This is a charming, dated and amusing little trifle from 1932. Leslie Howard plays Max, the Major Domo of a London Grand Hotel's cooking staff, in charge of their main dining room. He once served a well known European monarch (George Grossmith) and is on a friendly basis with the king even now. He decides to take a vacation in order to avoid a much married countess (Benita Hume), and he goes abroad meeting an attractive young woman (Elizabeth Allan) and her father (Morton Selden). Going to an expensive alpine hotel, Howard continues romancing Allan. Then Grossmith arrives for his yearly "incognito" vacation at the hotel. Grossmith's friendly attention to Howard makes the guests and staff of the hotel think that the latter must be royalty too. A photograph of him with the monarch appears in a London paper, and Hume heads for the hotel to confront him, and threaten to expose him unless he 1) introduces her to the monarch; and 2) seriously pay attention to her for a change. This naturally puts a dent into his dating Allan, and he ends up trying to balance between them (one nice touch: at dinner he has to light both their cigarettes at the same time!). The film then follows as a chastened Howard flees back to London - but is he free of Allen yet?
It was a different, class conscious age from ours. I'm not totally against the end of this, but it also meant that we lost some of the elegance that went with class divisions (such as dinning in specific clothing, or expecting certain niceties like brandy in snifters and cigars at certain times of the day). As such SERVICE FOR LADIES is a lovely time capsule of the class system of 1932. The cast is a good one, in particular the five leads (headed by Howard), who mingle common sense and social standards of their time quite well.
One last comment: I cannot help thinking that the sensible, rather modern monarch in the film is based on the most popular king in Europe in 1932. This was King Albert I of Belgium, who was probably the first modern king in the 20th Century. Albert was king by accident (his cousin, the heir to the throne, died prematurely, and he inherited the position of King when his uncle, the notorious Leopold II - of the "Congo Horrors" Scandal - died in 1909). Leopold had not cared for the democratic trimmings that he was supposed to support, but Albert paid more attention to them. He did not make a big splash (as Leopold did) on the society pages. He stuck closely to his family. In World War I, when Germany invaded Belgium to get at France, Albert heroically stayed at the front fighting the invaders, and would remain leading the tiny Belgium army units throughout the War for the allies. An international hero in 1918, unlike so many of the monarchs of the day he did not disgrace his country. I do not know if Albert traveled incognito but it is probable that his traveling was somewhat low keyed. He liked to go abroad for his favorite hobby - mountain climbing. That too reminds us of he foreign hotel in this film, where people go skiing all the time. Unfortunately for King Albert he was killed in 1934 in a mountain climbing accident.
The monarch in the film played by George Grossmith certainly is egalitarian. He does not really like a big fuss for himself (although the staff does actually bend over backwards for him, and the guests are aware of who he actually is). His small talk with Selden, in one scene, deals with their liver problems, and the pills both take. But his conversations with his old friend Howard are quite interesting. Both men dislike politicians as men who pretend to morality without having morals, and both realize that the bulk of people are snobbish - only servants and monarchs realize how silly most social class distinctions really are.
It was a different, class conscious age from ours. I'm not totally against the end of this, but it also meant that we lost some of the elegance that went with class divisions (such as dinning in specific clothing, or expecting certain niceties like brandy in snifters and cigars at certain times of the day). As such SERVICE FOR LADIES is a lovely time capsule of the class system of 1932. The cast is a good one, in particular the five leads (headed by Howard), who mingle common sense and social standards of their time quite well.
One last comment: I cannot help thinking that the sensible, rather modern monarch in the film is based on the most popular king in Europe in 1932. This was King Albert I of Belgium, who was probably the first modern king in the 20th Century. Albert was king by accident (his cousin, the heir to the throne, died prematurely, and he inherited the position of King when his uncle, the notorious Leopold II - of the "Congo Horrors" Scandal - died in 1909). Leopold had not cared for the democratic trimmings that he was supposed to support, but Albert paid more attention to them. He did not make a big splash (as Leopold did) on the society pages. He stuck closely to his family. In World War I, when Germany invaded Belgium to get at France, Albert heroically stayed at the front fighting the invaders, and would remain leading the tiny Belgium army units throughout the War for the allies. An international hero in 1918, unlike so many of the monarchs of the day he did not disgrace his country. I do not know if Albert traveled incognito but it is probable that his traveling was somewhat low keyed. He liked to go abroad for his favorite hobby - mountain climbing. That too reminds us of he foreign hotel in this film, where people go skiing all the time. Unfortunately for King Albert he was killed in 1934 in a mountain climbing accident.
The monarch in the film played by George Grossmith certainly is egalitarian. He does not really like a big fuss for himself (although the staff does actually bend over backwards for him, and the guests are aware of who he actually is). His small talk with Selden, in one scene, deals with their liver problems, and the pills both take. But his conversations with his old friend Howard are quite interesting. Both men dislike politicians as men who pretend to morality without having morals, and both realize that the bulk of people are snobbish - only servants and monarchs realize how silly most social class distinctions really are.