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Brian Aherne is the great actor David Garrick in "The Great Garrick," directed by James Whale and costarring Olivia DeHavilland. The actress was 21 years old when this film was released. The Comedy Francaise, insulted by comments made by Garrick about working with them, decides to give him a night in a French inn he won't ever forget. Knowing he will stop there en route to Paris, the head of the company rents the place for the day, dismissing the staff. The company take roles as maids, waiters, servants, etc. in a play written for the occasion by Beaumarchis, full of love triangles, duels, a crazy man, and lots of noise. What they don't know is that the old prompter, who once worked with Garrick, has gone ahead and warned him of what is to happen. One other thing they're not counting on is the appearance of another guest (DeHavilland) besides Garrick. Garrick, however, thinks she's part of the troupe.

This is a witty, well done comedy. Aherne, an accomplished Shakespearean actor, is great as the egomaniacal Garrick. He was equally good in "Merrily We Live," but for some reason, stopped getting the showy roles, possibly because of Errol Flynn. Edward Everett Horton is excellent as his manservant. The supporting cast, including Lionel Atwill, Melville Cooper, Fritz Leiber, and Marie Wilson are all wonderful. Lana Turner has a tiny role as one of the maids. Olivia DeHavilland is luminously beautiful in a true ingénue role, done before Warners realized what a wonderful actress they had in her.

Very entertaining, and a good chance to see a very young DeHavilland and Aherne shine.

Brian Aherne stars as David Garrick, renowned 18th century actor, in this wild little tale that is certainly no stodgy biopic but rather "a romantic adventure that might have happened," as the picture's introduction tells us.

Invited to Paris to perform with France's famous Comédie-Française, Garrick stops over a day out from Paris at a quaint country inn. The players of the French troupe, meanwhile, have already occupied said inn, posing as staff and guests, and have plotted out an elaborate ruse designed to embarrass Garrick—who, they have been informed, has made disparaging remarks about French acting.

Ensuing events include plenty of table-turning...and the plot is stirred delightfully when plucky runaway Olivia de Havilland, her carriage broken down on the side of the road, arrives at the inn and asks for a room.

Aherne is funny and dashing, pompous when necessary but also quite capable of being bewildered; de Havilland is funny and radiant and sometimes bewildered herself.

The character actors filling out the cast are also outstanding— Edward Everett Horton as Aherne's valet whose duties sometimes include giving pep talks; Luis Alberni as an actor eager for his chance to play a mad scene; and especially Etienne Girardot, in a small but essential role as a stage hand who takes the Great Garrick's side.

Best of all, though, is Melville Cooper, who probably never had a better role than this one: as the manager of the Comédie-Française, he is dramatic, commanding, a bit ridiculous—the perfect leader for a crew of enthusiastic but misguided actors.

Oh, the costumes look great too. Good fun all the way around.

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. Four stars **** out of four.

James Whale's "The Great Garrick" is perhaps the most overlooked classic of 1937, a year that also saw such classics as "Stage Door", "The Awful Truth", "Make Way for Tomorrow", "History is Made at Night", "Angel" and some others.

"Great Garrick" is a brazen but abundantly enthralling costume comedy on David Garrick, a Shakespearen ham actor and the most famous English actor of the 18th century. Garrick played a significant role in the development of English stage in this period which saw the rise of Shakespeare and other playwrights. Garrick had a reputation of enthralling his audiences on and off stage. Here in "Great Garrick", he is ingeniously played by Brian Aherne, a sadly underrated actor giving one of his most memorable performances. Aherne's co-stars include Olivia de Havilland as Garrick's love interest Germaine, Edward Everett Horton as Garrick's sidekick Tubby, Melville Cooper, Lionel Atwill, Lana Turner, and Luis Alberni.

Beautifully shot in stark black-and-white photography by Ernest Haller, "Great Garrick" is a nonstop laugh riot. The opening titles tell us, "David Garrick the actor was at the height of his fame. He was the idol of London and the tale we are now unfold is a romantic adventure that might have happened during the vividly gay career of the colourful Garrick". Garrick is just finishing playing "Hamlet" and makes a farewell curtain speech to the audience at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane. He has been invited to Paris by the Comédie Francaise, a famous French theatre which rivalled in fame London's Theatre Royal. To convince the audience he is not actually ditching them, he reads a blank letter telling them that he is going there to teach the French. In Paris, the actors of the Comédie Francaise hold an emergency meeting to discuss what they consider to be an insult. "Ridicule kills" says one of the actors. Thus, they perpetrate a series of hoaxes at an Adam and Eve inn near Paris where Garrick and his Tubby will be staying there before they arrive in Paris.

