Lucky Partners
Encyclopedia
Lucky Partners is a 1940
comedy
romance
drama film
directed by Lewis Milestone
for RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the 1936 Sacha Guitry
film Bonne Chance, and stars Ronald Colman
and Ginger Rogers
marking their first film together, and marks Rogers' eleventh and final film that was written by Allan Scott.
to play opposite Colman and Rogers, he was aware of how working with an unknown might affect the major players and made a point to work with Carson to prevent such: Milestone stated "Every time he went into a scene, I'd say 'get in there and pitch. They're no better than you are. Steal that scene.' Finally he got the hang of it. He acquired confidence".
) is an artist in Greenwich Village
. One day he passes neighbor Jean Newton (Ginger Rogers
) and simply wishes her good luck. Just as he has done so, a passing woman on her way to Reno tosses her a beautiful dress. Believing David to be lucky, she asks him to partner with her on a ticket for the Irish Sweepstakes. When their horse wins, David asks her to accompany him on a trip to Niagara Falls
to celebrate. Jean's fiancé, Freddie Harper (Jack Carson
) is unhappy with the arrangement and follows them.
noted that screen stories, "like wines, are not always good travelers" in that they can suffer when plot and story is adapted from one language and country to another. They wrote that Lucky Partners "is distinctly not one of those occasions." In furthering their comparison to wine, they wrote "RKO's craftsmen have preserved its bouquet intact—and the result is a comedy that is dry and sparkling and bubbles till the last drop." They wrote that the film "retained the impudent charm and rippling wit of the very Gallic Mr. Guitry
", and others reasons for its success are because Allan Scott and John Van Druten treated the script "as neatly as even Mr. Guitry could demand" and that director Lewis Milestone "has punctuated the scenes deftly and never allowed the effervescence to escape in a single explosive laugh". The Evening Independent noted this was the first and screen pairing of Ronald Colman with Ginger Rogers. They wrote "the picture is excellent entertainment despite the rather whimsical plot", and that "Colman does his usual suave job of acting and Ginger Rogers again proves her deft touch for light comedy". Los Angeles Times
wrote "it's a stroke of showmanship, teaming the vivacious Miss Rogers with the debonair Ronald Colman". The Age
wrote that adapting a Sacha Guitry
work could be compared to "doctoring" a play by Noel Coward
, but that Lewis Milestone's direction of the adaptation is "entertaining and guves Ginger Rogers scope for her unique talent". Lawrence Journal-World
wrote that the film "represents a spectacular merger of Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers",
Conversely, Craig Butler of Allmovie felt that a film starring such actors as Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers ought to have turned out better than did Lucky Partners, calling the film "an innocuous but hardly memorable little time filler". He felt that the film had a "ridiculous premise" that "in the right, deft hands could turn into charming, captivating trifle." His opinion was that the right hands did not exist "in either the directing or the writing." He felt that the writers did not seem to agree on what sort of story to tell, and that as a result "the film switches gears rather too often and its parts don't fit together." He felt though, that even Colman, Rogers, and Carson did decent work, writing "Colman and Rogers don't have a great deal of chemistry, but they have panache and know-how to spare, and Carson, along with reliable Spring Byington, make the most of what they have. It's just too bad that nobody had more to work with."
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
romance
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
for RKO Radio Pictures. The film is based on the 1936 Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
film Bonne Chance, and stars Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
and Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
marking their first film together, and marks Rogers' eleventh and final film that was written by Allan Scott.
Background
Director Lewis Milestone noted that bit players lacked confidence when placed in scenes with major stars, and so when casting the then-unknown Jack CarsonJack Carson
John Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...
to play opposite Colman and Rogers, he was aware of how working with an unknown might affect the major players and made a point to work with Carson to prevent such: Milestone stated "Every time he went into a scene, I'd say 'get in there and pitch. They're no better than you are. Steal that scene.' Finally he got the hang of it. He acquired confidence".
Plot
David Grant (Ronald ColmanRonald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
) is an artist in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. One day he passes neighbor Jean Newton (Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
) and simply wishes her good luck. Just as he has done so, a passing woman on her way to Reno tosses her a beautiful dress. Believing David to be lucky, she asks him to partner with her on a ticket for the Irish Sweepstakes. When their horse wins, David asks her to accompany him on a trip to Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
to celebrate. Jean's fiancé, Freddie Harper (Jack Carson
Jack Carson
John Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...
