To me one of the funniest supporting actors of the 30s was Erik Rhodes.Who will ever forget his Italian Count in Top Hat.In this Warners B feature he gets as near as he would ever do to star billing.He plays a would be chef who relies more on his foreign name rather than ability to get a top job at the Ritz.In reality his mum is the great chef.The main lead is William Gargan.The best way i can describe him is a poor mans James Cagney.Mind you even Cagney would have had to strain to extract laughs out of this rather threadbare plot.Whilst i always enjoy seeing Allan Jenkins even he has to overact wildly to extract any laughs from a script which seems to have been polished off in a couple of hours.
6 Reviews
Predictable But Fun
Handlinghandel14 June 2005
Wisecracking William Gargan wangles an invite to a pretty girl's home for dinner. He hits on the brilliant scheme of making her brother a culinary star.
(Such stardom was probably a far less common event in the 1930s than it is now. In Europe, not to mention in the little old USA.) We can pretty much guess what problems will ensure. The brother, played very amusingly by Erik Rhodes, maybe is not such a great cook ....
Still, it has a great supporting cast. The script is definitely not polished as it would be for a major movie. But it's clever and holds our attention.
Things end happily but, for some of the characters, disappointingly.
Things end happily but, for some of the characters, disappointingly.
(Such stardom was probably a far less common event in the 1930s than it is now. In Europe, not to mention in the little old USA.) We can pretty much guess what problems will ensure. The brother, played very amusingly by Erik Rhodes, maybe is not such a great cook ....
Still, it has a great supporting cast. The script is definitely not polished as it would be for a major movie. But it's clever and holds our attention.
Things end happily but, for some of the characters, disappointingly.
Things end happily but, for some of the characters, disappointingly.
If You Could Only Cook
boblipton21 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
William Gargan is a promoter on the make for Patricia Ellis. Her brother, Erik Rhodes, is a cook who says he is a great chef waiting for a break, so Gargan promotes him into a big contract with a leading local hotel. There's just one problem. He can't cook.
It's a nice set-up, and director William McGann has a good cast form Warner Brothers' stock company to work with, including Allen Jenkins and Berton Churchill. However, I am not terribly fond of this movie. Like many Warners comedies of this period, it's frantic rather than funny, with none of the snap that some of the studio's motormouths could offer; Gargan himself seems plodding in his line readings. It looks like McGann's failure, who was more highly regarded as an assistant director than in te top spot. His career dribbled away in the middle of the 1940s and he died in 1977, aged 84.
It's a nice set-up, and director William McGann has a good cast form Warner Brothers' stock company to work with, including Allen Jenkins and Berton Churchill. However, I am not terribly fond of this movie. Like many Warners comedies of this period, it's frantic rather than funny, with none of the snap that some of the studio's motormouths could offer; Gargan himself seems plodding in his line readings. It looks like McGann's failure, who was more highly regarded as an assistant director than in te top spot. His career dribbled away in the middle of the 1940s and he died in 1977, aged 84.
Having an obnoxious leading character isn't a plus!
planktonrules22 May 2021
William Gargan plays Duke Regan, a schemer who is generally obnoxious and looking for his next scheme. He's also a bit of a pig when it comes to women, yet, oddly, Marcia Jaynos (Patricia Ellis) falls for his lines....and it's really hard to see why. Regardless, having such a jerk as the main character in "A Night at the Ritz" certainly makes it a tough sell.
When the story begins, you see Duke making some passes at Marcia...and he won't take no for an answer. He invites himself to her house for dinner and apparently his boorish ways have worn her down and she agrees to bring him home for a home cooked dinner. It turns out to be amazing food and Duke incorrectly assumes Marcia's brother cooked it, though Leopold has zero talent when it comes to cooking. Without even telling anyone his newest scheme, he rushes from their apartment and goes to the Ritz to sell them on Leopold as their new head chef. What's to come of all this? Watch it...or don't.
To say that Duke is hard to like is putting it very mildly. He comes off as a know-it-all, much like many of Lee Tracy's characters...but untalented. He talks a mile a minute and is about as honest as a $4 bill. So why would you want to watch him for an hour during this B-movie from Warner Brothers? I know I didn't enjoy the 62 minutes....which felt much, much longer. It's funny, as the film isn't terrible but Duke is such a jerk I had a hard time caring about the other characters.