Some of the hoaxes are outrageously hammy and over-the-top, especially Luis Alberni's annoying Basset, but that doesn't really hurt the picture at all. There are genuine glories in "Great Garrick" and most important of all are Whale's inventive, stylized direction, Ernest Vajda's endlessly witty screenplay, and Aherne's quietly graceful incarnation of Garrick.

The film works as a companion piece to Whale's underrated 1936 musical "Show Boat" in that both films are entrancing and exuberant celebrations of the theatre. "Show Boat" concerns a group of traveling actors who are putting on a show; "Garrick" is bio-pic of a famous actor. Both films display the talent and versatility of a great director.

If anyone is expecting the story of the real David Garrick than this is not the film for you. According to Wikipedia, the real Garrick was rather short, but his talent added several inches in stage height and happily married to a German dancer for many years. Though I'm sure then as now the celebrated actor attracted his share of groupies.

I also doubt that Garrick ever made an appearance at the Comedy Francaise as a guest artist. Mainly because Great Britain and France were at war a whole lot during the 18th century. Just as I doubt Moliere saw much of his work playing at London's Drury Lane Theater where Garrick was the managing director as well as star attraction.

However The Great Garrick is a charming comedy of manners about a quick witted actor who is given an unforgettable night at a roadside inn by the Comedy Francaise. Garrick played with effortless ease by Brian Aherne and when he announces that he will be off the London stage for a while because he's going to be a guest artist at the Comedy Francaise, the crowd reacts bad. With a quick wit Garrick gets the audience on his side when he appeals to their nationalism by implying he will be giving them acting lessons. He leaves with the ringing cry of "teach the French".

Of course the company of The Comedy Francaise reacts real bad when they hear that news. They resolve under managing director Melville Cooper to teach Garrick a lesson. They rent out an inn where Garrick is supposed to stop overnight and prepare a bit of theatrics for him.

Aherne is tipped to it and he and valet Edward Everett Horton just act oblivious to some madcap behavior. A young woman played by Olivia DeHavilland arrives at the inn and she's running away from a proposed marriage. Aherne just thinks she's one of the players though he offers her accommodations in his suite.

I think you get the idea how this is going. Though The Great Garrick has no relation at all with the real David Garrick it's not a bad film with several good comic spots. This was another costume film where Olivia got cast in and got rooted in at Warner Brothers. She's pretty and classy, but the laughs all belong to the guys. And Aherne became family for a while, soon marrying Olivia's sister Joan Fontaine shortly after The Great Garrick came out.

With every new Whale film I watch, it's becoming increasingly evident that it's not just his horror output that was unique; this one, in fact – the director's sole effort for Warner Bros. – feels nothing like any of their productions!

The title would seem to suggest a biopic of the celebrated English actor – many similar prestige films emerged from Hollywood during this time, such as THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) and THE GREAT WALTZ (1938) – but Whale and screenwriter Ernest Vajda concentrate instead on one curious incident (the fact that it never actually occurred is immaterial). Most of the director's typical qualities – and faults – are to be found in the film: his eye for pictorial detail (accentuated by Anton Grot's distinctive set design), the fluid camera-work (courtesy of Ernest Haller), the dry English humor, etc. However, he also tends to over-indulge his character actors (which, this being essentially a celebration of the art of performing, is hardly surprising in this case) and, consequently, the film's initial momentum isn't sustained throughout – the second half is somewhat chaotic and ham-fisted – but picks up again for the splendid finale. Nevertheless, Whale biographer James Curtis considers THE GREAT GARRICK his last wholly satisfying film – which, actually, makes me look forward all the more to watching THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK (1939) someday given its own solid reputation!

