The Good Fairy (1935) User Reviews

A little gem undeservedly forgotten

[TedFonte · 8/10 · 21 December 2001]

The story of a naif who goes out into the world, skirts calamity (i.e. seduction, in the guise of Frank Morgan, no less), and finds true love (Herbert Marshall, who likewise should be better remembered--he'd a been a bigger star if he would have been five years younger when the talkies started in earnest). Of course, Sullavan the naif is the one who instructs the world weary cosmopolitans rather than vice-versi.

The script, being by Preston Sturges, is funny and witty and artfully plotted. Sullavan was a great actress/star of the '30's early '40's who unfortunately is mostly forgotten now. She has a quality, a sly subtle acidity that makes her different from other screwball heroines. She also had the knack of bringing out the tenderness in her male leads (James Stewart was never more suave, articulate, and keenly perceptive than opposite the funny cruel little egomaniac Sullavan in The Shop Around the Corner, which is a masterpiece, and she brought out the early best in her former husband, Henry Fonda, in The Moon's Our Home, which is another forgotten little gem). It's not so much she's vicious a la Bette Davis or the divine Barbara Stanwyck: she's too minutely picky, petty really in getting what she wants, too self-centeredly rational in getting her way for that. But, anyway, The Good Fairy has a younger softer Sullavan. The supporting cast is superior, too.

An Elfin Sullavan Charms in a Fanciful Budapest-Set Fable

[EUyeshima · 8/10 · 24 November 2011]

Five years before she butted heads with James Stewart working at Matuschek and Co. in Ernst Lubitsch's classic pen-pal romance, "The Shop Around the Corner", Margaret Sullavan was playing another character living in Budapest, this time a naïve young woman chosen to become an usherette in an elaborate movie palace. This warm-hearted 1935 screwball comedy has impressive credentials beyond a luminous Sullavan in only her third film, as it offers a screenplay by Preston Sturges ("The Lady Eve") and direction from William Wyler ("The Best Years of Our Lives") who married Sullavan during the tempestuous production. Alas, this was their only collaboration since they divorced less than two years later, but this long-forgotten collaboration is a fruitful one as the then-25-year-old actress sparkles in a role that could have easily been cloying if Wyler didn't maintain the right tempo for Sturges' alternately scatterbrained and clever story.

Sullavan plays the improbably named Luisa Ginglebusher, a gregarious, pig-tailed orphan who regales the younger girls with her fanciful fairy tales. A blustery theater owner comes to the orphanage looking for girls to be silver-costumed usherettes at his Budapest movie palace. The head of the orphanage allows Luisa to accept the job on the condition that she performs at least one good deed a day in the real world. At the theater, Luisa meets Detlaff, a waiter who gets her an invitation to an exclusive party at which he is serving. She almost immediately has to hold off the bold advances of Konrad, a somewhat lascivious South American meat-packing millionaire who wants to seduce her and shower her with gifts. However, she isn't interested and lies about being married. When he insists on employing her "husband" so he can send him away, Luisa randomly picks a name from the phone book, hoping to do a good deed and divert some of Konrad's wealth to someone else. The lucky man is poor but proud Dr. Max Sporum, but complications obviously ensue when Luisa meets Sporum and Konrad finds out the truth.

Although she had few opportunities to play comedy, the adorable Sullavan shines in this type of shenanigan-driven farce, whether using her electric wand to point patrons to their theater seats or prancing with a multiplicity of her mirror images as she models a "foxine" stole at the department store. Reginald Owen (Scrooge in the 1938 "A Christmas Carol") gamely plays Detlaff with rubbery charm, while Frank Morgan (the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz") is a bit too fey and downright wizardly as Konrad. Generally a tight-lipped presence on the screen, Herbert Marshall ("The Little Foxes") has never appeared more animated in a movie than he does as Sporum. Familiar character actors show up like Alan Hale as the cinema impresario, Beulah Bondi as the orphanage matron, a hilariously over-the-top Eric Blore (from all the early Fred-and-Ginger pictures) as a monocled drunk, and a menacing Cesar Romero as a pushy stage-door lothario. An unusual entry on Wyler's resume, this is quite a charmer thanks to Sullavan. The print is clear on the 2002 DVD, which includes the original theatrical trailer and a photo gallery as extras.

Sturges steering

[marcslope · 7/10 · 8 April 2009]

A very fine director (William Wyler), an excellent cast, and prestigious source material (a play by Ferenc Molnar), but this delightful screwball comedy has screenwriter Preston Sturges' fingerprints all over it, and Wyler's casual, unfussy direction feels like Sturges' when directing his own later masterpieces. Margaret Sullavan is the well-meaning orphan set out into the world who wants to do good deeds, and one such deed spirals out of control and brings dizzying repercussions. What Sturges does, as he often did, is set up an absurd situation and keep juggling, each ball just about to come crashing down but never quite hitting the floor. He invents funny lines for expert supporting farceurs and keeps the tempers high, and sends the dialog careening down unexpected alleyways. The contemporary Times critic didn't think Sullavan was a natural comedienne, but I beg to differ, and her whimsical quality is just right. Herbert Marshall, often annoying, is charming here, and Frank Morgan gets perhaps his best shot ever at a character he practically patented--the dithering dilettante, all false bravado and doubling-back-on-himself retractions. Its inconsequentiality is part of its appeal, and if you think it feels like a musical, you're not far off: Sturges later adapted his own screenplay as a Broadway vehicle for Nanette Fabray (good casting), but he botched the adaptation, and "Make a Wish" was an expensive flop. This one doesn't turn up too often, so catch it when you can, and revel in the early Sturges finding and perfecting his unique voice.

