Reviews

I've adored this movie since I was a child and I still love it 50 years later. For some inexplicable reason, the film has a miserable reputation as being utterly dreadful. It's anything but! Garbo is beautiful in every frame, even when playing the "plain" sister Karin. Her comedic timing is deft throughout. There are many scenes where you'll literally laugh out loud. Seeing the divine Garbo Rhumba always brings a smile to my face even though she detested dancing and was embarrassed at her supposed lack of coordination.

Melvyn Douglas is, as always, a great asset and his chemistry with Garbo crackles, even though he always stated that he barely knew her in real life. Constance Bennett is annoying and overplays she unbearably snide role. But that can't detract from the overall fun of Garbo's final film. Give it a chance!

It's mystifying to me how anyone can claim this is a monumental film noir or a classic. The plot is literally the most ridiculously complicated and impossible to follow plot in movie history. The one great scene shows Bogie in a used book store asking for an 1860 Ben Hur. Had the rest of the film been that adroit, it would have been a winner. But no way can this be a great film when it's impossible to follow.

This is one of the most overrated film noir movies ever. I can't believe it frequently appears on various top 10 lists. Lana Turner may have been pretty and sexy, but her acting abilities were basically nil. John Garfield is competent enough for hardly someone interesting or attractive. They're not interesting as a couple and their dialogue is insipid and laughable.

The plot is convoluted and insane. The only sane performance is from poor Cecil Kelloway who is miscast and unbelievable as the husband of someone as young and beautiful as Lana Turner. I kept looking at the clock, praying the film would end. Not recommended!

It's too bad Warners didn't deem the material sufficiently interesting to make this into a full-length feature. God knows this short film is superior to much of the forgettable nonsense the studio was churning out at this time.

The only captivating reason to watch this is to see Claude Rains in glorious Technicolor. Let me be the first to tell you, he's looking extremely swoon-worthy. He's sporting a very dapper ponytail, wonderful breeches and the largest pair of brown doe-eyes you've ever seen. So for Claude Rains fans (and their number is legion), this is a must have movie for your collection.

Any fan of classic movies must own a copy of this one, if only for Claude Rain's amazing performance. This man was brilliant in all of his films, but this slice of ham is truly high art from the Claudester. His character is an egotistical, sexy, hilarious conductor with the improbable name of Alex Hellonious. He spends his time lazing about in a dressing gown, petting a drugged kitty and taking biting innuendo and sarcasm to a level previously unseen on screen. No wonder Bette Davis was infatuated with this man. If his power in real life was 10% of what he exhibits on screen, then swooning is the definite order of the day.

In Deception, Rains plays Bette Davis' former lover and he won't let her forget it. Bette foolishly marries the dreary, deadly dull and insipid Paul Henreid, just as she did in Now, Voyager. One wonders why Bette was always making these ridiculous mistakes. She's still in love with Claude, however, since she makes two lengthy visits to his bedroom within one day of her wedding to Henreid. When she tells Rains, "it looks like you haven't been to bed," he snaps back, "That, my dear, is none of your concern any longer." Even more amazing is that the Hays office let some of this type of dialogue slip by unnoticed. Rarely has a film contained so many explicit sexual references and plot twists. When Bette visits Claude in his home while he's eating dinner, he says with devilish deliciousness, "Oh, my dear, you look ravishing. I think I'd better remain seated." It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out what he really meant. High camp indeed! There's another moment after Bette's marriage to Henreid that Claude is begging her to stay with him and keep their affair going. With a leering smile he says, "You can have us both, you know." Mr. Breen of the Hayes office was definitely asleep at the control panel when Warners pushed this baby through.

The highlight of the entire movie is a hilarious scene of 7 minutes in a restaurant. Claude orders and re-orders various ridiculously rich foods and says things like, "We'd like a brook trout, not too large. From a good stream." He also fusses endlessly over whether to order partridges with truffles or glazed partridges soaked in Madeira. He finally decides on a "woodcock!" Bette and Henreid look on with rueful expressions because this type of acting blows them out of the water. Truly, this is one of the most adroitly acted scenes in movie history and that's not hyperbole. There is an option of having additional commentary, and the fellow claims "Bette Davis allowed Mr. Rains to steal this scene." Pardon me, but as riveting as Bette was, there's no way she's going to eclipse Rains in any movie, as she herself freely admitted.

The film itself is fairly good but very dull when Henreid shows up, but you treasure this one for Claude Rains' performance. If there's been a better actor in movie history, I've never seen him.

I completely disagree that Coop was miscast in this role. While I agree that Cary Grant would also have been fine, Coop was perfect. Few people apparently know that Gary Cooper was a rapacious playboy in real life, thus he played himself in the movie. So many complain that Coop looks "old" or "unsexy" in this film. All I can say is they must be seriously sight-impaired. No woman watching this film would doubt that Hepburn wouldn't instantly be attracted to and fall in love with this wonderful man.

The music is wonderful, the direction by Billy Wilder is also perfectly understated. An excellent movie.

Oh, there are many worse Wayne movies. This movie is edited poorly but it has a campy element that makes watching it enjoyable. The villain is an Anglo actor who sports ridiculous Mexican clothes and affects an over-the-top Mexican accent which is hilarious. The girl is dressed like a Jean Harlow wannabe, this is 1934 after all. At least the location shots are beautiful and enjoyable.

Watch it and laugh. Don't expect a serious western, but rather a lightweight and superficial story with poor acting but occasional flashes of camp humor. Wayne is almost ludicrously young and handsome and one can see his acting ability blossomed years after this regrettable venture.