IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK

This month Turner Classic Movies is featuring one of my favorites, Jean Arthur. This gives me the opportunity to view some of her films that are new to me, including IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK, a 1935 light comedy made by Columbia and directed by William Seiter. 

IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK is best known today for its being advertised as a Frank Capra production in England, and causing a rift between Capra (who had nothing to do with the making of the film) and Columbia head Harry Cohn. The actual movie isn't in the Capra class, nor is it one of the better screwball comedies of the period. Despite this, it is a nice little feature that provides a diverting enough 70 minutes. 

Herbert Marshall plays James Buchanan (not the 15th U.S. President), the head of a large automobile company. Buchanan is fed up with his board members opposing his views about more modern auto design, and he's not altogether looking forward to his upcoming marriage to a snooty socialite. The auto magnate decides to take a walk in the park, and he encounters a young woman named Joan (Jean Arthur) leafing through the want-ads while sitting on a bench. Joan immediately assumes that Buchanan is also out of work, since it's the middle of the day. The young lady discovers an ad for a butler and cook, and she convinces--or more accurately browbeats--James to go along with her so she can obtain the cook position. The duo wind up getting hired, and their employer happens to be a gangster named Rossini (Leo Carrillo). 

While James and Joan try to convince Rossini they are the perfect servants, and a married couple as well, the two start to fall for one another. Rossini starts to fall for Joan himself, while James tries to keep up with his "real" life while hiding it from Joan. As expected, all the various complications come together at the end. 

Needless to say, one can venture from the above plot description that IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK has plenty of story elements for a short feature. There might be too many story elements--at one point Joan takes some of Jim's auto designs and tries to show them to the executive of another car company, leading to the poor woman being accused of stealing the designs. The capable William Seiter handles all the plot developments efficiently, but one feels a Capra or a Mitchell Leisen might have gotten more out of the proceedings. IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK is more amusing than flat out funny--it's not as frantic or energetic as most screwball comedies. 

Perhaps the low-key nature of the film is due to its leading man. The distinguished Herbert Marshall seems somewhat out of place in this type of movie, but he does work well with Jean Arthur. Jean does a fine job, but her character isn't what one would call a "screwball girl"--she's just a woman trying to get a decent job. (When Joan discovers that she could easily enter into a relationship with Rossini and get whatever luxuries she wanted, she still doesn't hesitate to fend off his advances.) 

Jean Arthur and Leo Carrillo in IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK

Leo Carrillo goes all out with the role of Rossini, making him one of those blustery, malaprop-spouting funny foreigner types that Classic Hollywood loved so much. Carrillo is backed by Lionel Stander as Flash, Rossini's right-hand man. Carrillo and Stander bring plenty of life to the movie but one couldn't believe these guys could pull off a robbery at a hot dog stand, let alone be powerful gangsters. 

One another thing that keeps IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK from being a top comedy is that it lacks the supporting cast and the little details a director like Capra or Preston Sturges would bring to this type of material. But maybe I'm being too hard on it. It's a pleasant enough film, it certainly isn't terrible....but I can't help wondering how it would have been with a different leading man and a different director.