Five years after making one of my favorite movies of all time (THE AWFUL TRUTH), Leo
McCarey and Cary Grant team up once again to make this wildly uneven and
depressing romantic comedy/spy caper set in pre-World War II Europe. Radio
broadcaster Grant is working on a hot story about a Austrian Baron (and his gold
digging American wife Ginger Rogers) who's going around Europe and wherever they
go, soon falls to the Nazis. Sounds hilarious! Anyway, Grant falls
for Ginger Rogers (who is somehow too stupid to realize that her husband is a
top ranked Nazi!) and naturally she falls in love with him. Trouble is
she's married to one of Hitler's most loyal henchmen. All kinds of funny
stuff happens like assassination attempts, a successful assassination, city's
getting bombed, a man turning his wife over to the Nazis, Jews fleeing, children
crying, a guy drowning and Grant and Rogers getting thrown into a prison camp
for Jews. It's a feel good laugh riot!
I'm sure there's fans of this movie, but I found
ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON painful to get through. The pace was slow, the story
was all over the place, Ginger Rogers acting was terrible, hell even Grant's
wasn't anything to brag about and the patriotism! Oh my god! At one
point Rogers and another actor actually raised their right hand and recited the
Pledge of Allegiance!!! If that's not enough to turn you away then go for
it. Maybe you'll like it. As for me, I hope I never see this
propaganda misfire ever again.