Inevitably, the cast has been carefully and most ably chosen: the underrated Brian Aherne is superb in the title role, while it's always a pleasure to see Edward Everett Horton (playing nervous and cowardly as always); among the endless list of supporting actors, perhaps the most impressive are Etienne Girardot (funny and poignant as an elderly stage prompter and Garrick's most devoted fan) and Luis Alberni (a specialist in servant roles relishing his one-shot opportunity at essaying the showier part of a lunatic); in contrast, demure Olivia De Havilland – a Warners contract player – feels somewhat lost in such company, to the point where additional close-ups were imposed by the studio (notably the unwarranted and corny final shot).

This stylish and delightful gem is truly one of the unsung films about the acting profession, in every way a worthy companion piece to such major works as Marcel Carne''s CHILDREN OF PARADISE (1945) and Jean Renoir's THE GOLDEN COACH (1952). Unfortunately, the audio on the DVD-R I watched (made from a TCM broadcast) was occasionally accompanied by a distracting echo; given Warners' recent DVD release of Whale's WATERLOO BRIDGE (1931) – as part of the "Forbidden Hollywood" set – and the rumored one for SHOWBOAT (1936) – along with two other cinematic adaptations of the popular musical – I hope that THE GREAT GARRICK won't be left behind (after all, those two films were actually Universal productions which became the property of Warners solely by virtue of the MGM remakes!).

Brian Aherne is David Garrick, the famed English stage actor, in this fictional film and accidentally offends the Comedy Francaise, who has invited him to come and perform there. He tells his British people and fans he has to go and show them how a true actor acts. When word of this gets back to them, they concoct a plan to embarrass him. By way of playing the parts of an innkeeper and the staff, they initiate their plans. But Olivia de Havilland, an unexpected guest, shows up needing a room in the inn and of course you know what develops. Aherne seems to be too hammy or showy an actor for me. Either that or he doesn't seem to emote much charm or personality. Melville Cooper, in his own sly way, really steals the film from both the leads as the supposed innkeeper and the brains of the group; and Luis Alberni has a memorable bit going mad amongst the band of actors. On one hand, the film's whimsicality is the whole appeal of it, but, on the other hand, it doesn't seem to have enough substance to it and is TOO frothy. But you can spot a young Lana Turner and a young Marie Wilson (Martin and Lewis's friend Irma) as part of the troupe. All in all, if you like the leads, you'll probably like "The Great Garrick," but a more charismatic actor would have made the film a more satisfying experience for me.

Together with even more underrated, ONE MAN RIVER(1934), this is probably James Whale's most neglected classic, a witty, self- reflexive, consistently enjoyable 18th century period comedy on the life of egocentric English actor, David Garrick, played to perfection by Brian Aherne. Ernest Vadja's dialogue is clever and delightful, plus a haunting period photography by Ernest Haller. The film also boasts some wonderful cast that includes the lovely Olivia de Havilland, Edward Everett Horton, Lionel Atwill, Melville Cooper, Fritz Leiber, and Marie Wilson.

David Garrick's talent is well-known everywhere in Europe. The film opens in London where Garrick tells his audience that he has a new starring role coming up, guest starring in the production of "Don Juan" with the Comedie Francaise in Paris. While the crowd reacts the news with disdain, Garrick convinces his audience that he is leaving to teach the French. Meanwhile, at a country inn in France the members of the Comedie Francaise are furious about Garrick's insult, so they all conspire to embarras him and teach him "a lesson in acting." The real fun begins when the sly Garrick and his amiable old companion (Edward Everett Horton) figure out the hoax and play along the game.

A true Hollywood gem, there are moments in THE GREAT GARRICK that are quite remarkably hysterical, so funny that the film deserves to be ranked along with the great comedies of the period. Tragically, THE GREAT GARRICK was never released on video. At all cost, I suggest you get a copy and enjoy it. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Ernest Vajda's "play for the screen" revolves about a fictional encounter between the celebrated 18th-century English actor David Garrick and the members of the equally celebrated Comedy Francaise at a country inn.

Under the direction of the estimable James Whale, the film is generally lively but sometimes sags with too much talk. It also benefits from a team of choice supporting actors (Melville Cooper, Lionel Atwill, and especially Edward Everett Horton and Etienne Giradot) who come to the rescue with inspired line readings or bits of business. A theatrical spirit prevails. Heading the cast is Brian Aherne as Garrick who gets a rare chance to chew the scenery and does so in high style. But we never know from this scenario whether Garrick was really great or just a charming ham. When does the acting stop and the real Garrick take over? The line between the two is not clear here. Maybe it's not meant to be.

