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").
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").