Breakfast for Two (1937)

Sick Product of a Sick System

A different way of telling a story

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Barbara Stanwyck and Herbert Marshall starred in Breakfast For Two with her as a Texas oil heiress and he as dissolute playboy living off his dad's trust fund.Both Stanwyck and her dad Frank Thomas are in town as minority stockholders of the shipping company that was the business that gave Marshall the fortune he enjoys. The company from poor management looks like it's going under. Stanwyck who wakes up in Marshall's apartment after she brought him home in a drunken state can't leave because of his trusty Great Dane. The film begins here and it's obvious a large portion of film was cut away giving more background to the story.Stanwyck played a few madcap heiresses in her salad days. Marshall does all right. But his part really calls for someone like Cary Grant or William Powell especially with a lot of physical comedy involved. Given the fact that Marshall was missing a leg due to injuries in the First World War I sincerely doubt he was doing any pratfalls. Those were done in long shot and clearly by a double.Glenda Farrell does well here as the fiancé Marshall is supposed to marry. Highlight of the film is how Stanwyck breaks up the wedding. Farrell gets hysterical as the justice of the peace Donald Meek who is trying to give out with some boring homily about, yes the birds and the bees. Meek is very funny. So is Eric Blore as Marshall's ever helpful valet.Too bad Cary Grant wasn't available.

Certain actors of the golden age of Hollywood don't get the quodos they deserve, simply because they seemed so dependable, just showing up to potentially be eaten up by one of the big, dramatic ladies who dominated that time. Certainly, the 1930's had its share of great leading men who are timeless: Cagney, EGR, Bogart, Flynn, Gable, Tracy, etc., but there are a ton of them who worked pretty much every leading lady available that today only us movie aficionados know if. George Brent, Warren William, Robert Montgomery, Ricardo Cortez, Ian Hunter, and in this screwball comedy's case, Herbert Marshall. Of course, he'll always be famous for allowing Bette Davis to chew him up and spit him out in "The Little Foxes", but he was so much more than that. Here, Marshall is opposite Barbara Stanwyck, and gives as much as he gets, and then some! The story has him as a formerly wealthy playboy, now a drunk on the risk of losing his fortune. One night out on the town has him being helped home by Stanwyck who sleeps in his bed while he's passed out on the couch, covered in her fur. When valet Eric Blore (playing "Butch" which he is anything but) brings him his morning hangover remedy, he finds Stanwyck in his shower searching for a towel and Marshall covered in rabbit hair. After being locked in by Marshall's giant pooch, Stanwyck agrees to stay for breakfast. Barbs are tossed, and it appears that they are making romantic headway when Glenda Farrell (playing an allegedly untalented actress) arrives, claiming her rights to Marshall as his fiancée, leaving Stanwyck no other choice but to skedaddle. Stanwyck, a wealthy heiress from Texas, plots revenge by gaining the stock his company is losing, and this leads to a hysterical boxing match where Stanwyck gets the upper knob, oops, I mean upper hand, by giving both Marshall and "Butch" black eyes.Hysterical comedy ensues when Farrell arranges an impromptu wedding as Stanwyck's wealthy Texas dad keeps interrupting the festivities posing as a window washer determined to make everything squeak so the bride and groom won't hear the vows. Stanwyck is one determined broad, and proves to Marshall that he needs her more than she needs him, even though it is obvious that she certainly wants him. They have a wonderful chemistry here, proving that Marshall wasn't just the seemingly bland, staid man of culture he played in many other films. George Brent had played this part in a few screwball comedies already, so its a nice change of pace to see him lighten up.Oh, that supporting cast, between Blore as the very effeminate valet who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Etienne Giradot as one of Marshall's business associates, suffering from laryngitis who after taking one of Blore's concoctions loses his voice entirely, and Donald Meek as a very flustered minister. Farrell makes the most of her bad actress part, and even though her character is certainly annoying and whiny, Farrell makes her more than tolerable. Frank M. Thomas also has many amusing moments as Stanwyck's rambunctious father. This isn't up in the ranks with "My Man Godfrey", "Nothing Sacred", "Bringing Up Baby" or "Merrilly We Live", but its better than many other attempts at screwball comedy which when compared to these classics seem more like dumbbells than screwballs.

Breakfast for Two (1937) ** (out of 4) A tough as nails Texas woman (Barbara Stanwyck) tries to break a playboy (Herbert Marshall) from some of his bad habits. This screwball comedy didn't really work for me mainly because I didn't feel anything between the two main characters. Eric Blore steals the show as the butler and the highlight happens at the start of the film when he goes into the bathroom to drop off some towels and notices it's not his boss in the shower but Stanwyck. There's also a talking dog on hand, which is somewhat more eerie than funny. There's also a subplot dealing with Marshall marrying a woman but I'm pretty sure you know how this romantic comedy will end.

This movie was my first Barbara Stanwyck experience, so I perhaps enjoy it for more sentimental reasons than most. However, it is a terrific screwball comedy. Where else do you get Eric Blore (being his wonderful self), a talking dog, and Barbara Stanwyck wearing a boxing glove? I strongly recommend it to any Stanwyck fan. It is quite humorous and enjoyable. It's a cute little film and one of my all-time favorite comedies.