User Reviews

Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard star in "The Crystal Ball," a 1943 comedy. Goddard plays Toni Gerard, a Texas beauty contestant who comes to New York with no money and consults Madame Zenobia (Gladys George) about her future. Madame Zenobia is a big fake who relies on maids and social registers for her info. She doesn't know Toni's future, but since Toni's a crack shot, she sends her to her friend who runs a shooting gallery (Cecil Kellaway) who can use Toni's shooting to attract customers. She also offers Toni a room to stay in.

Toni spots attorney Brad Cavenaugh (Ray Milland) when he escorts Jo Ainsley (Virgina Field), his client, to Madame Zenobia to ask for help finding her ring (which the maid put down the drain and then tipped off Zenobia). Toni is instantly attracted to him and pursues him in her own way. Meanwhile, the widow Ainsley is doing the same thing.

This is a silly, somewhat convoluted comedy bolstered by some delightful performances from Milland, the beautiful and effervescent Goddard, William Bendix as Cavanaugh's chauffeur, Gladys George, Cecil Kellaway, and Sig Arno, who is plagued everywhere he works by problems, thanks to Toni.

See it for the performances and for Goddard's beautiful gown toward the end of the film. What a wonderful screen presence she had.

Toni (Paulette Goddard) and Jo (Virginia Field) are both keen to pursue Brad (Ray Milland). While Brad and Jo are already acquainted, Toni sees her opportunity for an introduction with Brad by impersonating a fortune-teller Madame Zenobia (Gladys George) and telling him his fortune lies with someone else who he is about to meet who has red hair and is eating an apple (ie, herself out of her disguise). At the same time, she gives readings to Jo, encouraging her to go away! Its very funny in parts and the film follows Toni's attempts to wrestle Brad away from Jo. There is a good supporting cast including Pops (Cecil Kellaway) and Biff (William Bendix) as Brad's chauffeur. Its a comedy in which the women, in particular, are very funny.

My particular copy is taped from the TV and is too bright - I'm not sure if this is just how the film looks these days or if its something to do with the individual that I purchased it from. However, the quality of the film is a minor negative point. Its enjoyable, the cast are all likable and I'll be watching it again at a future date.

The Crystal Ball (1943)

Utterly fun, snappy, well written, smartly filmed, and all round entertaining. Yes. But also dependent on a plot device or two that push credulity. It's made to be a bit mad-cap, if not true screwball, and so it's easy to look the other way. If Paulette Goddard as the leading lady (ladies, in this case) is charming and friendly (and pretty, which is her main calling card to some), she is also a bit thin, and even comedies need complexity of character. Across from her is Ray Milland who has always been an odd leading man, likable and probably handsome to some, but lacking some kind of gravity or depth or charm to make him truly leading.

So this movie has it all and yet not quite all.

Goddard became famous when she got involved (literally) with Charlie Chaplin, and starred in his fabulous "Modern Times" in 1936. She was then set for all kinds of roles including comedy spots like playing opposite Bob Hope a couple times. I find her always fun, and maybe she's perfect for movies that have no pretensions, just as much as she seems to have none. Ginger Rogers was originally intended for this role in "The Crystal Ball" but the Goddard stepped in, and you can feel (maybe) the part fitting Rogers just as well or better.

Milland, a British (Welsh) actor who still hadn't found his stride in Hollywood, is almost working too hard here. At times he pours on the cheerful energy and you see his inner playfulness, but it comes off a little intentional. He isn't, maybe, actually playful on camera, always too self aware. He is, though, a decent substitute for Charles Boyer, who would have played the part with more mystery but maybe, judging from his other films of the time, less natural humor.

And then there is the story itself, a clever, marshmallow version of a Shakespearean identity switch. The main idea, that the same woman can put a veil over half her face and fool people who already know her, is one of the conceits of the movies (seen in masquerade balls most often) and I don't buy it. You won't either. Instead you have to just enjoy the idea and the fun to be had. The additional twists of an actual swindle involving the government and, briefly, a government agent is a bit much, too, but just go with the flow.

I'm being a bit critical all along because I really liked this film and found the weaknesses unfortunate. It has the bones and the great filming style of a great one. I'd watch it again, if that's some clue. William Bendix is fun, as always, and Cecil Kellaway, the man at the carnival booth, is pretty terrific.

