Disk 1-Man of the World
-We're Not Dressing
In "Man of the World", Carole Lombard plays Mary Kendall, an Amercian living temporarily in Paris with her fiancé and rich uncle. While her beau is away Mary becomes infatuated with the William Powell character, Michael Trevor, a charming and sophisticated American also living in Paris who claims to be a novelist; in actuality, he is a blackmailer working for a scandal magazine. As the story progresses we learn that someone has dirt on Mary's rich uncle (Guy Kibbee), and will print the shameful information unless his demands are met.
Meanwhile, after several dinner dates and ordinary outings, Michael, too, has become infatuated with Mary and decides to tell all about his line of work; hoping she will still feel for him after he comes clean. His plan soon falls apart however, when, after meeting the rich uncle with startling news, Mary walks into the room and discovers that Michael was using her all along to get to her uncle.
"Man of the World" isn't a tedious film, it's just not a particularly interesting one. It lacks a certain amount of appeal that I doubt could have been saved by the actors. This is a really a weak story about characters we probably don't care too much for with an ending many viewers might consider a let down. **1/2 out of ****
In "We're Not Dressing", Carole Lombard plays Doris Worthington, a heiress with her own yacht entertaining guests and sailing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Accompanying Doris is her pal Edith (Ethel Merman), her Uncle Hubert (Leon Errol) and two Prince brothers Michael and Alexander Stofani, played by Ray Milland and Jay Henry. On board there is also a singing sailor named Stephen Jones (Bing Crosby).
As the story progresses Doris' yacht hits a reef and starts to sink. Most of the other passengers (mainly sailors and members of the crew) head for the lifeboats and abandon ship, but all of our key characters -- amusingly -- opt to jump ship instead. Stephen and his bear pal Droopy meet up with Doris in the water, brothers Michael and Alexander are aimlessly drifting together on a raft, and Edith and Uncle Hubert manage to get themselves on a water bike. The characters are not in the sea too long before they notice land some distance away and head for it.
On this uncharted, uninhabited island we're introduced to two characters, George and Gracie Martin, played by George Burns and Gracie Allen. They're husband and wife conducting a scientific research who are completely unaware to the arrival of their new guests marooned on the other side of the island. Meanwhile, Stephen assigns everyone with a job to do if they expect to get fed. The group show no delay in giving into his demands, but Doris refuses.
There are plenty of amusing moments in "We're Not Dressing" and even plenty of singing on Crosby's part. George Burns and Gracie Allen provide some decent comic relief and this is the earliest film I've seen of Ethel Merman; but in a mere bit part, I thought she was greatly underused. Prince brothers Michael and Alexander seem to be a complete waste during the second and third acts of the movie and having them there was unnecessary; although I did find their attempts at trying to win the affection of Doris to be quite humorous. *** out of ****
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