Sparkling and Hilarious Early Sturges

[Doghouse-6 · 14 August 2005]

Don't let the title or director give you the wrong idea; THE GOOD FAIRY is a snappy and sophisticated example of the kind of civilized lunacy for which screenwriter (and later director) Preston Sturges became so well-known. Yes, it's adapted from a Hungarian play, and yes, it's directed by William Wyler, but Sturges' creative influence is evident - even dominant - throughout. Though Wyler did make the occasional foray into lighter material ("Roman Holiday," "How To Steal a Million"), he's mostly associated with intelligent drama, and here one can almost sense idea man Sturges lurking just behind him, whispering, "Hey, Willie, how about this....?" There's so much about this picture that is prototypical of later Sturges classics such as "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and "Unfaithfully Yours." Indeed, THE GOOD FAIRY utilizes a plot device that was later modified for "The Palm Beach Story," wherein Claudette Colbert tries to get a millionaire to enrich her husband by pretending he's not her husband. Here, Margaret Sullavan tries to get a millionaire to enrich a complete stranger by pretending the stranger IS her husband. Only Sturges could make such near-insanity seem almost logical.

There's not much point in synopsizing the plot; it's rather like a benign little tornado that sweeps the characters - and the viewer - up with it; there's nothing to do but surrender and see where it will touch down next, and what happens when it does. Let it suffice to say that, if you're any kind of Sturges fan, you'll find the ride delightful.

It's no surprise that winsome Sullavan, blustery Reginald Owen and the eminently reliable Alan Hale handle the material so deftly, but even normally serious players such as Herbert Marshall and Beulah Bondi exhibit understated but devastating comedy chops. Special mention must be made of Eric Blore (whose tipsy descent of a brief flight of stairs is nothing short of a miniature comic ballet) and Frank Morgan, at his flustered best, giving a performance of such sustained energy and velocity that (as my viewing companion said) he must have had to lie down for a rest after every take. An odd little sidelight: quintessentially American players Sullavan and Morgan made exactly three pictures together, in two of which they played Hungarians (this one and "Shop Around The Corner"), with the story taking place in Budapest. (In the third - "The Mortal Storm" - they played Germans in a small Alpine town.) Just one of those curious bits of trivia.

As noted in other comments, this gem of a film is apparently little known or remembered. Perhaps its release on DVD will accord it the attention and praise it so richly deserves. Do yourself a huge favor and get your hands on it right away. I saw it just a week ago and am already looking forward to watching it again.

Nearly Forgotten Comedy Classic.

[ArrivederciBaby · 10/10 · 4 December 2002]

This has long been director William Wyler's hardest-to-find classic, a truly nutty, thoroughly charming romantic comedy written by the incomparable Preston Sturges (and very loosely based on a Ferenc Molnar play). All the Sturges touches that would later be his hallmarks as a director are here - the jaded wit, the almost dance-like physical comedy, the hilarious supporting cast of characters (the priceless Eric Blore, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Beulah Bondi and Alan Hale, among others)... "The Good Fairy" is as much his as Wyler's. Margaret Sullavan is captivating as always as the pure-of-heart (and slightly loopy) heroine - a characterization she would come to perfect in later roles. As for Wyler, this was the first in what would be a string of classics in an astonishing number of genres. But here they are - Preston Sturges, Margaret Sullavan and William Wyler - near the beginning of their careers, already in classic form. Don't miss!

Where has this wonderful movie been hiding?

[wmorrow59 · 9/10 · 29 May 2005]

This sparkling comedy may well deserve the title of Best Kept Secret of the '30s: it's a delight in every department, yet somehow remains all but unknown, even among film buffs. Based on a play by Ferenc Molnár, The Good Fairy is funny and warm, full of richly detailed, eccentric characters brought to life by an ensemble of terrific character actors. The direction, scenic design, and cinematography are all first-rate products of the Hollywood studio system in its prime, but despite the uniformly high level of craftsmanship on display I believe most of the credit for this gem rightfully belongs to Preston Sturges, for his witty screenplay. Sturges was compelled to make changes in Molnár's story in order to accommodate the standards of the newly powerful Hays Office, but in so doing he managed to create an adaptation with a special daffy charm all its own, one that deserves a place alongside his more characteristic masterworks of the '40s. Considering the increased interest in Sturges' work in recent years, and the vast elevation of his standing in the Hollywood Pantheon, it's all the more surprising that this film remains so obscure.

Molnár's play tells the story of an amoral young woman named Lu, a theater "usherette" loved by a handsome but poor waiter. Lu would prefer to get ahead in the world by taking advantage of her rich (and married) admirer Konrad. Lu considers sleeping with Konrad, but because she finds him unattractive puts him off by claiming that she's already married, to a lawyer. When Konrad insists on helping her husband professionally -- in hopes of bedding Lu as a reward -- she picks a name out of the phone book at random: Max Sporum. From there things get complicated, but it's interesting to note that in Molnár's play the sexually sophisticated Lu acts only as matchmaker (thus, "good fairy") to the three men in her life, successfully pairing off each one with another woman while remaining single herself. Sturges retained this basic framework but made his Luisa (Margaret Sullavan) far more innocent: she's fresh from an orphan asylum, and totally unschooled in the ways of the world, particularly where men are concerned. In Sturges' version Detlaff the waiter (Reginald Owen) is an older man who is protective of Luisa in a fatherly way but not romantically interested, while the rich middle-aged businessman Konrad (Frank Morgan) initially seems to be a horny roué, but turns out to be an old softy. And where Molnár's Max Sporum was a homely man already involved with his secretary, the lawyer in this film is played by debonair Herbert Marshall, the secretary has been eliminated, and eventual romance between Luisa and Max is assured.

