Café Metropole

Cafe Metropole (1937)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent comedy about the American Alexis (Tyrone Power) who loses a big bet to Monsieur Victor (Adolphe Menjou) and afterwards has to admit that he doesn't have the money to pay up. Through what's basically blackmail, Victor forces Alexis to romance the beautiful and rich Laura (Loretta Young) so that she will marry him and in return Alexis can pay Victor. CAFE METROPOLE offers up a terrific cast but sadly the screenplay is just a tad bit too silly and too far-fetched to be believable. Yes, you might argue that any type of comedy can be silly as long as it makes you laugh and this is certainly true but there's not enough laughs here to really call this a comedy and what happens at the end is just so out of touch with reality that you really can't help but roll your eyes. However, the two leads are in fine form and manage to have that wonderful chemistry that they did throughout their careers. Power isn't believable playing "Russian" but this here isn't all that important as I can overlook this as part of the comedy. Young is as charming as ever and just floats with her grace on camera. The two of them have that good chemistry together and help keep the film moving. Menjou is also good in his supporting role even though the screenplay does very little to actually help him. I think the film works best early on when we see Power and Menjou going after one another as they try to solve the issue with the money. Once Young enters the picture you have the before mentioned chemistry but the screenplay just becomes too wacky for its own good. I think a dose of reality would have really helped things and the various crosses in the final fifteen-minutes just don't work. Still, fans of the three stars will still want to check this one out.