) is unhappy with the arrangement and follows them.
Cast
- Ronald ColmanRonald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
as David Grant - Ginger RogersGinger RogersGinger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
as Jean Newton - Jack CarsonJack CarsonJohn Elmer "Jack" Carson was a Canadian-born U.S.-based film actor.Jack Carson was one of the most popular character actors during the 'golden age of Hollywood', with a film career spanning the 1930s, '40s and '50s...
as Frederick Harper - Spring ByingtonSpring ByingtonSpring Byington was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:Byington was born Spring Dell Byington in Colorado Springs,...
as Aunt Lucy - Cecilia LoftusCecilia LoftusCecilia "Cissie" or "Cissy" Loftus was a Scottish actress, singer, mimic, vaudevillian and music hall performer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-Family:...
as Mrs. Alice Sylvester - Harry Davenport as Judge
- Leon BelascoLeon BelascoLeon Belasco was a Russian-American musician and actor who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films.-Musical career:Belasco attended St...
as Nick #1 - Walter KingsfordWalter KingsfordWalter Kingsford was a British stage, film and television actor born in Redhill, Surrey, England. He was born Walter Pearce and had several sisters...
as Wendell - Lucile GleasonLucile GleasonLucile Webster Gleason aka "Lucille Gleason" was an American stage and screen actress. Gleason was also a civic worker who was active in film colony projects....
as Ethel's Mother - Helen LyndHelen LyndHelen Merrell Lynd was an American sociologist and social philosopher, and was the author of Shame and the Search for Identity and co-author of Middletown: A Study in Contemporary American Culture with husband Robert Staughton Lynd.The model of shame that Lynd advocated in the book is loosely...
as Ethel - Hugh O'Connell as Niagara Hotel Clerk
- Brandon Tynan as Mr. Sylvester
- Eddie Conrad as Nick #2
Critical reception
The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
noted that screen stories, "like wines, are not always good travelers" in that they can suffer when plot and story is adapted from one language and country to another. They wrote that Lucky Partners "is distinctly not one of those occasions." In furthering their comparison to wine, they wrote "RKO's craftsmen have preserved its bouquet intact—and the result is a comedy that is dry and sparkling and bubbles till the last drop." They wrote that the film "retained the impudent charm and rippling wit of the very Gallic Mr. Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
", and others reasons for its success are because Allan Scott and John Van Druten treated the script "as neatly as even Mr. Guitry could demand" and that director Lewis Milestone "has punctuated the scenes deftly and never allowed the effervescence to escape in a single explosive laugh". The Evening Independent noted this was the first and screen pairing of Ronald Colman with Ginger Rogers. They wrote "the picture is excellent entertainment despite the rather whimsical plot", and that "Colman does his usual suave job of acting and Ginger Rogers again proves her deft touch for light comedy". Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote "it's a stroke of showmanship, teaming the vivacious Miss Rogers with the debonair Ronald Colman". The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
wrote that adapting a Sacha Guitry
Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre.- Biography :...
work could be compared to "doctoring" a play by Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
, but that Lewis Milestone's direction of the adaptation is "entertaining and guves Ginger Rogers scope for her unique talent". Lawrence Journal-World
Lawrence Journal-World
The Lawrence Journal-World is a daily newspaper published in Lawrence, Kansas by The World Company.-History:Though the Journal-World title only came into existence in 1911, according to the volume number of the current masthead of the paper, the paper dates itself back to 1858.The Simons family...
wrote that the film "represents a spectacular merger of Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers",
Conversely, Craig Butler of Allmovie felt that a film starring such actors as Ronald Colman and Ginger Rogers ought to have turned out better than did Lucky Partners, calling the film "an innocuous but hardly memorable little time filler". He felt that the film had a "ridiculous premise" that "in the right, deft hands could turn into charming, captivating trifle." His opinion was that the right hands did not exist "in either the directing or the writing." He felt that the writers did not seem to agree on what sort of story to tell, and that as a result "the film switches gears rather too often and its parts don't fit together." He felt though, that even Colman, Rogers, and Carson did decent work, writing "Colman and Rogers don't have a great deal of chemistry, but they have panache and know-how to spare, and Carson, along with reliable Spring Byington, make the most of what they have. It's just too bad that nobody had more to work with."
External links
- Lucky Partners at the TCM Movie Database