How much of this plotting was imposed on Sturges by the demands of the censors is irrelevant, ultimately, because he succeeded in imposing his own raffish sensibility onto the material despite the unlikely elements, such as Luisa's almost otherworldly innocence and the entirely benevolent interest shown in her by all of these older men. The Hays Office was never much of an impediment to Sturges, anyhow; besides, he slipped a couple of surprisingly risqué lines past the censors here, as he would elsewhere. The plot of this movie depends heavily on Luisa's childlike qualities, and probably wouldn't work nearly as well if she were more sophisticated. If The Good Fairy had been made a few years earlier in the "Pre-Code" era it surely would have been spicier, but might have lost something, too. As it stands, the film strikes just the right balance between sauciness and sweetness, without too much of either element.

Sturges' script is brought to life on screen by a cast of exceptional actors. Margaret Sullavan is quite perfect as Luisa, obviously smart but also stunted by her upbringing. Sullavan conveys the character's innocence without coming off as an idiot, which is no easy trick. Frank Morgan is delightful as Konrad, the wealthy businessman whose interest in Luisa sets the story in motion and changes everyone's life. (Coincidentally, Morgan, who is best remembered for his performance in the title role as The Wizard of Oz a few years later, compares himself to a wizard at one point in a conversation with Luisa.) Herbert Marshall gives perhaps the best comic performance of his career in the unlikely role of impoverished lawyer Max Sporum, a man so delighted by his improved status in life that he waxes eloquent on the subject of a new pencil sharpener. Marshall is a charming actor who deserves to be better remembered; he had one of the best voices of his day, along with Ronald Colman and George Sanders. Reginald Owen is at something of a disadvantage, as his character of Detlaff is rather one-dimensional, but he gives it all he's got and grows on you by the end. The supporting cast is full of the colorful players who used to populate these movies in Hollywood's Golden Age (Alan Hale, Beulah Bondi, Eric Blore, etc.) and who make their limited screen time count.

I've seen The Good Fairy three times now, and enjoy it more with each viewing. I'm still catching funny lines that flew past while I was laughing at something else, and how often can you say that about any comedy? Oh, and don't miss the comic high point, a movie-within-a- movie parody that's as funny as anything Sturges ever wrote.

Her Third Film, Her Second Husband

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 15 June 2017]

Ferenc Molnar's The Good Fairy ran for 151 performances on Broadway in the 1932 season and a young Helen Hayes played the title role of Luisa Ginglebuscher. That name itself I'm sure produced a few chuckles from the audience.

The Good Fairy is the kind of work where casting of the lead is all. If you don't have an actress skilled enough to bring off an almost impossible role of an orphan waif who may have stayed too long at an orphanage and brings her naivete out with her, just forget about doing the play or the film. In the case of this film Margaret Sullavan in her third film proved to be just right for the part. You get this wrong and you'll get hooted off the stage.

Not that Sullavan didn't have help with William Wyler directing her who was legendary in his painstaking methods of doing dozens of takes so a player could get it exactly as he wanted. Molnar's play was adapted for the screen by Preston Sturges whose directorial career was about four years in the future. During the film Wyler became Sullavan's second husband.

Wyler even got Herbert Marshall to bend a little. Usually Marshall was cast in serious dramatic roles, characters with the weight of the world on their shoulders like in Foreign Correspondent or The Little Foxes. Here Marshall lightens up and proves a good comedic foil. Frank Morgan plays an aging roue, millionaire owner of a meat import business and he's settling into character as the eternal bumbler.

The Good Fairy is a star vehicle and it's got one great star in Margaret Sullavan to put it across.

Definitely a Preston Sturges Movie

[geoffparfitt · 9/10 · 9 July 2006]

I'm a fan of Preston Sturges, and I was brought to this movie by his screenplay credit, not knowing if that would be enough to make this a movie I was going to enjoy. GOOD NEWS! This movie is a real joy from start to finish.

From the outset the humour was quite subtle, and the sophisticated dialogue sounded very modern. Clearly, although this Sturges script isn't served by Sturges direction, this is still a Preston Sturges movie. And the script is backed up by sympathetic direction from William Wyler and the performances of the lead players. In particular Margaret Sullavan is fresh and funny as the fish-out-of-water naive young girl leaving her orphanage to join the outside world, determined to do a good deed every day... to be a Good Fairy to somebody.

Unfortunately the lies she feels she has to tell, and the resulting problems she's willing to face, lead her into digging a deeper and deeper hole for herself, and into dragging other characters into the hole with her. Those other characters are the Sturges eccentrics we know from his acclaimed movies of later years. The scenes with Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen shouting at each other with Sullavan between them are fabulous. Herbert Marshall is also good, but he or his character can not match the same level of lunacy.

Now I've seen this, I just hope it won't be long before I can get to see "Easy Living", the next comedy that Preston Sturges was able to write and exert the same level of influence over.

A film with oodles of charm

[nomoons11 · 7/10 · 23 June 2012]

There's a time in film when Margaret Sullavan was on top of her game. She was no beauty queen but what she had was...charm. She had lots of charm.

This film has good performances all around. From Margaret Sullavan to Herbert Marshall to the side performances. Look for Reginald Owen as the waiter. He steals a lot the scenes.

Margaret Sullavan plays Luisa Ginglebuscher, a girl raised in an orphanage, who gets an opportunity to work at a movie theater as an usher. Problem is, she's never been outside the confines of her orphanage so she sees life through rose color glasses. Every day there she had to do 1 thing to make someone's life better. She had to be a good fairy...every day. She's very innocent to say the least. From this she remembers that she has to do the same for her new surroundings. So she picks out someone from a phone book to do her good deed. After this, the fun starts.

This is another one of those 30's gems with a solid cast and an even better story. The 30's was a time when innocence in film still existed. Stories about people being good and doing good things for others. This one is one em with a loads of heart and charm. A real feel good film for its time.

