Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)

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

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Sheridan Gibney (screen play), Sheridan Gibney (story),

Stars:

Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Walter Slezak

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Cary Grant	...	Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole
Ginger Rogers	...	Kathie O'Hara / Katherine Butt-Smith / Baroness Katherine Von Luber
Walter Slezak	...	Baron Franz Von Luber
Albert Dekker	...	Gaston Le Blanc
Albert Bassermann	...	Gen. Borelski
Ferike Boros	...	Elsa
John Banner	...	German Capt. Von Kleinoch
Harry Shannon	...	Ed Cumberland
Natasha Lytess	...	Anna

Storyline

At the start of WWII, Katie O'Hara, an American burlesque girl intent on social climbing, marries Austrian Baron Von Luber. Pat O'Toole, an American radio reporter, sees this as a chance to investigate Von Luber, who is suspected of having Nazi ties. As country after country falls to the Nazis, O'Tool follows O'Hara across Europe. At first he is after a story, but he gradually falls in love with her. When she learns that her husband is indeed a Nazi, O'Hara fakes her death and runs off with O'Toole. In Paris, she is recruited to spy for the allies; he uses a radio broadcast to make Von Luber and the Nazis look like fools.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | spy | burlesque | forgery | patriotism | 

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Taglines:

HE kissed her in VIENNA...SHE kissed him in WARSAW...THEY kissed each other in PRAGUE...Now what do you suppose happened in PARIS??(original poster)

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German Hebrew

Release Date:

27 November 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Baronessan går under jorden

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min 115 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Goofs

The photographer says that seven countries have already fallen. At this point, actually eight had: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland and Belgium.

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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.

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Connections

Featured in Kisses (1991)

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Soundtracks

"La Marseillaise"
(1792) (uncredited)
Written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Variations in the score for the Paris scenes

User Reviews

From Spouse to Spy with Spunk

Leo McCarey helms this 1942 lark, whose moods and genre conventions---saccharine romance, espionage adventure, screwball farce and war-time propaganda---swing to and fro so regularly that it's difficult to be bored even when the tipping scales of narrative contrivance become somewhat stressful at times. It's soapboxy-er than its early blitheness suggests, and at one point, the customary lead comic duo is mistaken for Jews and have a close shave with quite a grim fate. At times, because of the nonsensicality of the wildly contrived plot, the brashness of swastika hands on clocks and downer developments initially feel mislaid before they're consistently salvaged by a highly competent group of surprisingly naturalistic and genuinely funny performers, but meets its challenges admirably when it matters.

Vienna, 1938. Ginger Rogers plays Katie O'Hara, a Brooklyn dancer who's flown off to marry the rich and high-ranking Austrian Baron Von Luber, a Nazi VIP on the sly, for status and prosperity. Chin dimple extraordinaire Cary Grant plays hyper-transatlantic correspondent Pat O'Toole, who receives a job as a radio commentator to obtain a rare interview with the impending baroness to expose the Baron as a Nazi undercover. The Baron is played by Walter Slezak, that indelible character actor who managed to get pigeonholed as cunning Nazis. You may recognize him from Hitchcock's Lifeboat. Pat's not deterred by Katie's unwillingness to be questioned, and manages to meet her posing as a tailor.

Obviously, the reporter becomes smitten with Katie and frantically attempts to disabuse her regarding her fiancée. A turning point slams into this happy-go-lucky buffoonery when Hitler takes Austria, and Katie begins to learn the truth about her new husband's dealings. The two brash Yankees team up and go on the lam through Norway, Holland and Belgium before sudden sabotage missions are sprung on them and create grave dramatic tension. "This is the sort of thing that can make a man a Republican!" he huffs.

I had my doubts about Ginger Rogers. Not having seen many of her best known films such as those with Fred Astaire, I thought she may prove yet another example of how incomparable Irene Dunne was alongside Archie boy. About forty minutes into Once Upon a Honeymoon, I was firmly disabused of my presumptions. She has an inborn knack for being natural in a way that even transcends the stagy tenets of the Golden Age, saying a lot without saying much, and saying something different with her face than what she's saying with her mouth. I can't say this excuses the inanity of Archie earlier on managing to trick her so effortlessly into thinking straight vodka is a glass of water, but overall, she's not an uncomplicated Dumb Blonde Type present only to hang off Cary Grant's shoulder. McCarey takes the time to photograph her surprisingly emotive disillusionment about the state of affairs around her.

I'm frankly willing to forego any criticisms or dismissals of any moments that border on cornball or lugubrious purely for reward of the scene where O'Toole and Von Luber finally happen upon one another and have a man-to-man sit-down. It's one of those delicately cool scenes where two characters hold their cards firmly against their vests, but say just enough and share just enough sidelong glances to be satisfied of the other's hand. It's an exciting scene that raises the stakes and ratchets up the tension in a subdued, completely unexpected way. In fact, McCarey and his cast are so graceful that it only falls apart when it finally reaches the bungled ending, which I suppose is what happens when you try to balance propaganda and slick storytelling. Regardless, though quite the opposite of cynical or acerbic, it has a streak of the spunk and cunning of a Billy Wilder film, or the "shpontanuity," as one of the Baron's comrades suggests.