Director Elliott Nugent is one of those workaday standard bearers who can pull a good crew together and he does well here (in the same way as he did in "The Cat and the Canary"). Cinematographer Leo Tover, though less known that some of the legends, has a whole slew of great movies to his name ("The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Heiress," "Dead Reckoning") and he deserves a lot of the credit for holding this all together and giving it ambiance. It's the small things like this that make this film look and feel even better than it is, all told. Give it a cheerful chance. It may surprise you.

Texan Paulette Goddard pursues rich lawyer Ray Milland, while working for fake fortune teller Gladys George in this funny romantic comedy.

It's a fine, cynical little late screwball comedy, starting off with Gladys George running a con on Milland's man-hungry client, Virginia Field, and Miss Goddard pursuing Milland using her fake psychic abilities. There are plenty of character-based gags for a supporting cast that includes William Bendix, Cecil Kellaway, Sig Arno, and Ernest Truex (who gets to pop Milland in the kisser). Some of the jokes refer to wartime conditions and haven't aged well, but the script keeps them coming, and Elliot Nugent directs it in a breezy manner.

"The Crystal Ball" is a screwball that's genuinely *hilarious* for much of its runtime. In fact, I'd venture to say this one's a good bit funnier than many critically acclaimed top-tier comedies of the period. I'm puzzled by the middling reception it's gotten over the years. Every single actor is cast perfectly and the script, courtesy of the ingenious Virginia Van Upp, remains whip-crack through its brief runtime.

In fairness to the movie's detractors, the plot really is ludicrous beyond words. Things kick off when a maid hides the emerald ring of her dizzy society dame employer, advising her to visit a fortune telling psychic who's aided in retrieving similar objects. Things just progressively wackier from there: we get to spend time at carnival shooting gallery manned by Cecil Kellaway (of all people) and watch Ray Milland get genuinely crushed in an avalanche of watermelons!

All the scenes with Gladys George in her fortune teller's tent are pure gold. I loved that she had a small arsenal of "Who's Who" books to assist in her hot readings of society matrons, somewhere near the side room where she keeps her ectoplasm handy! Paulette Goddard, who's been hired as George's assistant, affects a terrific Southern belle accent when she's in a spirit trance (her character's from Texas).

The best scene has Ray Milland bringing Goddard home to a random apartment because she doesn't want to reveal she's living with a fortune teller. It happens to be the home of a bitterly feuding alcoholic couple, with poor Paulette quickly getting caught in the fray. The wartime propaganda in this one is kept to a minimum, although there's a cute bit where Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo serve as targets at the shooting gallery. When hit in the right order, they trigger a musical number and kick each other in the rear!

I can't rave enough about this one. That "The Crystal Ball" is so good yet so comparatively unheralded is a reflection on how accomplished the Hollywood studio system was at this time. They were making so many great pictures at such a fast clip that gems like these get lost in the shuffle.

Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland did several films during the Forties enough they should qualify as a screen team. The Crystal Ball has them as a former beauty contest winner who is down to 38 cents to her name as she arrives in New York. She's befriended by Gladys George who is a fortune teller and also by Cecil Kellaway who runs a shooting gallery and she works for both at times.

Enter Ray Milland lawyer whose main client is Virginia Field, oil heiress and believer in the occult and various folks who make their living off the same. Goddard takes one look at Milland and decides he's the one.

Getting him away from Field will be a problem though. So in a series of Lucy like stunts she does everything she can to win Milland including accidentally giving him some inside information concerning his client's estate. And Field who has her hooks into Milland ain't giving up without a fight.

Always amusing and around is William Bendix playing Milland's chauffeur, butler, and general all around factotum. There isn't a movie or television show that he was in that something special wasn't added.

I think The Crystal Ball might have been a classic if someone like Mitchell Leisen or George Marshall had directed it. It's amusing enough, but lacks that classic spark.

Beauty contestant Paulette Goddard has run out of money in New York. Since she is also a sharpshooter, she lands a job at a shooting gallery, where she spots handsome lawyer Ray Milland, whose rich girlfriend happens to be a client at the fortune teller next door.

Goddard soon finds herself substituting for said fortune teller and using her disguise to capture Milland's attention. The ensuing comedy of mistaken identity and mixed motives is somewhat slow to get rolling but does have a few hilarious moments.

William Bendix is lots of fun as Milland's rough-around-the-edges valet and bodyguard. Virginia Field is also quite good in the thankless role of Milland's over-solicitous girlfriend—who can really blame her for being a bit snotty when Ray's head is turned by newcomer Paulette?