"A pencil sharpener with a handle"

[Steffi_P · 9/10 · 19 October 2009]

The 1930s were perhaps the golden age of the romantic comedy, and one way this is proved is by how many sub-genres the 30s romcom can be divided into. There were the "pre-code" bedroom farces, the screwball comedies which began with It Happened One Night, and the musical romcoms, which virtually all musicals were before they gained a layer of dramatic maturity in the 40s and 50s. The Good Fairy, as its title suggests, is a prime example of yet another sub-genre – the contemporary, urban fairy tale. The beautiful princess is a cinema usherette, the magical kingdom is a modern city, but this is still a simple yet sincere story of love conquering all.

These stories can seem a tad daft or childish, especially when compared to the sophistication and raciness of the classic screwballs. The Good Fairy however makes its innocent sweetness palatable by never getting too close to reality in its setting or situations. The Eastern-European location is reminiscent of the divine "Ruritanian" style of the early Paramount musicals. Preston Sturges's dialogue is witty enough to keep a continuous background level of silliness without threatening to distract from the plot. The original story, by the way, is by Ferenc Molnar, whose most famous work is Liliom (upon which Carousel was based) and while the Good Fairy is not supernatural there are many similarities in tone.

Director William Wyler could have treated the Good Fairy as a straightforward comic ramble, but he leaves the superb cast to bring out the funny business. He instead adds depth to the love angle, shooting as if this were a serious romantic drama. One significant trick he pulls is the in the pace he gives to different parts of the film. Margaret Sullavan's dinner with Reginald Owen and the scenes at the party are very busy, with the crowds in the background constantly moving, sometimes passing in front of the principle actors. This gives a daunting atmosphere and prevents the scenes from getting in any way romantic. In contrast, Sullavan's scenes with Herbert Marshall are at a more relaxed pace, in long unbroken takes, and this brings out the warmth of their moments together.

And now onto that sublime cast, which is surely the best thing about the Good Fairy. The picture opens with Alan Hale, who gets things off to a suitably silly start. Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen have a hammy bluster about them which adds to the aforementioned bustle of those early scenes. It may seem odd to see Eric Blore out of his familiar butler territory, but it's not a problem. Blore is so naturally entertaining I would quite happily watch him playing Lady MacBeth. Pushed and pulled between these oddballs, Margaret Sullavan gives the one naturalistic performance of the whole show, and a remarkable one at that. And then there is Herbert Marshall, one of the most intrinsically likable players of the era. It's odd, because Marshall looks and sounds a lot like George Sanders, but while Sanders looks like the kind of bounder who writes relatives out of his will on an annual basis, Marshall is the sort of man you'd trust with the pin code to your life savings. And that's why he works so well here. In fact, the only bad thing about Marshall's casting is that the barber is right – he really does look better with the beard.

There are really no flaws in the Good Fairy, at least none worth dwelling on. The only reason I wouldn't call it a masterpiece is that there is nothing supremely good about it. It is emotional without being poignant, funny without being hilarious. But the Good Fairy entertains, just as a square meal fills us up, and who would ask for a gourmet dinner every night of the week?

THE GOOD FAIRY (William Wyler, 1935) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 1 August 2011]

This is another early and light Wyler film, on which he actually met his first wife i.e. star Margaret Sullavan; she is delightful in the title role of an orphaned girl who goes out into the world for the first time and, when offered the 'protection' of a wealthy older man (Frank Morgan), she tells him she is married to struggling lawyer Herbert Marshall (whose name the girl picked up at random from the phone book!). However, rather than be discouraged, he proposes to help her husband's career instead and, in this, she sees herself as having done her good deed for the day (a remnant of her naïve upbringing)! Of course, no end of complications follow, which also involve an overly protective waiter Reginald Owen and an eccentric drunkard of a Minister Eric Blore (who is only featured in one hilarious scene early on), with the remaining supporting cast including such familiar faces as Alan Hale, Beulah Bondi, Gavin Gordon (in an amusing film-within-a-film appearance!), Cesar Romero and Luis Alberni.

The film is very typical of its era, being a sophisticated romantic comedy with a Continental setting; though never straying outside the studio, in this case Universal, its look is distinctive – particularly Charles D. Hall's art direction – and the whole feels a kinship to Ernst Lubitsch's pictures at Paramount. One more notable influence here is screenwriter Preston Sturges – still some years away from becoming a powerhouse director of zany originals – albeit with occasional sociological concerns, which can also be felt here.

Though essentially stylish fluff, the film is kept afloat by the performances: while Morgan made a career out of playing flustered and misguided socialites (interestingly, his being played up as someone with the ability to set things right for others seems to have augured well for his best-remembered – and titular – role in THE WIZARD OF OZ {1939}), Sullavan and Marshall really shine, especially when playing off each other: her freshness all the better to contrast with his inherent stiffness. The latter, in fact, is bemused by the various benefactors' interest in his modest practice, but he clashes with the girl over his studious (i.e. bearded) look; this is a dilemma which, curiously enough, I have had to face myself ever since I grew a beard (for the first time in my life!) as a result of my recent tenure as an extra on the WORLD WAR Z Malta shoot – with some female friends fancying the change in image and some others not (but, unlike Marshall's character in the film, so far I have kept it)! In the end, Morgan sees how Sullavan is really drawn to Marshall, so he does the only honorable thing and steps out of the way but, in true Hollywood fashion, he lets the protagonists have their cake and eat it too (by not opting to withdraw his sponsorship).

Tragically, Sullavan died at age 50 from an accidental overdose of barbiturates (though some considered it suicide, having earlier suffered from a nervous breakdown) on New Year's Day 1960; depressingly, two of her three children would actually commit suicide! Besides Wyler (their marriage lasted a little over a year), her husbands included actor Henry Fonda (they divorced a mere 2 months later!) and renowned agent Leland Hayward (the couple managed to stay together for nearly 13 years this time around). She was also mother-in-law to Dennis Hopper – while his pal Peter Fonda (not her son) named his daughter Bridget after Sullavan's own offspring from the Hayward union, on whom he used to have a crush (and who died, aged 21, only 11 months after her actress mother herself!).

