If You Could Only Cook (1935)
Directed by William A. Seiter

Film Review

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.

Film Synopsis

Jim Buchanan, the well-heeled director of a large car manufacturing company, is about to get married to a society woman for whom he has no real affection.  After his revolutionary design for a new motorcar has been turned down by his board of directors Jim storms out and threatens never to return.  The unhappy businessman is sitting on a bench in the park when he meets Joan Hawthorne, a likeable young woman who is desperately trying to find work - not an easy task when the whole country is caught in the worst economic depression in living memory.  Joan cheers up when she comes across an advertisement in her newspaper for a cook and butler.  She convinces Jim he should apply for the job of the butler so that she can get the cook's position.  One-time bootlegger Mike Rossini is happy to take the two of them on at his large mansion, but Jim and Joan are not impressed when they find that they have to share the same bedroom.  This, however, proves to be the least of their worries, as their rich employers turn out to be notorious mobsters.  It isn't long before Rossini's bodyguard Flash takes a liking to Joan...