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Casanova Brown
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by MGM (Video & DVD)
Sales Rank: 36253
Price: $19.98
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I LOVED THIS DVD. I LOVE THE ACTORS AND ACTRESSES AND THE SHOW WAS EXCELLENT.
Viewer Reviews
Cas Brown: "I find myself in an extremely awkward position."
Let's plot it out: On the eve of his wedding, college professor Casanova "Cas" Brown (Cooper) receives an enigmatic letter from a Chicago maternity hospital. Before jetting to Chicago to see what the blazes is going on, Cas reveals to his prospective father-in-law that he had been briefly married less than a year ago, that marriage since then annulled. Arriving at the maternity hospital, Cas sees his adorable baby girl for the first time and falls in love with her. When he finds out that she's slated for adoption (with his ex-wife about to be re-married herself), he decides to make off with the baby.
Some trivia now. CASANOVA BROWN, released in 1944, is based on the play by Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell, which had already been adapted twice to cinema, in 1930 (starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) and in 1939 (starring Hugh Herbert), with both of those films titled LITTLE ACCIDENT. CASANOVA BROWN provides the second teaming of Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright, the first pairing being in the all-time 1942 classic The Pride of the Yankees (Anniversary Edition). Now CASANOVA BROWN isn't in the same league as PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, and, as a comedy, it pales in comparison to Cooper's Ball of Fire, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Along Came Jones, and even Love in the Afternoon. But it does have a few things going for it, not the least of which are the two leads Cooper and Wright.
Cooper comes with his patented low key acting style, and his natural "aw, shucks" charisma somehow carries him thru the wacky situations his character gets put into. Teresa Wright is typically sweet-natured and very lovely and simply looks radiant on camera. By the by, the Wizard of Oz himself, Frank Morgan, in his part of J.J. Ferris, an old, callous, and opinionated scoundrel and Cas's confidant, scores some smiles from me but also a bit of ill will. He handed his daughter Madge some pretty underserved shabby treatment there. Meanwhile, Anita Louise makes the most of her thankless role of Madge, and she does provide additional babe candy. But I felt bad for her. The movie's hook is also pretty cute. Actors may notoriousy not like working with babies, afraid that they might be upstaged by the young 'uns. But there's no doubt it's more a winning plot formula than not.
Um, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. CASANOVA BROWN isn't a bad flick, but there's a reason this isn't hailed as Cooper's showcase comedy film. Overall, the film offers mild-mannered humor and is merely a notch above your average picture, with the romantic angle more or less taking a back seat. It's not as funny as I'd hoped, although it does have its funny moments, most of these dealing with Cooper's antics as unsuspecting new pops. The funniest scene, though, may have been a funny flashback in which Cas meets Isabel's disapproving and horoscope-obsessed parents and then proceeds to burn down their $750,000 home. Inadvertently, of course.
Cas, by the way, is named after his ancestor, the original Casanova. That the movie doesn't take more advantage of this plot device seems a dang shame. But I guess it's hard to picture Cooper in the role of the seducer. He's a good looking dude, I guess, but his placid, straight-forward personality doesn't lend itself to such outrageous hijinks.
Star power and cute baby shenanigans drive CASANOVA BROWN, and I was glad enough that I saw this picture. One wonders, though, what Cary Grant or William Powell - actors with a decidedly lighter touch than Cooper - would've done in the role of Casanova Brown. That might be the difference between the comedy classic this could've been and a picture that is pleasant, occasionally amusing, and mildly risque for its time. Which is what this is.
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