JohnHowardReid Producer: Leo McCarey. A Leo McCarey Production. Copyright 4 November 1942 by RKO-Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 12 November 1942. U.S. release: 4 November 1942. Australian release: 5 August 1943. 10,661 feet. 118 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An ex-burlesque dancer from New York marries an Austrian baron on the eve of WW2. A newspaperman tries to put her wise to the fact that the baron, far from being the patriot he pretends to be, is actually a front man for Hitler.NOTES: Nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording, but lost to Yankee Doodle Dandy.COMMENT: An uneasy mixture of both romantic and slapstick comedy with a more serious spy melodrama. Unpopular with both audiences and critics in its day, it is still a difficult film to enjoy even today, though the problem now is not quite as much its disquieting mixture of styles (even a normally super-reliable player like Slezak seems at sea in at least one of his scenes) as the unnecessary verbosity of its script. Unfortunately the garrulousness of the dialogue continues unabated from the first scene to the last, making each individual scene not only irritatingly drawn out but next to impossible to trim. Nor is this incessant impetus to surround witty dialogue with word clusters of a more mundane variety, the only script problem. In its serious moments, the plot is utterly unbelievable. Unfortunately at these moments, humor is not intended. Even worse is the way the scriptwriters facilely resolve potentially intriguing plot situations. We have a bit of suspense for instance when Grant and Rogers are trapped on their way to a Jewish internment camp. How do they get out of this tricky situation? The American ambassador intervenes. And right at the climax, here's heavy Slezak threatening the slim Rogers as she stands alone on the top deck of a ship. So what happens. Off-camera she does an absolutely impossible thing. Poor Slezak has a hard time of it, though he does manage most of the movie with his usual menacing flair. Grant of course is Grant, full of silly giggles, foolish impersonations, cheeky bravura and patriotic gravity. Miss Rogers gives the film's best performance because her role is conceived on a more believable plane. Her facility with accents helps. And she's stunningly costumed too. The support players are effective, though aside from Dekker (who doesn't come in till near the end), Lytess (later to win fame as Marilyn Monroe's dramatic coach), Boros (who disappears after some lengthy introductory scenes) and Shannon, most including Basserman have very little to do.McCarey's directing style doesn't help smarten the sluggish pace. He has chosen to handle the movie in TV style with lots and lots of close-ups. A feast for Rogers and Grant fans no doubt but unhelpful to those of us who wish he'd get on with moving the story along. Fortunately he does exhibit some of the felicitous touches of The Awful Truth like the swastika hands of Hitler's clock and Grant's smiling face outside the carriage window. But his timing is generally too slow, he over-milks every scene for more humor than it's worth. Some clever remarks, like Grant's sly comment that he came after facts but all he got were figures, are usually lost in the chatter.Production values are impressive. A pity the script is so constructed that trimming is virtually impossible. It would be at least twice the fun at two-thirds the length.

l_rawjalaurence In 1942 the United States had only just entered World War Two, with the people trying their best to come to terms with a conflict which three years previously had seemed like a remote European war, with little or no importance to them. This was the basis of the America First Movement, which flourished in the late Thirties.ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON was designed to influence public opinion by showing how much the Nazi colonization of Europe mattered to everyone in the world. The basic plot is straightforward: former showgirl Kathie O'Hara (aka Katherine Butt-Smith) (Ginger Rogers) is about to marry the Baron Franz von Luber (Walter Slezak) without realizing that he is a Nazi agent masquerading as an Austrian patriot. Campaigning journalist Pat O'Toole (Cary Grant), on an assignment to investigate O'Hara's past and present for American readers, acts as the voice of reason as he tries to set her right. The task proves impossible at first, but in a series of picaresque adventures in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and France, she comes to understand what a mistake she has made.Leo McCarey's film contains certain flabby moments - especially in a sequence ostensibly taking place in Paris, when O'Toole and O'Hara confess their love for one another. There are also some overt scenes of propaganda that interrupt the plot, especially when O'Hara encounters American spy Gaston le Blanc (Albert Dekker). On the credit side, however, there are some truly delightful comic sequences, no more so when Grant poses as O'Hara's dressmaker and tries to take her measurements. He makes every effort to avoid embarrassment, and by doing so ties himself into knots both physically and verbally. Grant and Rogers's playing of this sequence is masterly, with Rogers's deadpan countenance contrasting with Grant's facial contortions.Walter Slezak makes a convincing villain, his smooth, gentle exterior concealing a ruthless personality. He encounters O'Toole at a Paris café and backs the journalist into a corner: if O'Toole does not broadcast on the Nazi Party's behalf, then O'Hara's future cannot be guaranteed as she will be handed over to the Gestapo. Slezak's voice hardly rises above a whisper, yet the threat remains - despite his outwardly noble nature, O'Toole will have to submit to the Baron's wishes.ONCE UPON A HONEYMOON is certainly a period-piece, but it is still of interest, if only as an example of how versatile an actor Grant actually was, straddling the boundaries between comedy and straight drama with consummate ease.

