
[edit]Jenny Swanson is a waitress in a small college town whose dream is to go to Paris by any means necessary. She confides her plan for a little gold-digging and blackmail to Ronald "Ronnie" Brooke, a professor on exchange from England. Brooke tries to dissuade her, telling her that "good girls go to Paris, too."
Her first attempt ends badly. Although she attracts rich Ted Dayton Jr., his father refuses to pay her off, insisting she back up her claim that she has a written marriage proposal. When she does not produce it, the father threatens her with the police, unless she agrees to leave town and never come back. She tells Brooke she had the letter in her purse, but at the last moment, could not bring herself to take it out. Brooke advises her to go home, then reveals that he is getting married in New York City and returning to England. Jenny starts to buy a ticket home, but then decides to go to New York instead.
At the train station, she runs into Brooke and his fiancée's brother, Tom Brand. She and Tom become acquainted on the train. He likes her very much, even after she tells him all about her blackmail attempt. In New York City, he takes her to nightclub after nightclub. At one, she encounters Tom's mother Caroline, out with her boyfriend Paul Kingston. At another, she spots Sylvia Brand, Brooke's fiancée, dancing with medical student Dennis Jeffers, whom Sylvia has known since childhood. Jenny eavesdrops and learns that Sylvia is in love with Dennis, but fears being disinherited by her very wealthy grandfather Olaf if they married (Dennis is the son of the family butler). She also discovers that Tom owes $5000 in gambling debts to Mr. Schultz.
After Jenny brings a drunk Tom home very late at night, she encounters Caroline sneaking in. They wake up an irritable, ailing Olaf, so Caroline introduces her as Sylvia's friend from college. Jenny prescribes traditional Swedish remedies, which soon make Olaf much pleasanter. When Brooke shows up the next morning, he is flabbergasted to find she is a houseguest ... and one of Sylvia's bridesmaids. She soon becomes a great favorite of Olaf's. He would be very pleased to have Tom marry her.
Crises abound. First, Schultz comes for his money. Jenny keeps him from seeing Olaf, who knows nothing about Tom's debt, and promises to pay him tomorrow. Next, Dennis injures a man while driving; Sylvia is a passenger and gives her name as Jenny Swanson to avoid scandal. She asks Jenny to play along, so Jenny demands $5000 to do it. That takes care of Tom's IOUs. When she learns that Paul and Caroline plan to elope, Jenny arranges it so that Caroline learns the truth: that Paul is only after her wealth. Then, Olaf announces Tom and Jenny's engagement at his party. Finally, an attorney representing the injured man barges in to speak to Olaf, followed a little later by the Daytons, who have their own quarrel with Olaf. Olaf gathers his family together to figure out what is going on. Eventually, everything is straightened out: Sylvia gets Dennis, and Brooke gets Jenny.
Cast
[edit]- Melvyn Douglas as Ronald Brooke
- Joan Blondell as Jenny Swanson
- Walter Connolly as Olaf Brand
- Alan Curtis as Tom Brand
- Joan Perry as Sylvia Brand
- Isabel Jeans as Caroline Brand
- Stanley Brown as Ted Dayton Jr.
- Alexander D'Arcy as Paul Kingston
- Henry Hunter as Dennis Jeffers
- Clarence Kolb as Ted Dayton Sr.
- Howard Hickman as Jeffers
- Mary Field as Ada - Brand's Maid
Production
[edit]The film was originally intended to star Charles Boyer and Jean Arthur. Arthur pulled out first, followed by Boyer.[1] Boyer rejected the offer to star in Love Affair.[2]
Reception
[edit]New York Times reviewer Frank Nugent was of the opinion that the cast was trying too hard, and "the general effect, consequently, is not so much that of an appeal to the humorous instinct of the onlooker as an attack upon it".[3] P. S. Harrison rated it "a pretty good comedy" and advised exhibitors: "It should go over with the masses, for the light story presents no problems".[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Oller, John. Jean Arthur; the Actress Nobody Knew.
- ^ Swindell, Larry. Charles Boyer: The Reluctant Lover (first ed.). Garden City, New York. p. 130. ISBN 0385170521.
- ^ Frank S. Nugent (June 23, 1939). "In the Farce Vein Is 'Good Girls Go to Paris,' at the Music Hall". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
- ^ P. S. Harrison (July 1, 1939). "Good Girls Go to Paris". Harrison's Reports. XXI (26): 102 – via Internet Archive.