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• Jazz up your lingerie!

  • Mr. Blandings
  • 8/12/11

  The high point of this otherwise so-so film is when night meets day, so to speak, as fun and sexy mistress (Claudette Colbert) meets prudish and dull wife (Miriam Hopkins). After a brief bout of slapping and crying on the bed, the two women bond in a humorous and somewhat subtling sapphic way in what is obviously a pre-code movie. Naughty girl Colbert does the honorable thing and is willing cure her man (Maurice Chevalier) of his fascination with her by teaching good girl Hopkins to loosen up, change her waredrobe, and otherwise learn how to be racy and enticing for her husband. Mission accomplished, the last exchange between them is hilarious. "Be good," says Colbert. "Don't worry, I won't!" counters Hopkins with a wink. Then the two laugh at their private joke like intimate friends. Very funny. They almost would have made a good threesome except for the weakest link in this movie, Chevalier, who is too goofy and annoying to credibly believe that these two women would ever be interested in him. A Pepe Le Pew accent can only go so far, you know. It is probably for the best that Claudette moves on -- she's too good for him!

• The Smiling Lieutenant

  • Mark Sutch
  • 4/8/11

  ***1/2

• A Racy Little Pre-Code Comedy

  • Rosemarie Buxton
  • 8/21/09

  This is a charming film, with plenty of double entendres! I was surprised it was rated TVG because Chevalier's first song is all about a soldier's battles in the bedroom! Claudette Colbert is adorable and has a good singing voice. The "Jazz up Your Lingerie" song is great fun. I was a bit disappointed that Chevalier ended up with the Hopkins character, but I think he would still have kept Claudette on the side!

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