Monsieur Beaucaire

Plot synopsis:
Act I
The setting is Bath in the early 18th Century. Beaucaire is posing as a barber employed by the French Ambassador. He is actually the Duc d'Orleans, the son of the King of France, a fact only known to his valet and his friend, Molyneux. Beaucaire is in love with Lady Mary Carlisle, who is herself courted by the Duke of Winterset. Beaucaire hosts a card game, where a number of gentlemen lose most of their money to him. In the second round, Beaucaire plays Winterset for high stakes. At the climax of the hand, Beaucaire exposes Winterset as a cheat. Winterset threatens to kill his opponent, but Beaucaire reveals that they are observed by his servants and the noble Molyneux. As the price of Beaucaire's silence, Winterset takes him to Lady Rellerton's ball to introduce him to Lady Mary.
Molyneux is in love with Lady Mary's cousin Lucy and courts her at the ball. Beaucaire charms the company, and Lady Mary asks to be left alone with him. He begs the rose in her hair. She says that he must earn it by escorting the aged Countess of Greenbury to supper. To obtain revenge, Winterset persuades Captain Badger, a famous swordsman, to quarrel with Beaucaire, who challenges him to a duel. They fight on the terrace and, to everyone's surprise, Beaucaire is the victor. He takes the old Countess into supper and receives his rose from Lady Mary.
Act II
At a 'Pastoral Fete' at Mr Bantison's house outside Bath, Lady Mary is still smitten with Beaucaire, although she has many suitors. Lucy finally gets Molyneux alone, to get him to promise to be hers alone for the evening, when he is summoned away by Beaucaire. Lucy accuses him of going to another woman but he denies it in a romantic song. But the summons is a trick of Winterset. Once Molyneux has gone, he denounces Beaucaire as the barber. One by one all of the suitors attack Beaucaire, and are all wounded. An assault by the massed servants of his opponents threatens to defeat Beaucaire, when Francois and his fellow servants join in the battle and repulse the attackers. Lady Mary, believing herself deceived, storms off. Beaucaire is seriously wounded.
Act III
A week later, it has been announced that the French Ambassador will attend the pump room that evening, and guards have been placed to prevent Beaucaire from attending. His previously defeated opponents sing of how they bear 'The Honours of War'. Molyneux is still having trouble with Lucy but manages to convince her to arrange a secret meeting between Mary and Beaucaire. Beaucaire explains the situation to her, and asks if the identity of a lover truly matters? Lady Mary agrees. Winterset and his followers enter, followed by the Ambassador. Everyone is amazed when the Ambassador enters and kneels to the presumed barber, hailing him 'A Son of France'. The King of France is dead, and, out of danger, Beaucaire reveals himself as the Duke of Orleans and announces that Mary will be his future Duchess, to everyone's delight.

Tags: action, satire

Review:
A Good Bob Hope Comedy.
This film was done when Hope was at or near the peak of both his film popularity and his comic abilities.
Based on a Booth Tarkington novella, which had served Rudolph Valentino with mixed results in 1924 (he acted well, but the part labeled him as gay with certain male critics), the story is how Hope is the barber at Versailles to King Louis XV (Reginald Owen), gets into serious hot water with the King and Queen (Constance Collier) and is forced to flee the palace disguised as the Duc de Chandre (Patrick Knowles).
Owen has sent Knowles to Spain to get rid of him (he's a rival for Madame de Pompadour - Hillary Brooke), and to have him marry the daughter of the King of Spain (Marjorie Reynolds, who is daughter to Howard Freeman).
But Knowles is a target for an assassination by minions of the head of the Spanish Army (Don Francisco - Joseph Schildkraut).
So Knowles and his associate (Cecil Kellaway) let Hope masquerade as Knowles.
Knowles, in the meantime, is looking for the delightful looking woman he met on the way to Spain - he does not realize it is Reynolds.
And Hope keeps crossing paths with his old girlfriend, Mimi (Joan Caulfield), who is furious at him for getting her banished from France accidentally.In 1946 Hope was between 44 and 42 years old, so physically he still looked reasonably presentable as a man (when properly made up with make-up) who is in his 30s.
Compare this film to it's Technicolor counterpart in the middle 1950s, CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT.
In that film the plot is very similar, but the middle aged man, with the middle aged spread is not believable as even a comic substitute for the great lover.
He is just plausible in BEAUCAIRE.
He also demonstrates his timing is sharper, and he even demonstrates (possibly accidentally, but one wonders) a gift for mimicry.
At one point he is speaking when behind a mask as though he is Owen, and he momentarily does capture something of the speech pattern and bluster of the English actor.As pure escapism the film is more than adequate.