Sturgis showing his comic abilities - but still in the wings

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 25 August 2006]

Before "Christmas In July" and "The Great McGinty" Preston Sturgis was a screenplay writer - one of the two great screenplay writers of the 1930s who graduated into very respectable directorial careers (the other being Billy Wilder, of course). Oddly both men cut their abilities at Paramount, not MGM. And both claimed that they were dissatisfied with the ways two of their best scripts were shot ("Easy Living" and "Remember The Night"), butchered (in their opinion) by the same director: Mitchell Leisin.

Actually this was hardly fair to Leisin. If he did not have quite the cynical bite of either Sturgis or Wilder, he did not ruin their screenplays. He tended to make characters more human. Moreover, it is hard to support the comment about "Easy Living", when Leisin is credited (not Wilder and Charles Brackett his partner) with the most famous scene in that film: Leisin created the Automat scene where all the doors of the Automat food compartment fly open and all the bums in New York City run amok getting free food! This was not ruining a film, but improving it.

Sturgis' screenplays were an interesting group. He wrote the screenplay for the Edward Arnold biography "Diamond Jim". He also did the Ronald Colman - Basil Rathbone film "If I Were King". He also did the Bob Hope - Martha Raye - Andy Devine comedy "Never Say Die". His screenplay work was generally quite sharp, and never sharper (prior to his own directing) than in "The Good Fairy".

Margaret Sullavan plays Luisa Ginglebusher, who has just come of age, and has to leave the convent school presided over by Beulah Bondi. Luisa has been well brought up, and she is determined to live up to the best traditions. One thing is her determination to do good. Naturally, she is like a wide eyed lamb in a world of wolves. Sure enough she soon is taken (briefly) under the wing of an arch-wolf, Cesar Romero. But she finds she has attracted a good fairy of her own, Detlaff the waiter (Reginald Owen). If one thinks of Owen solely from his nice performance as Ebenezer Scrooge, it is wonderful to see him kick off his comic shoes and timing in a film like this. He sees Luisa as a decent girl, and she is making sure she remains that way in the wilds of the wicked city of Budapesth.

But Luisa sees herself as a good fairy, and she picks, out of a telephone book, a name of a person to help. It is a lawyer, Dr. Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall - complete with chin whiskers). Sporum is a fiercely honest attorney (which explains the lack of clients). Luisa, when she discovers this, decides to encourage customers. She has attracted one old goat: Konrad a rich meat factory owner (Frank Morgan). She manages to convince him that she is married to the struggling Sporum, and that she would do anything to help her "husband" make a success. Konrad takes the hint, and goes to Sporum to make him his lawyer. Sporum is amazed but thinks Konrad was told about him by an old law professor, Dr. Stanislav Metz (Eric Blore). When Luisa talks to him about his success afterward Sporum is still in a state of euphoria (he took some of the first retainer money to buy a pencil sharpener). Luisa does suggest some new clothing and he shave off his whiskers.

Eventually Luisa is in over her head, as she tries to balance Sporum (who she is falling for), Konrad, and the guardian angel Detlaff. And it's done quite well. Look at the scene where Detlaff is serving Konrad and Luisa in the restaurant and keeps knocking every possible dish Konrad suggests they order ("What kind of restaurant is this?", a perplexed Konrad/Morgan asks). The scene where Marshall has to shave his beard (Luis Alberni is the barber - also with a beard) is brief but funny, as Alberni tries to talk Marshall out of the sacrifice. He just barely loses.

It was a wonderful comedy, hinting at what the writer was capable of. And with names like Sporum and Ginglebusher future Sturgis names like Kockenlocker and Hackensacker were just around the corner. One only regrets that none of the leads, except Cesar Romero, ever appeared in a Sturgis film when he was directing them.

*possible spoiler* comments on Detlaff, the waiter

[kyrat · 6/10 · 6 July 2002]

The film was ok, but I spent most of it wondering why she didn't choose to make Detlaff rich, especially after all he had done for her, it just did not seem fair. I think the film would've been better without his character. She could have met Konrad in the theater and then the rest of the movie could have unfolded from there.

You have to be a Margaret Sullavan fan to appreciate this one...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 24 October 2006]

Here's a film that did succeed as a charming comedy when it first opened at Radio City Music Hall back in 1935, based on a play by Molnar that had been a very successful stage comedy. And given the fact that MGM produced it with a handsome cast and gave it a director like William Wyler, it ought to be something to shout about.

Not so. MARGARET SULLAVAN, first of all, is an acquired taste. She's not a conventional Hollywood face by any means--in fact, she's really a drab little wren--but with MGM's make-up department and some softly appealing close-ups, she makes a presentable leading lady. It's her voice and mannerisms that you have to get used to--much the way Katharine Hepburn took the country by storm and then was declared "box-office poison" when she became too mannered.

The story is a trifle with a naive girl re-arranging the lives of three men she tries to help--but caught up in a web of deception. The well meaning girl has a waiter, a lawyer and a rich magnate all in a stew once she starts her fibs. This was re-made in the '40s as a Deanna Durbin film with music, of course, and maybe that's what helped I'LL BE YOURS become a more sprightly version of the tale.

This is strictly for fans of Margaret Sullavan as the story and situations are a bit too contrived for comfort. HERBERT MARSHALL as the lawyer, REGINALD OWEN as the waiter and FRANK MORGAN as the millionaire all do well enough but no one can overcome the fanciful script that is more foolish than funny.