By the way, why does Leopold have a HEAVY foreign accent while Marcia, his sister, sounds 100% American? And, why didn't someone at Warner Brothers seem to notice this??
When the story begins, you see Duke making some passes at Marcia...and he won't take no for an answer. He invites himself to her house for dinner and apparently his boorish ways have worn her down and she agrees to bring him home for a home cooked dinner. It turns out to be amazing food and Duke incorrectly assumes Marcia's brother cooked it, though Leopold has zero talent when it comes to cooking. Without even telling anyone his newest scheme, he rushes from their apartment and goes to the Ritz to sell them on Leopold as their new head chef. What's to come of all this? Watch it...or don't.
To say that Duke is hard to like is putting it very mildly. He comes off as a know-it-all, much like many of Lee Tracy's characters...but untalented. He talks a mile a minute and is about as honest as a $4 bill. So why would you want to watch him for an hour during this B-movie from Warner Brothers? I know I didn't enjoy the 62 minutes....which felt much, much longer. It's funny, as the film isn't terrible but Duke is such a jerk I had a hard time caring about the other characters.
By the way, why does Leopold have a HEAVY foreign accent while Marcia, his sister, sounds 100% American? And, why didn't someone at Warner Brothers seem to notice this??
simple little story.... ho hum
ksf-24 September 2016
Erik Rhodes and Allen Jenkins carry this one from 1935, in Rhodes' fourth credited role. Rhodes had just had a large role with Astaire and Rogers in "Gay Divorcée" the year before, and was an expert at euro accents. Leopold is happy to let people think he cooked the meal eaten by Regan (William Gargan), and it even gets him a job offer. Early-ish role for Allen Jenkins, mister nasal voice and slightly dim-guy mug from SO many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Directed by William McGann, who had also directed a TON of stuff in the 1930s and 1940s. Shown on Turner Classics occasionally, but really not very captivating. much ado about nothing. kind of meanders along, but never really gets us interested. They do end up at the Ritz, (from the title...) but we have already fallen asleep. It's only a shortie from Warner Brothers. Skip it. Script needed some pepping up or something.
A phony Italian walks away with the whole show.
mark.waltz3 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
If it wasn't for the Astaire Rogers film the gay divorcee, people might not know who Erik Rhodes was at all. The heavily accented and supposedly Italian lothario was actually from the Midwest, specializing in egocentric Europeans who were slightly effeminate but with the appearance of a gigolo. Here, he's a complete narcissist who believes that he's the greatest chef in the world and his mother (Bodil Rosing) is too afraid to tell him that he is not. She's the chef in the family, and while his food May taste delicious, the after effects have a humorous reaction, that is if you were lucky enough not to eat it.
This Warner Brothers B comedy stars William Gargan as a mug who longs to break into society by trying to find the greatest chef to be hired at the Ritz. In spite of the romantic plot involving the Cagney like Gargan and pretty Patricia Ellis, it's the scenes with Rhodes that will be remembered, as well as Warner Brothers regular Allen Jenkins' delightful consumption of an entire batch of Rhodes' cuisine and his sudden reaction to it. The comedy is basically so-so with Rhodes and Rosing sounding nothing alike, and Rosing barely has any accent at all. Still, thanks to Rhodes' eccentric performance, this isn't completely forgettable and I would call his performance one of the finest comic masterpieces of the 1930's.
This Warner Brothers B comedy stars William Gargan as a mug who longs to break into society by trying to find the greatest chef to be hired at the Ritz. In spite of the romantic plot involving the Cagney like Gargan and pretty Patricia Ellis, it's the scenes with Rhodes that will be remembered, as well as Warner Brothers regular Allen Jenkins' delightful consumption of an entire batch of Rhodes' cuisine and his sudden reaction to it. The comedy is basically so-so with Rhodes and Rosing sounding nothing alike, and Rosing barely has any accent at all. Still, thanks to Rhodes' eccentric performance, this isn't completely forgettable and I would call his performance one of the finest comic masterpieces of the 1930's.
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