From the 1960s: The Pleasure of His Company

1961 Comedy 

From Paramount

Directed by George Seaton

Starring

Fred Astaire

Lilli Palmer

Debbie Reynolds

Tab Hunter

Gary Merrill

Charles Ruggles

Harold Fong

A globetrotting playboy father who hasn't seen his daughter but three times in 15 years and none since she's been a young woman arrives in San Francisco the week of her wedding to a successful cattle rancher.  The upheaval of that arrival and his secret machinations are the basis for a fun little comedy from Paramount and the producing-directing team of George Seaton and William Perlberg.

The daughter has been trying to locate her father with the help of her mother and stepfather for some time but their endeavors came to naught.  But suddenly, one day there he is... ready to assume his position as father of the bride.  He arrives when no one is home but the Asian butler, Toy.  They form a mutual admiration society despite the fact that Ol' Dad acts as if it's his home and he enlists the reluctant Toy to help him change furniture around in the stepfather's den instead of using a guest bedroom. 

One who watches tends to forgive the rascally urbane nuisance because we cannot for a moment forget we're watching Fred Astaire.  If this story were played for real, dramatically, Astaire's character, Biddeford  "Pogo" Poole, would be murdered about half way through and the second half would be about finding that killer.  It wouldn't be his daughter, Jessica, or Toy but others will be considered.

Astaire, by the way, had given up dancing spectaculars on the big screen a few years earlier but having a quick spin with Palmer and then with Reynolds at the wedding doesn't count.  There are two reasons I saw this film at all and he's one of them.  After hanging up his dancing shoes he made On the Beach and got more grubby looking than he'd ever been in those colorful MGM toe-tappers but here he's back to his suave self.  He could play this role in his sleep.  He knew it as well and in fact, it's the main reason he said yes to another paycheck which he didn't particularly need.  Without him, I would not have seen this one and with him, I'm glad I did.

Finally, the residents of this mansion arrive home, dropping their packages on the table in the foyer.  It is Jessica (Reynolds, her mother Kate (Palmer) and Kate's husband, the lord of the manor, Jim (Merrill).  As they're fussing about, Pogo Astaire descends the circular staircase and all have different forms of surprise.  

Reynolds is thrilled.  Her errant daddy is back and all is well with the world.  Uh-huh, hold on to that one.  We know soon that Kate is not as upset about his sudden visit that she says she is.   Yes, she finds him to be the pain he's always been but there's the twinkle in her eye that says she's still charmed by him.  And yes, there's that unfinished business she feels she had with him and now's the time to finish it.  She, however, has no intention of ruining her daughter's wedding.  Kate will find the way.  In truth, she's as wily as her ex-husband.

Merrill is a stodgy banker and a tough customer when he needs to be.  And he thinks he needs to be when he observes his wife with her ex-husband.  Sure there's arguing and posturing on her part but there's hand-holding and hugs and even kisses.  We're pretty sure he has nothing to worry about although...

The Pleasure of His Company was a Broadway play and Charlie Ruggles is the only one to repeat his role and he is a total delight.   Playing Palmer's father, I think Ruggles thought being a total delight was his job in the movies.  He certainly succeeded at it.  Granddad was gonna leave until he saw his former son-in-law.  Then he decided the upcoming show is worth an overnight stay.   All decked out in a three-piece suit, Ruggles looks over the top of his glasses at the shenanigans before him and throws out little bon mots for our snickering pleasure.  Actually, there are a good half dozen scenes that found me laughing out loud.

Checking out a gift from Pogo

With everyone in place, enter the bridegroom, Roger, played by Tab Hunter.  It's good that Roger is a rancher because so was Hunter.  In fact, he did a helluva lot more ranching than he did acting.  Pogo takes an instant dislike to Roger and decides that he is going to do whatever it takes to get the wedding called off or at least postponed.  Pogo wants to take his daughter on a whirlwind world tour.  He thinks she'll go for it.  He doesn't think she and Roger are birds of a feather.

Neither, I suspect, did most folks who've seen it.  Despite the fact that Reynolds and Hunter had known one another for years and were pals, they had no chemistry as romantic partners.  Back in the day they even went out on dates... well, studio-arranged dates.  She was his beard and both were thought to have benefitted from the popping flashbulbs.

Despite Pogo's maneuverings the wedding will go through.  At the rehearsal, however, a big fight ensues, chiefly revolving around the young couple, but all six principals are involved.   Some funny lines.  Lovely ensemble acting.

Kate is furious that Pogo insinuates himself into their lives and then disrupts everything at this important time.  She is appalled he is thinking of taking off with Jessica.  Kate gets on him so much that he elects to leave before the wedding.  His bags are packed and in the foyer.  Jessica comes downstairs with her bags packed and announces she is going with him.  Pogo is ecstatic.  She tells Roger she will be gone a year or so and hopes he will wait for her.