There's a kind of subplot involving a real estate transaction that almost gets Milland in trouble with the feds….but the main attraction is the two stars and their mildly amusing process of figuring each other out.

Cute exchange when they're riding together in the car… Milland:"Where you from, Miss Gerard?" Goddard: (four rapid hand claps). Milland: "Oh, Texas, huh?" Goddard: "Deep in the heart of!"

Overall it's no classic but it's certainly easy to watch, especially for fans of handsome stars in slightly obscure comedies.

It was wonderful to see the stars at their peaks. Paulette Goddard, that attractive kitten, with Ray Milland at his most subtle best. They make a terrific pair and made several more films together (Reap The Wild Wind, Kitty and The Lady Has Plans) due to the chemistry of their screen partnership. This is a funny film about a gal from Texas, down on her luck, who gets a job helping out a Fortune Teller, Gladys George, and in the process falls for a well-to-do lawyer, Milland. Things, as always in screwball comedies, get mixed up but in the end girl gets guy and all live happily ever after. Enjoyed this very much. Four stars for the two stars Goddard and Milland.

Wealthy Manhattan widow Virginia Field (as Jo Ainsley) finds it difficult to hold onto attractive attorney Ray Milland (as Bradford "Brad" Cavanaugh) after pretty Paulette Goddard (as Toni Gerard) arrives from a Texas hog town. Both women seek help from fortune telling Gladys George (as Madame Zenobia). "The Crystal Ball" helps Ms. Goddard make the best impression in this light but charming comedy. She does take a bow in one of those 1940s "women's lingerie" scenes. The film should have started with a scene establishing Goddard as the central character, which eventually becomes the case. She receives good support from the aforementioned, plus Cecil Kellaway (as Pop Tibbets) and Peter Jamerson (as Leonard) at the shooting gallery. Playing Mr. Milland's valet, William Bendix (as Biff Carter) is also fun.

****** The Crystal Ball (1/22/43) Elliott Nugent ~ Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Gladys George, Virginia Field

Shapely Paulette Goddard (dressed to the nines, but with only thirty-eight cents to her name) takes a job as decoy in a shooting gallery, but when the phony fortune teller she's bunking with throws her back out, Goddard subs for her at a fancy affair. Flimsy romantic fluff from Paramount studios (but acquired and released by United Artists). Though set mainly in 'ritzy' surroundings--with gowns by both Edith Head AND Adrian!--the picture appears to be a second-biller, though one given a pinch of star-power from Goddard and Ray Milland (even if the colorful supporting players tend to upstage them both). Elliott Nugent's direction has little feeling for slapstick pratfalls and comedic misunderstandings; coupled with the silly script, it isn't any wonder why the film builds no momentum. Two quirky highlights: the eccentric singing ladies on the tandem bicycle; also, Milland's sports car (a Crosley) that rocks back and forth like a toy auto. ** from ****

THE CRYSTAL BALL has such a hackneyed plot about a conniving woman out to get herself a wealthy husband (in fact, two women with the same idea), but the plot complications have serious undertones and there's not enough witty banter to make it digestible. Audiences must have been starving for light, fluffy nonsense like this during WWII, but despite some funny moments it's nothing but a predictable romantic comedy.

What does help are the performances of Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland and Virginia Field as the romantic trio. Lost in the shuffle are William Bendix, Cecil Kellaway and other supporting players who have very little to do but stand around agape at the stupid plot whose ripest comic moments include a waiter who inevitably trips and falls whenever Goddard is within close range.

Paulette is a down on her heels gal with 38 cents in her pocketbook who needs help from fortune-teller Gladys George (totally wasted). When GG becomes ill, it's Paulette who is designated to take her place as the crystal ball fortune-teller who gets involved in the budding romance between rich playboy Milland and his widowed sweetheart Field.

None of it makes any sense and the situations are played for screwball comedy effect with only a couple of successful moments where the comedy is pitched to the right key. Both stars try hard, but the material is really beneath them.

However, fans of Goddard and Milland will find it easy enough to forgive the nonsensical plot and enjoy the stars at their physical peak.

Indian routine--very bad Martins in apartment! Madame Zenobia

"The Crystal Ball" is an enjoyable but flawed movie. It begins with Toni Gerard (Paulette Goddard) needing a place to stay and she is taken in my Madame Zenobia (Gladys George). Madame Zenobia is a phony fortune teller but she has a soft spot for Toni. Later, when Zenobia is hurt, Toni feels indebted and offers to cover for her--dressing up in her fortune teller garb and duping stupid people. However, at the same time, Toni notices a handsome guy, Brad (Ray Milland) and decides to use her Madame Zenobia persona to her advantage. And, throughout the film, she switches back and forth from herself to this persona--and hoping to hook Brad without his finding out she is BOTH women.