Schildkraut is a type of Spanish Napoleon, wanting to overthrow the royal family in a war between Spain and France.
Hence the need for the royal marriage that involves Knowles and Reynolds.
But the military in Spain in the 18th Century produced no such figure as Don Fernando (it is hard to believe the screen writers Norman Panama and Melvin Frank were thinking of a later adventurer and court favorite Count Godoy).
Owen is quite good at being Louis (he had played the role a decade earlier in the George Arliss film VOLTAIRE).
The year is never giver - actually it is quite vague, but 1765 seems the most probable year: At one point Collier and Owen are reminiscing about their wedding.
Queen Marie (the daughter of the King of Poland) married Louis in 1725, and Owen mentions they've been married 40 years).
The Queen died in 1768, and Louis died in 1774.
The problem is that the Spanish King is Philip II in the cast.
King Philip II of Spain ruled from 1555 - 1598.
The King of Spain in 1765 was Carlos III (notable for a number of reforms, and being reluctantly drawn into policies by the French).
You see, the Bourbon Family had begun ruling Spain in 1714, at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, when King Louis XIV's second oldest son became King Philip V of Spain (the Philip they screenwriters were probably thinking of).
But the so-called "Family Compact" united the foreign policies of Spain and France for most of the 18th Century.
So the threat of a war between the two countries never really existed in history at this time.There are many nice touches in the film: Hope's attempt at suicide (with an unknotted hangman's noose) that is almost pushed to completion by his friend Leonid Kinski; Hope's mimicry of Owen (mentioned above); the climactic duel between Hope and Schildkraut, in which both men get entangled with a harp and a cello.
Caulfield and Knowles both get a chance to sing.
And Hope even (with Schildkraut's assistance) gets a passing shot (literally) at his rival/friend from the "Road" Pictures.
It remains an entertaining spoof, and one of Hope's best comedies..
France And Spain In a Hopeless Situation.
Some current film fans with a perfunctory knowledge of cinema stars of the past will be shocked to learn that Rudolph Valentino and Bob Hope played the same title role in two different versions of Booth Tarkington's Monsieur Beaucaire.
Of course you can believe there's a vast difference in the version.The Valentino version is a straight dramatic part about a Parisian barber in the court of Louis XV pretending to be a nobleman.
Rudy was at his most romantic in the role and it was one of his biggest hits in the Twenties.Bob Hope's Monsieur Beaucaire finds Bob as a barber at Versailles in the court of Louis XV and worried about the romantic intentions of his sweetheart, scullery maid Joan Caulfield.
Cole Porter wrote it best that Caulfield is true to Hope in her fashion, but she's an ambitious girl who knows what it takes to get ahead in the court.
She aspires to be Madame Pompadour who is played here by Hillary Brooke.Due to a set of circumstances way too complex to write about, Hope and Caulfield both get themselves banished, mainly because of Hope's fantasies and both get themselves involved in the politics between France and Spain where a royal marriage is being arranged to the dismay of both participants, Marjorie Reynolds for the Spanish and Patric Knowles for the French.Playing the puppet-master in all the intrigue is Joseph Schildkraut who shows a real flair for comedy.
His final duel with Hope ranks right up there with one Hope engaged in with Basil Rathbone in Cassanova's Big Night.
Rounding out a wonderful cast of supporting players are Howard Freeman as the King of Spain and Reginald Owen and Constance Collier as the King and Queen of France.
You don't doubt why Louis has Madame Pompadour around when you take one look at the Queen.
By the way Joseph Schildkraut comes to one of the most satisfying ends a villain ever got in film.
You'll have to see Monsieur Beaucaire and laugh all the way through to see what happens..
Very funny, albeit the plot has scant resemblance to the original..
A "costume comedy" of the sort occasionally essayed by Bob Hope, this "version" of the Booth Tarkington novel is meant as a pastiche of the 1924 Rudolph Valentino film, but the one-liner master extraordinaire and his favourite scriptors, Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, can not resist going their own way, and a comically winning tangent it is.
Splendidly directed by George Marshall, with top-flight cinematography and editing by Lionel Lindon and Arthur Schmidt, respectively, the action unfolds in the royal courts of 18th century France and Spain, nations on the verge of war.
As the barber for King Louis XV (Reginald Owen), Beaucaire (Hope) finds himself in a situation where he must impersonate a nobleman, the Duc Le Chandre, or lose his head, whereas in the Tarkington original his impersonation is clearly of his own choosing.
