Tonight's Movie: Monsieur Beaucaire (1946) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Bob Hope stars as MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE (1946), just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

Beaucaire is a barber at the court of Louis XV (Reginald Owen) in 18th-century France. He's sweet on chambermaid Mimi (Joan Caulfield of THE UNSUSPECTED and LARCENY), but she's got bigger fish to fry and gives him the brushoff.

Before long both Beaucaire and Mimi are tossed out of France -- it's a long story -- but become entangled with the fortunes of the Duke le Chandre (Patric Knowles, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD) who has become betrothed, sight unseen, to Princess Maria of Spain (Marjorie Reynolds of HOLIDAY INN and MINISTRY OF FEAR).

The Duke and Princess Maria meet on the road as they each travel incognito and fall in love without realizing they're engaged...

MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE was one of the better Bob Hope films I've seen, thanks to a fairly substantive story and a superb supporting cast. The screenplay by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama was based on a novel by Booth Tarkington which was previously filmed with Rudolph Valentino in 1924.

Hope is a little more subdued than usual, which is always welcome for me, though there are also some genuinely funny bits, such as when Beaucaire and the Count (Cecil Kellaway) accidentally trade jackets. Hope is well-matched with Caulfield as the saucy, calculating Mimi.

I was really delighted by the secondary romance between the Duke and Maria; I've liked Patric Knowles ever since seeing him as Will Scarlett in Robin Hood, and I also very much like Reynolds. Their romantic story was a perfect counterpoint to the feisty relationship between Beaucaire and Mimi. I wished they'd been given a few more seconds at the fadeout, but having the more serious romance backing up the sarcastic lead couple made the film especially satisfying.

The excellent cast also includes Joseph Schildkraut, Constance Collier, Hillary Brooke, Fortunio Bonanova, Douglas Dumbrille, Leonid Kinskey, and Mary Nash.

This 93-minute movie was directed by George Marshall who directed many comedies and a solid number of Westerns as well.

The movie was filmed by Lionel Lindon. I was rather surprised that the film was shot in black and white, given the opulent setting and elaborate costumes (by Mary Kay Dodson and Gile Steele), but perhaps there weren't any Technicolor cameras available when the movie began shooting in August 1945.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray print, from a new 2K master, looks and sounds good. The lone extras are a gallery of 13 trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber, mostly Bob Hope films, and a promo for Kino Lorber's Hope releases.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

Tweet