Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Sheridan Gibney (story) and
Leo McCarey (story) ...

Release Date:

27 November 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Mystery

Tagline:

Gee it's great to be together at last on another fellows honeymoon!

Plot:

In pre-WW2 Europe, a woman notices that wherever her husband goes, the Nazis seem to follow. Meanwhile, a charming reporter is following them...

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Burlesque | Spy | Machine Gun | Patriotism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole
Ginger Rogers	...	Katie O'Hara Von Luber, aka Katherine Butt-Smith
Walter Slezak	...	Baron Von Luber
Albert Dekker	...	Gaston Le Blanc, Paris photographer
Albert Bassermann	...	Polish general Borelski
Ferike Boros	...	Elsa - Katie's Vienna maid
Harry Shannon	...	Ed Cumberland, O'Toole's radio chief
Natasha Lytess	...	Anna - Jewish hotel maid

Runtime:

117 min | USA:115 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German | Hebrew

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #8518)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Director Leo McCarey shot additional scenes for insurance in September 1942, before Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers started new movies.

Quotes:

Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole: But I still don't see how a lovely creature with your possibilities could a...
Katie O'Hara Von Luber, aka Katherine Butt-Smith: You're a newspaperman?
Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole: Yeah.
Katie O'Hara Von Luber, aka Katherine Butt-Smith: Why?
Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole: That's what I wanted to be.
Katie O'Hara Von Luber, aka Katherine Butt-Smith: It's that simple. Goodbye.
Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole: Now, just a moment. One last look. I want to always remember you just the way you look tonight... today.

Soundtrack:

Strip Polka

Uneasy mix of comedy and drama

"Once Upon a Honeymoon" is a 1942 film directed by Leo McCarey with a script by Sheridan Gibney and McCarey. Despite its stars, Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers and McCarey as director, the uneven script ultimately topples this film. Part of the problem is that as an audience member, you're not sure what to do - is it serious or funny? In a way, the audience is set up for comedy - they see it's a McCarey film with Rogers and Grant - and then they don't really get it when parts of it aren't funny. When it's Europe in World War II and you're mistaken for Jews, it's no joke.

Nevertheless, this is a film with some very good scenes, particularly at the beginning when Rogers feigns a fake British/upper class accent and then takes a call from her mother; she then sounds like a fishwife as she announces her marriage to one Baron von Luber (Walter Slezak). Grant plays an American war correspondent investigating the Baron, who is suspected of being a top - but secret - ally of Hitler's. It does seem that wherever he goes, that country falls soon after. When Grant takes Rogers to lunch, he tells her vodka is Polish water - she takes hers with some brandy. She eventually escapes from von Luber but is forced to re-connect with him to get information.

"Once Upon a Honeymoon" has its moments, including its serious ones, but it seems like two films, neither belonging with the other. A real McCarey comedy with Grant and Rogers tripping up the Nazis would have been great; and of course, both actors could have pulled over a serious war film as well. In trying to make them do both, the movie's statement is confused.