nomoons11 Man I wanted to like this one but by the end, I was glad it was over.This one needed a coherent script and a whole lotta tightnin'. You know what defrag'n a hard drive is right? Well this film needed some of it. There was stuff missin, outta place and in the wrong place.There are so many scenes where Grant and Rogers don't say a word and I sat watchin' thinking'.."shouldn't there be some dialog?". My guess is the screenwriter won the job from a creative writing contest. The set-up on some of these scenario's were just like.."Huh?". There was no preparation.Grant is suppose to be getting the scoop on Rogers new husband, who happens to be a closet Nazi, but you really never know if he wants the story or not. He's either following her around and then leaving her to go do some Allied broadcasts for some country, then he's back with her again...blah blah blah. Gingers Rogers gets overlooked for he comedic stuff. I find her far more enjoyable to watch in those roles than the Fred Astaire dancing stuff. (For an example see "Vivacious Lady").Man this one needed a re-write. Not an enjoyable watch.

vincentlynch-moonoi I quite disagree with many of the reviews here of this film. I'm very impressed, overall, with this story because it is an unusual mix of humor, drama, and tragedy. An early scene -- where Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers meet for the first time -- unique with uncanny humor and chemistry. Contrast that with the scene where the two are imprisoned with Jewish rabbis possibly heading for a concentration camp and singing their Jewish prayers, followed by a scene where it is subtly thought that Rogers could be sterilized.I'm not always a fan of old films that involve a little espionage as WWII breaks out. But this one is different. Here, Katie O'Hara (Ginger Rogers), an ex-American burlesque performer has landed an Austrian Baron (Walter Slezak) and is about to be married. An American news correspondent (Cary Grant) pretty much know that the Baron is a Nazi. After the marriage, Rogers begins to suspect that Grant's suspicions about the Baron are accurate. Rogers, with Grant's help, decides to flee Europe, but they are nearly sent to a concentration camp. An American double agent persuades Rogers to return to her marriage and temporarily work as a spy. The Baron becomes suspicious due to O'Hara's many questions, where early in their relationship she was quite content to ignore politics. Grant agrees to broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda -- which he plans to sabotage -- after the Baron threatens to turn Rogers over to the Gestapo. Rogers and Grant do escape, and board a ship for America, but guess who is also on board -- the Baron...heading for America to continue being subversive in the ultimate target -- the United States.Unfortunately, after the Baron is pushed overboard and drowns, the heretofore relatively dramatic movie turns almost slapstick as Grant's conscience makes him tell the captain that the Baron has fallen overboard, the ship is turned around, but then they decide the Baron couldn't swim and it must be too late. The ship heads back toward America. This very last section of film is just plain dumb, and the one serious miscalculation of the film (were it not for this I would have given it an "8".Grant here is wonderful, as he normally is. I've always thought as Rogers as a "good" actress, but she is better here than is typical. And, Walter Slezak does a fine job as the Baron. Few other actors are worth mention here, although Albert Dekker is quite good in his relatively brief, though key role. And, although you are unlikely to recognize him, John Banner -- much later Sergeant Schultz on Hogan's Heroes -- is a Nazi in the film.