But after a few choice words from his ex-wife and seeing the pain that Jessica is in, Pogo tells her that she must stay and get married and that he will be just fine wandering the planet.  The wedding comes off without a hitch and Pogo has agreed to leave the same evening.

Jim becomes convinced that Pogo plans to take Kate with him after he discovers that the ex has booked and paid for two plane tickets in his name.  When Pogo says that he will take a cab to the airport, Jim insists, in the middle of the after-wedding party, on driving Pogo himself.  After some bantering, Jim, Kate and her father all take Pogo to catch his flight.

Kate gets pissed as she sees Pogo board the flight with her prized framed picture of a young Jessica.  Jim gets mad when he sees who is accompanying Pogo on the flight.  Do you know who it is?

Seaton and Perlberg provided a handsome, ritzy look utilizing the talents of topnotch people.  There are some lovely shots of one of my favorite American cities but since the story is based on a play, most of the action takes place indoors.  Some have carped it is too stagey but c'mon now, I suspect it's a little more opened up than it was as a play.  

It is a lovely screenplay as well.  Samuel Taylor smartly adapted Cornelia Otis Skinner's play, cleverly working in some of the darker elements with some very funny lines.  Taylor came with some impressive credentials having written the screenplays for Sabrina, The Eddy Duchin Story and Vertigo, among others.   For your trivia file, Skinner played Kate on Broadway with Cyril Ritchard as Pogo and Dolores Hart and George Peppard as the young ones.

As enjoyable as Astaire is, the best thing about the production is Lilli Palmer.  Other than looking fetchingly chic in Edith Head's beautiful clothes, this actress had a great flair for comedy.  Too bad she didn't do more.  She had worked for Seaton and Perlberg in 1958's But Not For Me (both were producers... Seaton did not direct) and Palmer was the best thing about that comedy as well.  Whether it was her comedy or her acting in general, she was wonderfully understated and droll, sparkling and utterly classy.  Her character is the backbone of the story.

Palmer left Hollywood after she divorced Rex Harrison in 1957.  But two  years later she returned for But Not for Me.  Then Seaton-Perlberg hired her for Pleasure and their business relationship became a friendship.  The guys loved Lilli and the feeling was mutual.  She was showcased better in the film than Reynolds was.  The following year they hired her to play a doomed German resistance fighter in The Counterfeit Traitor opposite William Holden, perhaps the best role of her career.

Reynolds turned in her usual completely competent performance although she never excited me as an actress.  I wish it had been different.  She had worked a year earlier for producers Seaton and Perlberg in one of her most unusual films, The Rat Race.  She knew Astaire from Three Little Words 10 years earlier but they also knew each other simply as MGM employees.  Of course she knew Hunter.  She had not known Palmer but she learned much, she said, from the older actress.  She also became great friends with Ruggles whom she would always call Grandpa.  

Interestingly, if the filming didn't get all of Reynolds' attention, it would have been because she was indeed planning a wedding herself while making the movie.

In contrast to Reynolds, Hunter did excite me but the truth is his role isn't exciting either.  He said the chance to work with Astaire was his sole reason for accepting the part and thankfully ol' Fred didn't disappoint.  He was disappointed in Palmer.  He said in his autobiography that she was aloof around him and he guessed that she didn't like him.  Though he worked for many more years, The Pleasure of His Company was his last decent role in a big, studio-backed production.  I'm not out to bum rap either Hunter or Reynolds for their roles here but the fact is all the good stuff was given to the older folks.

I always liked Gary Merrill.  He never made it to superstar status and is more famous for his tempestuous marriage to Bette Davis than for his acting but I saw him as the consummate pro.  It was rare for him to be in a comedy and with no malice intended, it's like nobody told him this was one.  His uptight, straight-laced, put-upon rich guy is pretty damned funny.

Ruggles?  What can I say?  Utterly adorable old guy.  As quickly as he finished this film, he played a similar role in Disney's The Parent Trap.

It's from Paramount so Edith Head designed the clothes but did you know she actually has a speaking part as Reynolds's wedding couturier?  Well, you do now and I know it pleasures you.

The best thing I can say about this movie is that I was entertained and to find something that entertains is the best thing about any movie.  It's not Some Like It Hot but you'll laugh a few times and it's pretty to look at and there's a Hollywood icon in the lead and a very fine German actress at his side.  And don't forget, this was wholesome month.

And yikes, what's going on... no available trailer?  What in the hell kind of cheesy movie is this?

Next posting:

A star of one of this month's films