So why didn't I love the film? I guess I've never been a big Paulette Goddard fan--and her Indian bit was among the stupidest and limpest routines I've seen in a long time. It's not because her pretending to be an American Indian was offensive (which it was) but because it was done so badly!! But, on the other hand, the story was light and sweet. It also featured an incredibly funny routine that ran on for some time involving the Martins and their apartment. I don't want to say more about that--just see it and laugh at the complications that ensue from one of Toni's 'little lies'! Cute and worth a look.

"The Crystal Ball" is a very light comedy romance made by Paramount in the middle of World War II. Many of the better writers, cameramen, and other technical film people as well as actors were engaged elsewhere at the time, or otherwise in short supply. This film has that feel of second-hand sets and cost-cutting. A reworked and much better screenplay would have done a lot for the comedy aspects. What little humor there is comes from the troubling situations that Paulette Goddard's Toni Gerard gets into. It's too bad, because she and Ray Milland were capable of handling clever dialog very well, as seen in other films. They starred together in two Paramount films that had much witty dialog. "Kitty" of 1946 is a very good caper comedy, and "The Lady Has Plans" of 1942 is a very good early WW II mystery and espionage comedy. And each made several other superb comedies with leading comedy co-stars of the mid-20th century.

Ray Milland's Brad Cavanaugh is the object of Kitty's affections in in this film. But his role is mostly wasted as window-dressing for the foibles and antics of Toni.

This also is one of those questionable films of crime and wrong-doing. In the well-written caper comedies, audiences come away having had many good laughs and without any doubts about the wrong of crime. This film doesn't provide such an ending, so the deceit of the fortune-teller's racket,. Including that applied by Toni, is never clearly righted here. It's sort of an end justifies the means tale.

The rest of the cast are all okay in their roles, but nothing special. And what is that mini-auto that Milland is driving in 1943? It looks like a Fiat convertible. There weren't many of those seen in the States then. The shooting gallery where Toni goes to work for Pop Tibbets (Cecil Kellaway) has a very funny trio of targets. They are images of Mussolini, Hitler and Hirohito.

Even the few funniest lines in this film won't evoke much more than a chuckle. But here they are.

Toni Gerard, "Oh, you're awfully kind. Madame Zenobia." Madame Zenobia, "Don't kid yourself. You've got quite a future. Maybe I wanna tie-in with it." Toni. "Well, did you see that in the crystal ball." Madame Zenobia, "No, baby. I saw that when you crossed your legs."

Dudley, "Gosh, don't you think she's pretty, dad?" Dad in the shooting gallery, "Don't you ever go think a woman's pretty who can shoot like that, Dudley."

Jo Ainsley, "Well, now whadda you think of fortune tellers?" Brad Cavanaugh, "I think you should take your rings off before you wash your hands."

Madame Zenobia, seeing Toni change clothes, "Say, those judges were nuts". Toni Gerard, "Thanks. You wouldn't think so if you'd seen that blonde. She bombed from a very low altitude."

Brad Cavanaugh, "I suppose you find New York quite a bit different." Toni Gerard, "Not very. In Texas it's the coyotes that howl, here it's wolves." Cavanaugh, "Well, you can't really blame them, you know. Waving red hair in front of a wolf is dangerous business."

Brad Cavanaugh, "If there's anything lower than somebody who uses other people's belief in the supernatural to make money, then I - it's like stealing in church."

Brad Cavanaugh, after Toni and Jo both leave him abruptly in the taxi, "Say, what is this?" Taxi driver, "Well, some guys got it, and some ain't. You ain't - just keep tryin', brother."

Beauty queen Toni conspires with Madame Zenobia, a fortune teller, to win the love of a handsome attorney. When the plan backfires, can she overcome the odds to convince him of her love and will he fall for her?

Charming comedy with a more than standard script which keeps the viewer entertained. As always with the films of this period there is a familiar supporting cast and the performances by Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland are the icing on the cake.

Girl loses beauty contest, becomes a fortune teller (Gladys George).

This film ought to be good, I mean it has Ray Milland and the constant refrain of the "dead Indian" (which must be a reference that no longer makes sense). But really, I found it to be just average. There was not much suspense, not much in the way of twists and turns.