Meantime, in Madrid, conniving Don Francisco, commander-in-chief of the Spanish army, desires to prevent the upcoming marriage of the actual Le Chandre (Patric Knowles) with Spanish Princess Maria (Margaret Lindsay), by assassination if necessary, in order to destabilize the crown, leading to armed hostilities between the neighbouring countries and an opportunity for him to organize a coup.
The false Duke, Beaucaire, becomes the prospective victim of this homicidal chicanery and we view him at his wedding ceremony where desperate measures must be taken to avoid being captured and then killed in quick succession.
Hope's gags are beyond counting, some of them quite funny and all featuring his perfect timing, and a scene at the Spanish court that satirizes the use of the lorgnette by the nobility is classic, while there is pulchritude galore with three excellent actresses: Joan Caulfield as Beaucaire's true love Mimi, Hillary Brooke as Mme. Pompadour, and the lovely Lindsay, given her first role since Paramount picked up her contract.
Also to be commended for their sharp performances in this fast-moving frolic are the swashbuckling Knowles, Schildkraut, Owen, Cecil Kellaway and Constance Collier, while Hope is supported for the first time by songs from Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, contributors to 11 subsequent films by the comedian, whose work here was Woody Allen's inspiration for the latter's LOVE AND DEATH..
Bob Hope At His Best.
Bob Hope had a great talent for making mediocre lines sound funny.
Here the lines he delivers are actually as hilarious as his delivery.He actually does some quite decent acting in this one.
The character of the barber Beaucaire is more romantic and less cynical than the comedian Hope.Hope has surrounded himself with some of the most talented people in Hollywood.
Cinematographer Lionel Lindon was nominated three times for an Oscar and won once with "Around the World in 80 Days." Film Editor Arthur P.
Schmidt was nominated twice (for "Sayonara" and "Sunset Blvd.") Composer Robert Dolan was nominated 8 times between 1942 and 1947.
Sadly, he never won.
He should have been nominated for this movie, but he was already nominated for "Blue Skys" in 1946.
Art Director, Hans Dreier, was nominated 20 times and won 4 Oscars.
He should have been nominated for this movie, but he already had two other nominations in 1946.
Set Decorator, Sam Comer was nominated 22 times and also won 4 Oscars.
Male Costume Designer Giles Steele got 4 nominations and won twice.
who did the exquisite gowns in this film, was never nominated, but she should have won an Oscar for the fantastic four foot wide hooped skirts the women wear.Hope was never nominated for an Oscar, but this is the one movie where I think his performance merited consideration.Joan Caulfield, in only her second film, is dazzling.
As Mimi, Beaucaire's love interest, she is hilarious and has excellent chemistry with Hope.
The same year, she played the love interest of both Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby in "Blue Skys".
Everybody else in the cast is just delightful.The funniest scene is when Beaucaire meets the King of Spain.
Beaucaire is pretending to be an aristocrat.
He is told to act "distainful" When they meet, Beaucaire and the King just glare at each other through lorngettes (opera glasses).Second funniest is when Beaucaire gets exposed as a barber and slapped.
The king tells him to slap the fellow back.
"Everybody is entitled to his opinion," answers Hope meekly, "Why if I had a sword..." A lackey offers his sword to Hope, who quickly pushes him away, saying, "Mind your own business." If you're in the mood for a wonderful and sweet old romantic comedy, put across by some of the most talented people in the golden age of Hollywood, don't miss it..
Hope and cast love those costumes.
Bob Hope traipses up the palace gallery to be presented to the king—he is posing as a duke.
Using a lorgnette, he can't see where he's going, and he gradually veers off to one side and stumbles into a lady kneeling on the floor and tumbles over her, knocking down about three other people.It's a ridiculously funny sequence.Hope is Beaucaire, a court barber in costume-era France.
He gets mixed up in court politics and intrigue; poses as the Duc le Chandre, renowned lover and duelist; and chases after his girlfriend Mimi—who may or may not reciprocate his romantic feelings but certainly has adventures of her own.
The entire cast is lively and beautiful in this very funny picture.
Joan Caulfield as Mimi is bright, charming and silly; Marjorie Reynolds as a Spanish princess is lovely.
Patric Knowles is dashing enough as the notorious duke—he is the perfect choice (King Louis thinks) to be shipped off to marry said Spanish princess, not only for political reasons but because all the "young bloods" in Paris will be happy to be rid of him.
Cecil Kellaway is the harried count whose difficult duty it is to transport the reluctant duke to the arranged wedding site.
Reginald Owen is hilariously un-regal as King Louis, and owns every scene he is in.
