"Café Society" is a very good comedy that stars Fred MacMurray and Madeleine Carroll. This was one of several hit comedy romances during Hollywood's golden era, and it mixes two common themes, The newspaper reporter and the spoiled rich heiresses and society snob are the basis of much humor. A supporting cast does contributes as well. MacMurray was a master of comedy, one of the half dozen or so actors of the early to mid-20th century who made many great comedies. Madeleine Carroll was a British actress who did well in some top dramas and comedies. But she was one of the top actors before World War II who left their career to help and work in the war effort; and whose popularity didn't resume aft the war> In the last 1940s she made just three films and then worked in television in the early 1950s, retiring after 1955.
My heading here is from a line in this film by Christopher West's (Carroll) grandfather, the patriarch of the West family. Old Christopher West apologizes to Chick O'Bannon (MacMurray), when he learns that Chick had "smacked" his spoiled rich granddaughter. They had married on a whim, and his "smack" was a slap in the face which he returned after Christopher first slapped him. So after their breakup, old grandpa West visited Chick and tells him that if he, grandpa, had "smacked" her when she was growing up, it wouldn't have been necessary for her husband to do so. Of course, Grandpa might have been thinking of smacking her someplace else as a spoiled child.
Old Christopher West's visit to O'Bannon and apology is just one very funny scene in this hilarious comedy romance. It's a film with pearls of wisdom stuffed here and there in the comedy. MacMurray and Carroll carry off their spite and love relationship superbly. The back and forth creates the froth that holds most of the laughter in this film. Carroll was in several comedy films, but this is her best film and role. Claude Gillingwater is very good as Old Christopher West. But thinking about what he said to Chick, it's apparent that had he influenced a change in his granddaughter from her spoiled, café society snobbery and hedonism, O'Bannon and Chris probably would never have met.
Chick is a boat reporter - a reporter who covers ship arrivals for any hint or news of celebrities on board. Chrsitopher West was returning from a European trip of partying, with someone of foreign nobility in pursuit. And, her own hosted welcome-home party for herself is the occasion for their second meeting. That's what leads to a quick marriage -- under false pretenses on her part, but also leads to much more comedy. And, a gradual conversion of Chirs from the spoiled rich girl to a human being who thinks about other people instead of herself.
Allyn Joslyn is a gossip columnist who rivals Chris West for self-centeredness and hedonism. His despicable character is worth a few chuckles. And his mother, played by Jesie Ralph, provides some good laughs. Paul Hurst gives a sterling performance as the Bartender. Chris confides her problem and opens herself to some sound advice and wisdom that people of his profession - male bartenders, in particular, have acquired in years of plying their trade. Shirley Ross plays Chick's childhood friend who lives in an apartment upstairs from him. Her role fits nicely in the plot. And, Lillian Yarbo has a nice small role as a sort of Mata Hari for Sunny DeWitt. The rest of the cast are mostly society some idle-rich of society who hang around Chirs, are all forgetful.
