a new Movie
We first enjoyed this movie several years ago when we watched a chronological series of films featuring Melvyn Douglas, who has long been one of our favorite actors in romantic comedies. When we saw the hilarious extended scene of the destruction of a Christmas tree and the lovely New Year’s Eve ending, we decided to add it to our holiday movie rotation.
PLOT SUMMARY
Widower Stephen Blake (Melvyn Douglas) and bitter divorcee Edith Farnham (Mary Astor) are guests at a newly opened hotel for the Christmas holidays. They take an immediate dislike to each other, and when they discover that the mountain inn has been cut off from the highway by an avalanche, they foresee a dismal future. But then the ice breaks and they become attracted to each other. But just as romance blossoms, the children from their first marriages start a jealous feud and decide to break up the relationship. Siding with their children, Stephen and Edith head back to their homes in Los Angeles separately. But then the children realize that they are making their parents miserable, become friends, and hatch a scheme to bring their parents back together. It all ends in a laughable jailhouse scene on New Year’s Day … and so they were married.
CAST AND CREW
Melvyn Douglas up to this point in his career had done drama, detective stories (The Lone Wolf Returns), but in this film he finds his forte — screwball romantic comedy, which he masters in Theodora Goes Wild and Ninotchka. Mary Astor is best remembered for her sultry performance in The Maltese Falcon, but here she shows her deft comic ability, which she shows again in The Palm Beach Story under the master direction of Preston Sturges. The film’s cast also includes a truckload of great character actors, especially Donald Meek as the hotel manager. The film was directed by Elliott Nugent.
WHY WE LOVE THIS MOVIE
It’s a fun romantic comedy and an early part of the screwball genre. The destruction of the hotel Christmas tree is what earned it a spot in our holiday rotation.
ASTAIRE CONNECTION
There are several connections to Fred Astaire. Melvyn Douglas and Astaire performed together only once, in Ghost Story (1981), which was the final film for both of these grand entertainers. Douglas’s role in Ninotchka was taken by Astaire in the musical remake, Silk Stockings (1957), which was the last full fledged musical in which Astaire danced (forgetting the dismal Finian’s Rainbow). The father of the director, Elliott Nugent, was actor J.C. Nugent, who appeared on vaudeville bills with Fred Astaire in 1916 and 1917 and who was elected to the Lambs Club in 1922, the same year that the 23-year-old Fred Astaire became of a member of that vaunted theatrical organization, which was located on 44th Street just a block away from our favorite Manhattan hotel, The Algonquin.