Other highlights include a goofy palace swordfight between Hope and villain Joseph Schildkraut that involves a harp, a bass fiddle, and a harpsichord.
Funny and fast-paced.A couple of decent songs and the usual assortment of Hope one-liners add up to a very enjoyable picture..
an okay bob hope caper....
In this one, Bob Hope is Beaucaire, the French barber to the king.
Beaucaire is in love with the maid Mimi, played by Joan Caulfield.
Mimi has bigger ambitions, and gives him the brush off.
Part of the joke here is that Hope disparages the king, the queen, and the royalty in general quite openly, when in real life, he would quickly be punished for it.
Fun scene near the beginning where Beaucaire helps to hide Madam Pompadour, while pretending to give the Duke a shave.
I was never a fan of period pieces, and if this weren't a Hope project, I probably would have turned it off.
Mimi is sent off to Spain, and the real Duke, and Beaucaire, dressed as the Duke, end up there as well.
Cecil Kellaway, Reginald Owen, and Constance Collier for supporting cast.
The musical numbers were completely un-necessary, and should have been eliminated.
It's a grand adventure, with more meat on the bones that most of Hope's quick little comedies.
The sword fight at the end goes on way too long.
Not Hope's best.
Directed by George Marshall.
They had worked together on numerous films..
"Oh, they're working on that!".
Foppish skewering of the Booth Tarkington novel, previously filmed with Rudolph Valentino in 1924, casts Bob Hope (in dryly engaging form) as a barber in the French Court of King Louis XV who inadvertently gets his chambermaid-sweetheart banished to Spain; he follows her there while impersonating the Duc de Chandre, a notorious ladies' man who is to be married in an act of patriotism to the Princess of Spain.
Seems lengthy at 93 minutes, with a few peaks and valleys in the plotting, and yet it's relaxed and pleasant enough to be palatable to even non-Hope buffs.
Still, ace screenwriters Melvin Frank and Norman Panama don't know when to quit, and even the funny tag at the end is ultimately spoiled by unnecessary silliness.
A couple of nice songs by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, a good production, and a funny duel (with Hope's ski-slope nose getting caught in the harp strings) make for a fitfully amusing time.
An agreeable little film but not a lot of laughs..
Bob Hope movies of the 1930s and 40s are all very pleasant entertainment, though for comedies the laughs are usually not as obvious or often as you might find in many comedies of the era.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the films are a bit more plot-driven than many comedies and in general these films have held up much better than his later films (particularly those from the 1960s).
However, I noticed one reviewer gave this one a 10 and suggested Hope should have received Oscar consideration for this film....yeah, right.
They're not THAT good!
The film finds Bob playing a barber in the latter portion of Louis XV's reign (about 1770 more or less).
Naturally Bob is a bit of a screw up and gets in trouble.
But, there is a way out--he has to agree to pose as the Duke--a man who is to marry the Spanish princess and solidify an alliance between the countries.
But, no one realizes that a crazy Spanish general (Joseph Schildkraut) has plans to kill the Duke, as he WANTS the countries at war with each other!
So, it's up to the cowardly Hope to try to save his butt and, hopefully, find love.
As for the Duke (Patric Knowles), he's fallen in love with a woman and doesn't really want to marry a princess he's never met.
Can it all work out in the end and everyone live happily ever after?
The movie is relatively low on laughs--particularly the climactic sword-fighting scene (it's rather lame).
But, Hope is an agreeable personality in the film and that makes up for the problems...which would include the3 fact that NONE of the French or Spanish people looked or talked like they came from these countries.
Heck, Schildkraut was Austrian and sounded NOTHING like a Spaniard!
And Hope seemed about as French as Nelson Mandella!
Still, a nice and agreeable little film.By the way, the original "Monsieur Beaucaire" was a silent film starring Rudolph Valentino and was not a comedy.
Also, although this is only of interest to history teachers, the film talked about the guillotine several times, though it was not used for the first time until about 1791--during the French Revolution..
One Of Hope's Better Outings.
Loosely based on the Booth Tarkington novel, the story is about how the King of Spain offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a noble in the King of France's court, and the French king accepts.
Problem: a general in Spain hopes to sabotage this marriage and usurp the Spanish throne.Hope is a bumbling royal barber who pursues an uninterested royal scullery maid, and his bumbling eventually gets both into serious trouble.
The French noble who is due to go to Spain and marry the princess, however, rescues the barber with the idea of counteracting the plot against him, and the barber bumbles his way through that.Hope makes his wisecracks and does physical comedy without being too silly.
Costumes and settings are exquisite, though the sword fighting scenes are disappointing.
Still very funny entertainment.