Appointment for Love

If ever Hollywood picked a movie title that nailed its subject right on the head, this was it. "Appointment for Love" is a hilarious comedy romance, one that this cinephile recently discovered after decades of watching films. This is a sophisticated comedy made by Universal before it moved into the top echelon of studios. It apparently wasn't widely distributed, and when the U. S. entered WW II barely a month after this film hit theaters, it seems to have been forgotten. But it wasn't lost and I recently watched it on DVD.

The humor is spread among actions and situations along with dialog - but, without antics, pratfalls or funny accidents. The dialog drives it all and ties it all together. And, part of the genius of the script is that the scenes and conversations go on, with instances of seeming disregard by one character for another's sharp quip or satirical comment. It's as though it were over the other's head, or just completely missed or ignored. And that makes those scenes that much funnier - because it's not over the head or missed by one who's watching the film.

Universal nabbed the perfect couple to play the nearing middle-aged leads in this delicious farce. Charles Boyer is the prominent author and director of Broadway plays, Andre Cassil. Margaret Sullavan is the dedicated medical doctor, Jane Alexander. The supporting cast is first rate with wonderful performances and humor provided by Eugene Pallette, Rita Johnson, Cecil Kellaway, Reginald Denny, Roman Bohnen, Ruth Terry and others.

This is a riotously funny movie. It has humorous takes on some customs, practices and traditions. It develops role reversals of customary behaviors and plays them for wonderful laughter. The dialog is peppered with tongue-in-cheek comments - a forte of Boyer in many of his straight-faced comedy roles. Boyer's Andre gets his comeuppance when he tries to make wife, Dr. Jane, jealous, and instead he gets horribly jealous.

There are a couple scenarios that are among the funniest of their kind in all of filmdom. The first is of Andre's medical exam by Dr. Alexander, with Dr. Gunther looking on and in on the conversation. And, the scenes with Gus Schilling as the elevator operator are the funniest elevator scenario I can ever recall.

This surely is one of the best sophisticated comedies of all time - if not the funniest. Only Boyer and Sullavan could possibly pull this one off as believable, which makes it that much funnier. Here are some favorite lines from the film.

Dr. Jane Alexander, "Have you ever been on a diet, Mr. Cassil?" Andre Cassil, "No, no. I always say it's not what you eat, but with whom you eat."

Dr. Jane, "Would you hop up and down on one foot, please?"

Andre Cassil, in ambulance, "Now we're going to the hospital, and we 're going to live happily ever after." Dr. Jane, "Now we're going to MacArther's gym. I'm gonna get Mike to give you a few boxing lessons." Andre, "There were two of them." Dr. Jane, "That is no excuse for leading with your right."

Dr. Jane, "You know, jealousy is a very simple thing. Physiologically, it's merely the adrenal glands pumping adrenaline into the bloodstream. Of course, it has a psychological trigger..."

Dr. Jane, "Listen, if you ever catch me being jealous, I give you leave to put on your tiger skin, pick up your club and beat me back to my senses."

Dr. Jane, "When we were married, you knew that I was a doctor and that I was going on with my work." Andre, "Yes, but I didn't know I would have to make an appointment every time I wanted to see you."

Dr. Jane, "Andre, look. The most important thing is for our marriage to last." Andre, "You think so?" Dr. Jane, "Yes!" Andre, "Well, I think the most important thing is for our marriage to begin."

Andre, walking into elevator, "Seventeen." Gus, elevator operator, "Shall we wait for 22B?" Andre, "No.... I suppose you think I'm crazy." Gus, "Now wait a minute, mister, I didn't say a word."

Dr. Jane, "Hope I'm not too early." Andre, "No, no. I always get up in the middle of the night to have breakfast."

Andre, shaking Hastings, who's in bed, "I married a monster."

Andre, "She lives on the 22nd floor. I live on the 17th floor. And she won't come down." Hastings, "She won't?" Andre, "No. And I won't go up." Hastings, "What do you want me to do? You don't need a producer. You need a lawyer."

Michael Dailey, "I don't like that at all. I walk around the corner. Go to Brazil, and the moment my back is turned, you marry the first beggar that comes along. Pardon me old fellow," looking at Andre.

Michael Dailey, "Might have turned out to be a great doctor." Dr. Jane, "But I'm still practicing." Michael turns to Andre, "Can't even support you, huh?"

Andre, "If he had said 'old fellow' one more time, I think I would have killed him with my bare hands." Dr. Jane, " It's a good thing you didn't try because he has muscles like an ox." Andre, "Oh. Oh, he has muscles like an ox?" Dr. Jane, "He's really very nice, Andre." Andre, "It's a matter of whether or not you like oxes." Dr. Jane, "Ox-en." Andre, "Oxen - terrible word."

