COME LIVE WITH ME

 

COME LIVE WITH ME (1941) is one of the few James Stewart films I had never seen. It's a (very) light romantic comedy, an MGM production that was helmed by Clarence Brown, one of the studio's top directors. 

Stewart plays Bill Smith, an unsuccessful writer struggling to make ends meet in New York City. Bill encounters a gorgeous Austrian refugee who goes by the name of Johnny Jones (Hedy Lamarr). Johnny is in danger of being deported, so she makes a deal with Bill--if he marries her, she will pay his living expenses. Bill accepts her offer, and starts to write a fictional version of the agreement. He also starts to fall for his wife-in-name-only--but she is the mistress of Barton Kendrick (Ian Hunter) a major publisher who happens to be a married man. In one of those incredible old movie coincidences, Bill takes his manuscript to Kendrick, whose wife loves the story. Bill gets a big advance, so he hopes now he can impress Johnny into taking him seriously. But after reading the manuscript Kendrick realizes who the story is actually based on, and he decides to win Johnny once and for all. Meanwhile Bill maneuvers Johnny into going with him to his childhood home in the country, hoping to charm her his own way. 

COME LIVE WITH ME is a decent enough film, but it's very predictable. (Whenever you see a couple engaging in a "marriage of convenience" during a movie or a TV show, you know they're going to wind up falling for each other.) James Stewart's personality makes the story work, but it's more amusing than genuinely funny. 

The exotic Hedy Lamarr would seem a mismatch with Jimmy Stewart, but she's much more down to earth here than she would be throughout most of her acting career, and she and Stewart have a nice rapport. Despite being a refugee from the Nazis in Europe, she still looks glamorous, and the tragic circumstances concerning her situation are barely touched upon (her father was killed due to his beliefs, and if she has to go back to Europe she will more than likely be harmed as well). 

The climatic sequence in which Bill takes Johnny to the country to show her what the "regular life" is like is the most predictable sequence of all--of course Johnny is going to love the rustic setting, and of course she's going to adore Bill's feisty grandmother. It's movie magic, after all, and MGM was one of the best factories putting out that magic and making audiences buy into it. Besides, there's no way Jimmy Stewart is going to lose the leading lady to a middle-aged character actor like Ian Hunter. 

COME LIVE WITH ME is okay enough entertainment for about 90 minutes, especially if you're not asking for a lot, but if it didn't have James Stewart and Hedy Lamarr, there would be almost nothing to it. After starring in such films as MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, James Stewart deserved a lot better than COME LIVE WITH ME--but I'm sure he wasn't complaining about acting alongside Hedy Lamarr.