WYLER and STURGES combine to give us a real comic gem

[tonybolger-1 · 10/10 · 7 April 2010]

I am shocked at how many reviews on this site give all the credit to Preston Sturges. Are they influenced by a bunch of French critics who have declared the great WILLIAM WYLER out of fashion? Few, if any, directors have made so many outstanding movies. His 'crime' seems to be crossing the genre line, and not putting himself in every frame! Here we find him in fine comic 1935 form. Wyler's aim was always to do justice to his subject. It can be no surprise, therefore, that he's influenced by the daft and hilarious Sturges script. Wyler translates this into an hilariously daft and totally charming movie. Always a great director of actors, he once again leads his cast to memorable performances. Sullavan, unusually delightful: Marshall, unexpectedly funny and miles from his other Wyler roles (The Letter, The Little Foxes): bumbling, hilarious Morgan: beautifully daft Owen, and a madcap drunk act by Blore. The WYLER touch and the STURGES craziness combine beautifully in this unfairly neglected comic gem.

The Good Film

[kenjha · 9/10 · 25 September 2008]

Circumstances afford a young woman an opportunity to enrich the life of a poor person that she picks randomly out of a telephone book. Sturges delightfully adapts a Hungarian play, incorporating the kind of snappy dialog that would mark his later directorial efforts. In one of three great films he directed in the mid 1930s (Counsellor at Law, Dodsworth), Wyler displays a touch comparable to Lubitsch. Sullavan, an actress whose career and life were both sadly short, is charming as a good-hearted orphan. Marshall is perfectly cast as a dignified lawyer. Laughs are provided by Owen as a waiter who wants to protect Sullavan and by Morgan as a tycoon who wants to be Sullavan's Sugar Daddy.

Dialog over Special Effects. Yes, there can be a film with no explosions.

[gte47 · 31 March 2003]

I am always amazed with the talent of Preston Sturgis. He is a true painter of WORDS, a tunesmith of dialog and staging. In this early William Wyler Universal film using Preston Sturgis screen play we have scene after scene of people acting and reacting off each other's follies which is a true documentation of this race we call Human. This film depicts the constant struggle to make sense of human interaction.

The nice thing is there is no murders, explosions, mayhem or outright evil. All these things get in the way of DIALOG. I watch this film in awe, there is musical rhythm in the first third of the film combining dialog, action and music. You will really like all these people at the end of the film.

Time Well Spent., No Noise

Not quite what I hoped for but fine for what it is

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 1 May 2016]

Pleasant, if somewhat disappointing, romantic comedy written by Preston Sturges and directed by William Wyler. Both men did much better work than this. That isn't to say this is bad, because no movie with this level of talent involved could ever be bad. It's just not as good as one would hope. For starters, it's not very funny. I watched it with a friend and fellow classic film fan and she called it "screwball comedy, light on the comedy." That seems about right. It's certainly a wacky enough movie with a plot you would expect from Sturges -- naive young woman fresh out of an orphanage tries to help a struggling lawyer and winds up falling for him while another old guy tries to get in her pants.

Margaret Sullavan stars as the young woman and she's easy to like and root for, although her character's childlike naiveté begins to oog you out near the end when you see her break down in tears over the whole mess she started, and you suddenly realize this movie's plot is basically a love story between a minor and a guy in his 40s. But it's best not to look at these things through a modern lens if one can help it. Anyway, Sullavan does fine, as does Herbert Marshall as the lawyer. The two scene stealers, though, are Frank Morgan and Reginald Denny. Morgan has a funny line about a wizard that might give you a chuckle, foreshadowing his most famous role four years later. The best part of the film to me, and the part that most directly screams Sturges, is the movie-within-a-movie that stars Gavin Gordon ("Go."). You have to see it to get why it's so funny but it's really more in line with what I hoped the rest of the movie would be. Instead the movie is a decent romcom with a great cast and a so-so script. It starts out strong but bogs down in the middle and seems to take forever to finish, despite not being particularly long. Worth a look for fans of any of the names involved but keep expectations reasonable.

Great Performances and Script

[sheerblue-1 · 9/10 · 16 July 2009]

This gem of a screwball comedy has it all: wonderful performances (especially from Margaret Sullavan), witty dialogue, good comedic timing, etc. The premise is a little outlandish, but hey, what do you expect from a screwball? Besides, that's partly what made "A Palm Beach Story" (also written by Sturges) so charming.

Margaret Sullavan plays Louisa, an orphan hired as a movie theater usher (which, in the scheme of things, is not important). Through funny circumstances she ends up befriending Detlaff, a prickly but lovable waiter. He invites her to a fancy party where millionaire Konrad falls for her and tries to seduce her (and fails miserably). Frightened, Louisa lies and says she's married and picks her husband's name out of the phone book. Konrad decides to give this lawyer (Max Sporum/Herbert Marshall) an important position with his company so that _he_ can go on to lavish Lousia with expensive gifts.

You can figure out the rest. Herbert Marshall and Sullavan have a great chemistry, though, and though I never took to Marshall in "Trouble in Paradise", I found him utterly charming here with his accent, enthusiasm, and dry humor. As for Sullavan...wow! She produced such touching scenes that I would have labeled this movie a tearjerker if it weren't so darned funny! A must-see.

98 minutes is at least 15 minutes too much!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 29 June 2016]

Despite its splendid first and second acts, "The Good Fairy" comes to grief when the Herbert Marshall character wantonly decides to shave off his beard. As a previous commentator has remarked, Marshall looked much, much better and was far more impressive with it on. What's more, the movie itself seemed to move faster and with more agility, plus a lot more fun! In fact, almost the whole of the Third Act could be jettisoned. It's just a waste of time. The dialogue is both so repetitive and unfunny, even the actors look uncomfortable – even Marshall himself, would you believe? Once he reverts to Mr. Clean- Shaven, he's just plain, wearisomely dull. The lovely Margaret Sullavan tries hard to spark her character up a bit, but even she is no match for a script that about two-thirds through is suddenly over-burdened with too much dull dialogue and wearisomely fleshed out with boring, slow-moving, repetitive and unessential scenes. Available on an excellent Kino Video DVD.