Andre, "Would you like to hear some music?" Edith Meredith, "Oh, sure, put it on.... I'll turn off the lights." Andre, "Hmm?" Edith, "Well, I can hear better in the dark."

Edith Meredith, "If, um, if you ever get tired of looking at the East River, you can come up to my place and... look out my window... and see the Hudson River."

George Hastings, "Walking around at 10 o'clock in the morning. What are all these people doing up?"

Playwright Charles Boyer woos and wins doctor Margaret Sullavan. Once they are wed, they run into matrimonial problems because the good doctor believes they can and should lead their lives separately: not just their professional lives, but separate apartments.

It's directed ably by William Seiter, with Eugene Pallette, Rita Johnson, Cecil Kellaway, and longtime Seiter collaborator Reginald Denny as the other man. Comic situations arise naturally out of the basic thesis. The problem is that the characters don't work well within their assumptions; Miss Sullavan's idea of marriage is a whim of iron that admits of no imperfection on her part, which makes this screwball comedy not really appealing. Instead of being caught up in the silliness of it all, I was annoyed.

In many ways, it can be compared to the next year's Woman of the Year. In that movie, Katharine Hepburn is so caught up in her life that she has no time for the responsibilities she has assumed, leading to a denouement that I consider ill-conceived. Here, Miss Sullavan is a nitwit.

Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer were good actors. So, you naturally would expect "Appointment for Love" to be a good film...but it isn't. The problem isn't their acting but the basic story idea...which just doesn't make any sense at all.

After a whirlwind romance, Andre Cassil (Boyer) and Dr. Jane Alexander (Sullavan) marry. However, soon he realizes her number one love is her job working at the hospital. In fact, she leaves on her wedding night to work on a case and Andre gets no nookie whatsoever. Later she returns and has a brilliant idea...because of their jobs, she'll get a separate apartment! So, no sex...and living in separate homes...it's as if they never got married in the first place.

Sometimes a script idea is so patently absurd, you can't help but wonder how it got made. This is clearly the case with "Appointment for Love". The story idea makes zero sense and is so fundamentally absurd you cannot help but feel baffled. The actors tried their best...but the story is just inexplicably bad.

By the way, it's a sad coincidence but both Sullavan and Boyer in real life committed suicide.

I was not planning on making a comment for this unimpressive effort, but I felt obliged to after noticing that only one other person had bothered to write something. First of all, I must say that although I never really cared for Charles Boyer "debonair" style of acting, Margaret Sullavan has always been one of my favorite actresses. Whenever I see her in a drama I am sure of the ending (one of the main characters, usually hers, will find a way to die in the end) but in comedy she tends to be more light and fun to watch.

In a plot that strives to make sense in some sort of Lubitsch-like battle of the sexes, we have a writer and a woman- doctor who find love and marriage rather quickly. In a unique way, we soon learn that Sullavan's doctor has a rather open view of her relationship with Boyer's womanizing writer, one that allows separate apartments and separate lives as well. The direction by Seiter is uninteresting; unlike Lubitsch he doesn't permit his audience to imagine what is happening. Not that he receives much help from the script department, since that seems to be dwelling in the creation of its main characters and not too sure of which direction it should take its story. With all that in mind, I felt a bit sorry that one of Sullavan's few attempts on comedy failed, having seen her shine on the wonderful Shop Around the Corner. Perhaps if Lubitsch had helmed this one as well we could have had a classic.

Either way I just feel that I have to clarify the fact that, even though this will hardly ever be in anyone's top ten, it's not disgraceful and can be quite fun to watch once one accepts its defects. If you like 1940's style of comedy, I see no real reason that would keep you from enjoying this one, even if you can easily come up with a better movie to watch. A guilty pleasure as they say, specially if you are a bit of a fan of either one of the two main actors.

In Appointment For Love it certainly got playwright Charles Boyer's ego out of joint when he spies a sleeping Margaret Sullavan in the audience showing the ultimate indifference to his dialog. She can't help it though, she'd been working a long shift at a hospital and just didn't want to give up theater tickets.

Out of such a disastrous first encounter, a romance does bloom. But their separate careers, his in the theater and her's in medicine have not let them get the marriage consummated. They live like ships in the night in two separate apartments in the same building with a very confused elevator operator in Gus Schilling running a nuptial shuttle service.

Sullavan is a doctor with liberated views, even to the point of wanting to keep her own apartment. That's where Boyer draws the line.

In fact their sudden courtship and marriage have former boyfriend and girlfriend, Reginald Denny and Rita Johnson all kinds of upset, but they both move in for the rebound. Johnson is especially very good as a drama queen who Boyer knows all her tricks since he taught them to her.

There was a lot of potential in Appointment For Love and if someone like Ernst Lubitsch or Mitchell Leisen had directed it the film would be far better known and received. As it is the stars and the rest of the cast have nothing to be ashamed of.