There are plenty of thrillers and film noirs out there, and this is not really one of them. You might be better off watching "5 Steps to Danger" or something else. Of course, if you like Ray Milland (and you should), I suppose this is a film you will have to check off your list sooner or later.

Jo, Brad, Biff, Toni, Pops and Madame Zenobia make up our colorful characters filled with a wealthy and conniving widow, a lawyer, and multiple con artists!

I knew this wouldn't be a run of the mill film when it starts with a maid hiding an emerald ring in the sink...not to steal it but for the long con of having her mistress go to and become dependent on a fortune teller...enter Madame Zenobia.

The cast was great, as was the writing (this film is filled with very funny laugh out loud lines), but what really makes this film is the great side characters like Biff and Pops.

"She bombed from a very low altitude."-Toni

"Oh he hides too.... I haven't seen him in ages."-Photophobe

"You can tell Mr. Cavanaugh to plant his flowers in a different garden." "You're very fortunate, the last one had her clothes torn right off of her."-neighbor

"I've seen her, strictly haystack!"-Jo

"Busy doing what?"-Jo "He's deep in the heart of Texas!"-Biff

I loved this film and highly recommend it. It was just the right kind of light and funny writing that makes you wish there was more when it's over.

Zany wartime madcap from Paramount. Seems Texas girl Toni (Goddard) has designs on handsome city attorney Brad (Milland) but has to out-compete sophisticated rival Jo (Field) for his affections. But don't worry, she's a dead-shot with a rifle and can fake a good crystal ball when she has to. Plenty of chuckles and mild innuendo, throughout, along with nifty scene-ending touches that work as comedic embroidery. Okay, the storyline would flunk a logic course, but who cares, since it's the humor that counts. All in all, the flick's a Goddard showcase that includes snappy support from a Johnny-on-the-spot Bill Bendix, a brassy Iris Adrian, and a fumbling Sig Arno who won't be table-waiting the President anytime soon. Then too, note that the ladies goody gowns are from Hollywood's premier fashion designers Edith Head and Adrian- I wonder if they did the gown that gets ripped off poor Toni.

Trouble is chuckles tail off toward the end when things serious up a bit. Also, Milland's fine for Brad's serious side, but adds little to Brad's lighter side. Nonetheless, it's an entertaining 80-minutes that gives Mussolini I good kick in the butt. So catch up with it despite the obscurity.

I had some hopes of this 1943 what you might loosely call a screwball comedy, mainly due to my liking for its two main stars Ray Milland and Paulette Goddard. But unfortunately this is a screwball comedy with a few screws loose, notably on the comedic front and ended up being rather a waste of the leads' talents.

The plot is contrived to the point of incredulity not to say incredibility as events conspire to bring Milland and Goddard together, with the rich glamorous widow, Virginia Bruce tricked into believing that a fake medium can really predict the future. Bruce has designs on her late husband's best friend who now acts as her almost guardian, obviously Milland, who's nonetheless reluctant to get romantically involved.

Then along comes Goddard, a penniless failed beauty queen who separately encounters the fake sybil and who's then pressed into action as her stand-in which naturally brings her into contact with Milland.

Inevitably, the duo get involved in an on-off romance which comes under threat when Bruce jealously intervenes but you won't even need to read tea-leaves, never mind the crystal ball of the title to guess how this one turns out.

There's nothing like a funny screwball comedy and sadly this is nothing like a funny screwball comedy. Milland and Goddard try hard and you can see there is some sort of spark between them, after all they did make four movies together in the 40's, but ultimately they just can't salvage this confused and cluttered feature.

I wish I'd used that crystal ball of theirs to see how this particular story played out. If I had I certainly wouldn't have crossed anyone's palm with silver.

Wartime story. Ray milland, paulette goddard, bill bendix. Toni has recently come to new york, and uses her scheming ways to manipulate everyone around her. She fills in for a fortune teller. She even uses her new "skills" to try to steal a man (milland). It's silly but fun. As long as we overlook the stereotyped comments they make about the native americans. A fun gag where the next door neighbor keeps walking in at the wrong time, and making snide comments. A small role for cecil kellaway; he was nick in postman always rings twice. Film directed by elliott nugent. Original story by hungarian steven vas. Gladys george (was madam zenobia) had been in some biggies: maltese falcon, roaring twenties, best years of our lives. She was oscar nominated for valiant, but died young at age 54, under suspicious circumstances. And check out that cute two cylinder car which toni drives around! Crosley motors was active from 1939 to 1952.