Great humor from a superb cast and marvelous screenplay

[SimonJack · 10/10 · 2 May 2014]

Preston Sturges is mentioned third in the writing credits for "The Good Fairy." But his wit and sense of humor clearly shine through in this marvelous screenplay. And, with a great cast, this film was a sure-fire comedy success. It is a hilarious comedy that at times becomes very warm and endearing. It's a wonderful farce that has some feel-good moments tossed in to make it a truly joyous time spent.

Margaret Sullavan and Herbert Marshall are the headline stars, but a superb supporting cast carries much of the script and comedy. The plot revolves around Sullavan's character, Luisa. Before Marshall's entry as Dr. Max Sporum, there are some riotous scenes with Frank Morgan as Konrad, Reginald Owen as Detlaff, the waiter, and Eric Blore as Dr. Metz. Blore is one of the great staid comic stalwarts of the 1930s and 1940s. Movie buffs will know him from the Lone Wolf string of movies made in those decades, as the Wolf's valet and sidekick Jamison, with nice comedy parts.

People will forever remember Morgan as the Wizard of Oz. Here he is a riot as a frustrated and flustered would-be lover of Luisa. Playing his protagonist, for some of the funniest exchanges on film that I can think of, is Owen's waiter, Detlaff. After a chance meeting with Luisa who has just come from the orphanage asylum, Detlaff feels a responsibility for her. Especially to protect her virtue against the likes of Konrad and Dr. Metz. Owen made many films and worked with top actors over the years. He gave one of the best performances of Scrooge in the 1938 movie of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

Margaret Sullavan's life was a sad one off screen and stage. She married four times and had three divorces. Two of her three children with Hollywood producer Leland Hayward left her to live with their father. She suffered depression and spent two months in an asylum. Sullavan died in 1960 from an overdose of barbiturates. She was just 50 years old. A daughter and her son later committed suicide. Her other daughter, Brooke Hayward, wrote a best-selling book about her family in 1977. "Haywire" was made into a TV movie in 1980, and starred Lee Remick and Jason Robards.

Sullavan had a reputation for her temperament. She preferred the Broadway stage to Hollywood. So, she made fewer than 20 films in the 1930s and 1940s. But not one of those was anything less than a big hit or superb film. Here is a sampling of some great lines from "The Good Fairy."

Dr. Metz; "What's your name again, my little peach blossom?" Konrad: "Yes, but she's not your little peach blossom." Luisa: "I can't tell you that." Metz: "Oh, incognito?" Luisa: "Oh, no, that's not it. You'll never guess it." Metz, laughing: "Very sharp! She reminds me of myself."

Konrad: "How's the lobster soup?" Detlaff, the waiter: "Terrible, sir." Konrad: "What?" Detlaff: "If there's one thing our chef can't make, it's lobster soup." Konrad: "Well, how's the filet of sole?" Detlaff: "Filet of sole, sir?" Konrad: "Yes, yes!" Detlaff: "Vile, sir." Konrad: "Vile?" Detlaff: "I couldn't' recommend it. We're so far from the channel, you know sir, it has to be packed in ice. I suspect that the ice gave out about half way, sir." Konrad: "You don't mean " Detlaff, gestures holding his nose. Konrad: "It's terrible." Detlaff: "Unfortunately, sir." Konrad: "Well, is there anything the matter with the moi tete of lamb?" Detlaff: "Very leathery, sir." Konrad: "What is leathery? How can lamb be leathery?" Detlaff: "I suspect it's goat, sir." Konrad: "Goat! This is ridiculous!"

Konrad: "What does he do?" Luisa: "Oh, my husband?" Konrad: "Oh, well we're right back where we started. Certainly, your husband. What does he do?" Luisa: "I never asked him." Konrad: "Oh, you never asked him. What does he do - I never asked him. When I say what does he do, I mean is he a butcher, a horse doctor, a dentist, or an undertaker, or what?" Luisa: "What would you like him to be?" Konrad: "What would I like him to be? Uh, whatever I'd like him to be, I mean, he would just be?" Luisa: "He's very willing." Konrad: "Yes, well that always sounds bad. I suppose he'd be a deep-sea diver or something. That would give me a lot of trouble. Why couldn't you have married a lawyer or something?" Luisa: "A lawyer he IS a lawyer." Konrad: "Well why didn't you say that in the first place?" Luisa: "I was afraid maybe you didn't need one." Konrad: "What's his name?" Luisa: "Oh, do you have to know his name?"

Konrad, "Did you notice that fellow's eyes? They're like angry marbles." Louisa, "No, I didn't notice." Konrad, "I think he's crazy...This is the worst hotel in the whole world."

Konrad, "Well, I'll see him in the morning, and I'll make him... General European Legal Representative." Luisa, "Ohhh! What does it mean?" Konrad, "Well, it doesn't mean anything, but I'll make him something."

Konrad, "Sometimes it's better to lose a case cleverly than to win it stupidly."

Dr. Max Sporum, "I'm going to buy a pencil sharpener... with a handle, and different size holes, at last."

Luisa, talking about Max buying a car, "All right then, it's gotta be pink." Max, "Pink?" Luisa, "Of course it has. You can't take that beard around with a black car. Why, you'll frighten the children."

Detlaff, " I thought I'd better just keep an eye on you. Where'd you get that fur?" Luisa, "I don't want an eye kept on me."

Detlaff, "Where does the pencil sharpener come in? You ought to go back in the asylum."

Konrad, "If you say it was you, I'll punch you right in the eye. If there's any good fairy around here, it's me."

Corny but watchable.