The story: the French troupe, having heard a false rumor that the visiting Garrick arrogantly intends to teach them how to act, impersonates the staff and guests of a country inn where they know Garrick will be staying on his way to Paris, with the intention of devising such mayhem that Garrick will bolt in terror, whereupon they will reveal who they really are, proving they are indeed great actors, and humiliate him. But he sees through the ruse and turns the tables on them.

Olivia DeHavilland, effective in an early role, turns up at the inn as a young woman fleeing an arranged marriage and falls in love with Garrick, who spurns her, thinking she too is part of the collective trickery (as the film's trailer states, he "couldn't tell the difference between real love and bad acting").

This was never intended as a high-status, big-budget film. Instead, it's a little film about an actor whose ego is even larger than the stage on which her performs! The Great Garrick is the sort of person who would have given himself the title "The Great" and this fictionalized movie portrays this real-life actor as a great big old fathead! He IS an excellent actor, but his arrogance puts off those around him. This movie concerns their trying to bring him down a peg or two and thereby teaching him a little humility. The acting, writing and pacing are excellent and for a little film it delivers quite a punch--with a really terrific conclusion.

I anticipated getting a lot of enjoyment from THE GREAT GARRICK based on previously read reviews and the great cast involved. I was sorely disappointed. James Whale may have been a master at directing horror films but stylized comedy was not his forte. Worst offender of all is Brian Aherne (hamming it up considerably as the great actor) and Luis Alberni, obnoxious as a thespian anxious to do a "mad scene".

Some of the humor is painstakingly obvious with everyone determined to see who could outdo the other in shouting their lines and mugging to the nth degree. Edward Everett Horton is best with the comic lines and Melville Cooper is reasonably restrained in a good supporting role.

As for the stars, Brian Aherne looks attractive as the gentleman actor but forgets that he is supposed to be a "great" actor, not a "ham" actor and overdoes his role with painful results. Olivia de Havilland is pretty as the leading lady in an ingenue role that gives her little to do but look admiringly at Aherne, which she does dutifully.

If you look hard enough, you can spot Lana Turner and Marie Wilson in supporting roles as giggling players in the French company. Wilson seems to be getting in the foreground whenever possible if only to get some notice from the hapless shenanigans going on in the country inn.

Disappointing, to say the least, and watchable only to see Brian Aherne and Olivia de Havilland co-starring in the same film. (Aherne later married de Havilland's sister, Joan Fontaine).

XVIII century. British actor David Garrick is giving his last performance in London before leaving to Paris invited by the Comédie Française staff. But when saying goodbye to his public they get angry with him for leaving and throw him vegetables so to calm they down he lies by saying he is going to Paris to teach French actors how to act. Only a theatre writer member of the Comédie Française is there and tells it to his fellows, who decide to give a lesson in acting to Garrick that he shall never forget. In order to do so they hire an inn where Garrick is going to stay for one night before arriving to Paris to pretend they are who they are not. But he has been previously advised by the theatre propmter, who happens to be his fan and a mysterious young beautiful stranger appears changing the whole plot a bit and providing an interesting final twist to the story... David Garrick was maybe the most renowed British actor. He had an incredible success better for introducing the "modern" way of acting, that was extremely Pompous and bombastic until then.

The film clearly benefits from an intelligent sophisticated well written script by Ernest Vajda full of witty dialogues, a non-stop timing and excellent performances from the whole cast. Add a perfect scenario with superbly done set designs fitting like a glove like the ones in Marie Antoinette's movie (Vadja's script too) and will obtain a great entertainment movie.

Brian Aherne -an underrated actor that could have been easily the British Errol Flynn- delivers an excellent comedienne performance as witty smug Garrick. Olivia de Havilland is perfect as the lady in distress (and she looks impressive in her first appearance wrapped in spectacular Milo Anderson coat) and the movie runs easily to spend a nice time watching. Highly recommended.

The reviews on here really range from very positive to very negative, and I'm not sure why. I found this a very well-paced comedy that works in great part because the Warner character actors are so good, starting with Edward Everett Horton and Melville Cooper. Cooper in particular gets to do more than his usual upper-class type-casting. (Think *Pride and Prejudice*)

One of the reviewers wrote that he could only remember one scene with de Havilland an hour after having viewed the picture. I would strongly recommend glasses - and a testosterone check. She is astonishingly beautiful in this movie in scene after scene, captured ravishingly by a very sympathetic cameraman. Her part is pretty straight-forward, it's true, and doesn't give a lot of room for acting in a movie about acting - and over-acting. But when she's on screen, it's hard to take your eyes off her.

