God's Gift to Women (1931)

A Parisian descendant of Don Juan vows to stop philandering in order to win the hand of a virtous young lady with a disapproving father.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Joseph Jackson (screenplay), Raymond Griffith (screenplay),

Stars:

Frank Fay, Laura La Plante, Joan Blondell

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Fay	...	Toto Duryea
Laura La Plante	...	Diane Churchill
Joan Blondell	...	Fifi
Charles Winninger	...	John Churchill
Alan Mowbray	...	Auguste, Toto's Butler
Arthur Edmund Carewe	...	Dr. Louis Dumont
Billy House	...	Mons. Cesare
Yola d'Avril	...	Dagmar
John T. Murray	...	Mons. Chaumier, an Irate Husband
Louise Brooks	...	Florine
Margaret Livingston	...	Tania Donaliff
Armand Kaliz	...	Mons. Rancour
Charles Judels	...	Undertaker
Tyrell Davis	...	Basil, called 'Pompom' (as Tyrrell Davis)
Eleanor Gutchrlein	...	Maybelle (as Sisters G)

Storyline

Contemporary Casanova Toto loves beautiful women and pursues them shamelessly. Then he falls in love with respectable Mary and realizes that to win her he must stop his philandering. But Mary has little confidence in Toto's resolve and concocts a plan of her own.

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Plot Keywords:

catfight | negligée | heiress | doctor | philanderer | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 April 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Too Many Women

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Vitaphone

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Florine and Fifi encounter each other in Toto's apartment, he introduces them respectively as his 'night nurse' and his 'day nurse' and Fifi threatens Florine with the line "I'll 'night nurse' you!" Joan Blondell, who plays Fifi, would go on to play a day nurse in the film Night Nurse.

User Reviews

Falling star

During the 1920s, Frank Fay was the highest paid performer in vaudeville, the comedian from whom Jack Benny candidly admitted he lifted his on-stage style. By 1931 when "God's Gift to Women" was released, he had married Barbara Stanwyck and groomed her for stardom while his own career was rapidly declining. An arrogant drunk with a flair for alienating his fellow performers, Fay's downfall didn't get much sympathy though it purportedly inspired the movie, "A Star is Born." For more than a decade, he was the classic example of a "used-to-was" until the producers of the Broadway play, "Harvey," tapped him to play Elwood P. Dowd. It was among the most memorable stage performances I've ever seen, a classic of fey (sic) whimsy and superb comedy timing. Jimmy Stewart in the screen version, couldn't come close. Suddenly, a far less arrogant Frank Fay was enjoying the accolades that had eluded him since the late 1920s. Watch "God's Gift to Women," a stiff, stilted early pre-code romantic romp and you'll see both why Fay's career went downhill and conversely why he had the ideal vaguely befuddled style to play a man with a six foot tall rabbit as a pal.