[PWNYCNY · 7/10 · 1 June 2008]

Corny movie, dated, but cute, watchable but if you fall asleep don't be surprised. It is amazing how the name Preston Sturges sets up certain expectations for a movie, that it will be fast-paced and crammed with witty, funny dialogue, but alas reputation, like many other aspects of human life, may not be completely consistent with reality. This is a good movie but it is obscure and for good reason. The movie has an excellent cast but the movie's premise is so simplistic that it calls into question whether the audience in 1935 was so naive. This story presents a rather bizarre portrayal of life in an orphanage and the transition from ward to the government to independent woman. Also, the transplantation of Hollywoodish scenery and dialogue onto a story originally set in Hungary is a bit of a stretch but nevertheless it's a good movie. Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen give excellent performances, which is further evidence that the quality of acting was far superior than what it is today, which isn't surprising given Hollywood's obsession for special effects with its firm reliance on the computer to rescue movies from total oblivion.

Everyone Loves Luisa!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 10 December 2011]

Ferenc Molnar's play "The Good Fairy" was a Broadway hit in 1931 (151 performances) with Helen Hayes as the ethereal heroine. To read one of the reviewer's description of the play was quite a shock to me - Lu was manipulative, ready to sleep with Konrad but in the end deciding to play a "good fairy" and pair each of the men with a suitable girl, even though she was left out in the cold. Obviously, when Preston Sturges wrote the screenplay, for Hollywood in the mid 1930s, he had to sanitize a lot of the quaint observations on marital infidelity, tacked on a new beginning and toned down the moral stance the play had adopted on the evils of do gooding. He did, however, retain the play's charm and Margaret Sullavan was absolutely bewitching (as usual) as the helpless girl who attracts the attention of three very different type of men.

I don't know of any other actress who could put across that enchanting air of complete innocence and, for me, the film was best at the beginning when Sullavan as Luisa was telling the orphans a fairy story. She held them spellbound as she ascended the rickety ladder, rode a broomstick - then crash!!! (Jane Withers and Ann Miller can be glimpsed as orphans).

She is soon out in the big world, working as an usherette in a beautiful picture palace. She meets Reginald Owen and shares an amusing scene where they both sit down to watch an enthralling movie. He "rescues" her from a stage door Johnnie (Cesar Romero) and invites her to a grand party. It turns out he is a waiter and takes a very parental view of her goings on. She meets Konrad (Frank Morgan), a wealthy meat packer who wants to shower her with riches, which she can't really handle so she pulls out the old standby "I'm married" which had worked for the stage door Johnnie (which was strange because the head of the orphanage (Beulah Bondi) had proclaimed she wouldn't know how to flirt, and she didn't but she was knowing enough to get out of a few sticky situations). I was as confused as the other reviewer as to why she didn't name the waiter, especially as Konrad offered to bestow on her "husband" lots of good fortune!! Instead she goes to a phone book, picks out a name and suddenly destitute lawyer(!!!), Dr. Sporum (Herbert Marshall) finds himself the recipient of a diplomatic post, which will bring him in 100,000 a year - enough to be able to buy his cherished dream - a pencil sharpener with a handle!!! And he doesn't know why!!!

The movie lost a bit of it's magic for me after half an hour, I know it was a bit much to expect Luisa to have the glowing innocence that she originally had but she seemed to learn the ways of the world awfully fast. As well, with Reginald Owen, Frank Morgan and Herbert Marshall competing for screen time, there just wasn't enough of the bewitching Margaret Sullavan for me. And I suppose, being a typical Hollywood romantic fantasy, the heroine had to have a dashing hero and both Konrad and the waiter were a bit too fatherly for sweet Luisa.

It is unfortunate that Margaret Sullavan didn't make more movies - she never gave a bad performance. She made an immediate impact from her first appearance (a sudsy soaper "Only Yesterday") and made usually cynical critics fall over themselves with praise. Otis Ferguson commented on Sullavan's performance in "The Good Fairy" - "Most of the time she is entirely lovely and if she isn't an actress, I wouldn't know who is"!!!

When William Wyler gave Margaret Sullavan her first effective fairy role.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 6/10 · 24 June 2022]

The Good Fairy (1935) : Brief Review -

When William Wyler gave Margaret Sullavan her first effective fairy role. The Good Fairy is a fun film with a lot of enjoyable moments, but more than anything else, the film can be remembered only and only for Margaret Sullavan's most innocent and childlike character by that time. Ferenc Molnár's novel A jó tündér got translated and then got a stage adaptation, so you know there was something to attract the audience. Then came this cinematic adaptation, right in the mid-30s - the most progressive phase of entertaining cinema. A naive girl just out of a cloistered orphanage finds that being a "good fairy" to strangers makes life awfully complicated. Margaret Sullavan chose this character to prove her versatility and try her hand in the rom-com genre, which had just begun to get popular. She looks so cute and adorable in the film that you just can't forget that innocent face even after watching the film. I am seeing her face in my mind right now as I am writing this. I wish I could meet a good fairy like her one day, and I should immediately marry her. "I'm married," she says again and again, only to break someone's heart, but at the same time, she makes others' hearts beat faster by letting them know that she is single. Herbert Marshall was one of the most handsome actors of his time, and his transformation in the film will have you wondering about him. First the beard, then the pride and sentimental connection with it, and then that clean shaved look. He looked unrecognisable for a moment, even to me. I mean, imagine me being an audience member in real life, knowing he would show up now and yet having a moment of doubt. That's how crazy his transformation is. The Good Fairy has a decent storyline with a few flaws here and there - the love story being too quick and implausible is the major one. The rest of the time, Wyler keeps you interested and busy with his sweet little story that is a good one-time fun flick.

RATING - 6.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Falls flat like a sparkle-less ginger ale.

[MyMovieTVRomance · 5/10 · 10 November 2021]

This was okay, but thanks to the title, I had hoped for some magic and mysticism, but there was none- only references to being like a good fairy, or wishing to be. Bummer. To be honest, I prefer the Deanna Durbin remake entitled "I'll Be Yours" (1947); the music alone makes it more magical than this one.