The Great Garrick (1937) TVRip (SiRiUs sHaRe)

The Great Garrick (1937)

Director James Whale, well known for his witty horror films, tackled comedy head-on in this period piece, set in the 18th Century. David Garrick (Brian Aherne) is a gifted but supremely arrogant British actor whose fame is exceeded only by his ego. After finishing a starring run at London's Drury Lane Theatre, Garrick informs the audience his next engagement will be at the Comedie Francaise in Paris, and adds that he plans to use the opportunity to teach the French a few things about acting. Stung by the insult, the Comedie Francaise company plan to take their revenge against Garrick by pulling an elaborate prank; on his first night in Paris, Garrick is taken to an inn where, unbeknown to him, the staff and clientele have been taken over by actors, who stage an lively evening for his benefit. Garrick soon sees through the ruse but plays along, and acts cool towards a lovely young woman, Germaine De Le Corbe (Olivia de Havilland), even though he's smitten with her. After giving Germaine the brush off, Garrick informs the assembled thespians that he saw through their trick, only to discover that Germaine happened upon the inn by accident and wasn't part of the act. Garrick realizes he's alienated the woman who has stolen his heart, and his grief begins to effect his performance as Don Juan

Brian Aherne ... David Garrick
Olivia de Havilland ... Germaine de la Corbe
Edward Everett Horton ... Tubby
Melville Cooper ... M. W. Picard
Lionel Atwill ... M. Beaumarchais
Luis Alberni ... Luis Basset
Lana Turner ... Mlle. Auber
Marie Wilson ... Mlle. Nicolle
Linda Perry ... Mlle. Molee
Fritz Leiber ... Horatio in 'Hamlet'
Etienne Girardot ... Jean Cabot
Dorothy Tree ... Mme. Moreau
Craig Reynolds ... M. Janin
Paul Everton ... M. Dulac

Director: James Whale

Runtime: 89 mins

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028953/

Codecs:

Video : 616 MB, 965 Kbps, 29.970 fps, 640*480 (4:3), DX50 = DivXNetworks Divx v5,
Audio : 82 MB, 129 Kbps, 44100 Hz, 2 channels, 0x55 = Lame MP3, VBR,

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Kudos for this under-rated costume farce. It was included in Olivia de Havilland's TCM special, but she has a relatively small though choice role in it. Brian Aherne is surprisingly good as Garrick, the leading English actor of his day, cutting a tall, strikingly handsome figure in rococco-wear and powdered wig, delivering the staged lines with considerable panache. He is certainly every bit a match for Errol Flynn and the movies he shared with de Havilland, but it's a mystery why Aherne was only cast in this one. Olivia was quite young and very radiant, playing a mistaken-identity sweetheart-contessa type that she will repeat many times, possibly too often, in her career(eg, The Ambassador's Daughter, Princess O-Rourke). The take-off on the Comedie Francaise as bungling ham actors is priceless in itself. Certainly the director, screen writer and anyone else who took part in the production should be noted, for the fast, slightly frenetic pacing of the lines and timing of the repartee are key aspects of the success and they weren't necessarily transferrable to other movies by the same director and writer.

Special notice should be given to Etienne Giradot, who plays the prompter with a conscience who gets batted about for speaking the truth and showing up his jingoist "betters" with his honesty. His intermittent appearances, starting at the beginning and then at the end, in his prompter's box, are almost worth the price of admission. Those who have seen "The Kennel Murder Case" with William Powell, will remember Giradot as the doctor/undertaker who never gets to finish a meal. With an actor of such a unique personality, yet so perfectly cast in both supporting roles, one wonders whether if he was simply playing himself, or whether the parts were tailored for him.
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James Whale's ("The Old Dark House"/"Frankenstein"/"The Invisible Man") neglected period farce deserves more attention and love; it's one of Whale's most joyous films and shows he can make great comedies outside of the horror genre. It's taken from the play "Ladies and Gentlemen" by Ernest Vajda and scripted by the Hungarian author. It's an unhistorical conceit about the real life legendary 18th century actor David Garrick, superbly played by Brian Aherne with just the right amount of whimsical swagger.

Garrick in 1750 in London's Drury Lane Theatre Royal announces during his farewell curtain speech after playing Hamlet to wild cheers that he's accepted an invitation to act in Paris in a production put on by the Comédie Française. The cheers turn to boos as he tells them that he's leaving and the only thing that stops the boos is when Garrick tells them he will "teach the French how to act." The French actors hear about this and are determined to teach the great but arrogant actor a lesson in humility and as part of their scheme take over the roadside inn called the Adam & Eve, which they completely staff with their actors. But a prompter who was at one time a bit French actor, Jean Cabot (Etienne Girardot), who long ago played the gravedigger in a Hamlet production in Scotland with Garrick and still idolizes him, rides to warn the actor of the deception. When Garrick and his fellow actor sidekick Tubby (Edward Everett Horton) arrive at the inn they are prepared for the actors' attempts to frighten him by playing practical jokes on him such as having a crazy waiter intimidate him, guests fighting duels, attractive female guests flirting with him and a blacksmith destroying the wheel of his carriage. The idea is to ridicule him so he will be too scared to perform in Paris. During dinner a harried attractive young woman arrives and when the innkeeper tries to send her away because the inn is full, Garrick gives up his room and sleeps with Tubby. Garrick flirts with the woman who is named Germaine (Olivia de Havilland), who tells him she's running away from her father who wants her to marry someone she doesn't love. The actor thinks she's only performing her role, but doesn't know that she is in fact a runaway countess and not one of the actors and for real is swept off her feet by the great actor's attentions and declarations of love. Turning their acting trick against them after leading them on all this time, Garrick reveals that he knew all along what they were up to and then precedes to critique their performances as stilted. He then goes to Germaine's room and lashes out at her as giving the worst performance of all, calling her a no talent with no heart. The stung Germaine leaves at once. When in Paris to perform after the French actors are so impressed with him that they insist he come, he discovers Germaine is not there and realizes he really was attracted to her and feels bad he treated her so rotten that she's given up acting. He then learns she is not one of the troupe and feels so heartbroken that he wants to cancel his performance, as it dawns on him that he thought real life emotions were bad acting. But he finds her in the audience and all is forgiven, and Garrick goes on to give a great performance as Don Juan.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy, with the ensemble cast in fine form and under Whale's able direction it catches all the fun in the farce.

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# The play opened in London, England, UK on 18 May 1937.

# 'Henry ONeill is listed in studio records for the role "Sir Joshua Reynolds". Although the character is mentioned, he is not seen in the movie.

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