With no disrespect to her, that may be, in part, because of her leading man, Brian Aherne. His is certainly a major role, and a tricky one, because sometimes he is acting and, at least in principle, sometimes he is not. And there lies the problem. Aherne has chosen to play Garrick as an excessive actor, what we would call a ham. And perhaps that was the style in England in the 18th century. I can't say. But it was very hard for me not to imagine Errol Flynn in this part, and Aherne did not benefit from the comparison. I think the movie would have worked better if the "sincere" Garrick had been played as a real romantic, to create a clear contrast between the real one and the on-stage one. That is supported by his scene near the end where he gives acting lessons to the members of the Comédie française, and emphasizes realistic acting, rather than overly theatrical.

Though I realize that it was the basis for much of the comedy here, I wondered why the premise was that the Comédie française actors all over-acted outrageously. I have no answer for that.

The script here is good, and the directing really first rate. I do strongly recommend this movie.

"The Great Garrick" is truly one of the very worst of Warner Brothers' productions of the 1930s. The studio which, during this period, gave us such diverse classics as "Forty-Second Street," "Charge of the Light Brigade," "Public Enemy." and "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" among others, failed miserably with this utterly dreadful exercise in film making! Audience reaction must surely have ranged from weary to teeth gnashing! Something akin to fingernails scratching against a blackboard! This is difficult to believe when one considers that the cast is first-rate, led by Brian Aherne in the title role, ably paired with the always lovely Olivia DeHavilland. A stalwart group of character actors, including Edward Everett Horton, Lionel Atwill, and Melville Cooper provide support........but even THEIR presence cannot save this flick from its tedium and sheer silliness! Three cheers to Warner Brothers for the splendid entertaining flicks that studio has provided us with during the Golden Age.........but this God-awful turkey must rank up there with the equally inane "Boy Meets Girl" as among the very worst they had to offer the film-going public!

Great Garrick, The (1937)

** (out of 4)

James Whale film about an ego maniac British actor (Brian Aherne) who insults a French acting group only to fall victim to a prank that might destroy his career. Here's a rather interesting "comedy" that features no laughs. Whale can brilliantly do comedy but it seems like he can only pull it off when he mixes it with horror or drama. The performance by Aherne is good and the supporting cast, which includes Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Marie Wilson and Lana Turner, are also good. The idea of the plot is an interesting one and could make a good film but this isn't it.

Brian Aherne is the Great Garrick, a famous English actor and the film is set around 1750. Aherne travels to France to make a guest appearance as Don Juan with a prestigious French acting troupe. However, they hear that he is only coming over in order to teach the French how to act. So, they devise a scheme to take over the Inn at which he will be staying in order to scare him and humiliate him into retracting this slur. Aherne gets wise to this and plays along but things are not what they seem. Aristocratic Olivia de Havilland (Germaine) shows up at the Inn unexpectedly and Aherne thinks she is part of the troupe out to deceive him. Love wins out in the end because it is a comedy and so we need a happy ending.

It's too shouty, there are far too many unfunny comedy characters and I wanted a more satisfying ending. Aherne gives de Havilland a harsh dressing down near the end of the film - it's very hurtful, cruel even - and you long for them to meet up again when de Havilland can return the insults and get even. They do see each other again but she forgives him. Puke! Yuk!

However, I think there is a truth to the film's message to "teach the French." President Macron is a smug Frenchman and the EU is a modern-day dictatorship that we in the UK have thankfully left. We no longer have to put up with garlic munching and onion chomping or dressing up in stripey jumpers. Now to teach them a lesson - "Teach the French!"

The auteurists love it but I found this Gallic farce within a farce to be neither farcical nor Gallic. Just a lot of British actors trying too hard to be funny and not hard enough to be Frogs. After 35 min of non laughter I pulled the plug. PS...What's up with the "Personally Supervised by" credit given to Mervin Le Roy after James Whale's directed by credit? Was Warners worried that ol Jimbo had to be watched lest he undermine this comedy? If so, then they sure didn't get their money's worth with Le Roy, huh?