If You Could Only Cook (1935) - film review

Jim Buchanan is a wealthy automobile magnate who is about to get married to a society woman for whom he has no real affection.  When the board of his company turns down his proposals for a new motorcar design, he storms out, threatening never to return.  Whilst sitting on a park bench, he meets Joan Hawthorne, a pleasant young woman who is desperately trying to find work – not an easy task with the country still in the grip of an economic depression.   In her newspaper, Joan finds an ad for a cook and butler.  She persuades Jim to apply for the job of the butler so that she can get the cook’s position.  Although they get the jobs, Jim and Joan are surprised to find that their living quarters consists of a single bedroom.  This, however, is the least of their worries, since their employers are a pair of notorious mobsters...

Herbert Marshall and Jean Arthur make a surprisingly effective team in this early screwball comedy, a genre that proved to be a popular antidote to the Great Depression.  Although Marshall is at his best in purely dramatic roles, this film demonstrates that he also had a flair for comedy.  His smooth English charm is the perfect complement to Jean Arthur’s rough-round-the-edges ballsy New Yorker.  The plot veers towards Keystone-style craziness, complete with comedy hoodlums that would not have been out of place in a Mack Sennett film.  Still, the jokes are fun and the performances a joy to watch – just the kind of thing to lift the spirits of an audience seeking distraction from economic hardship.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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