Smoking hot cast list, they are sadly under-used. LOVE helen broderick. so fun. she got all the good, wisecracker lines in films. Monty Wooley is in it for five seconds, and that's an uncredited role. And of course, our star, a young thirty year old Fred MacMurrary. The script has weird timing. Lots of talking. Has the feel of a film based on a play. The first five minutes is a window washer gag, that doesn't really have anything to do with the story. The script kind of goes all over the place. Some fun, clever lines. Boy (MacMurray) finally meets girl (Madeleine Carroll), and spends the middle part of the film trying to find her again. Drama, intrigue. Directed by Edward Griffith. Griffith's specialty was making films about fun, exotic, far-away lands, which were probably really filmed in California, sometimes the Bahamas. There's a five minute bit where MacMurray plays piano and "sings" in a foreign language; pretty painful. Then Allen Jones sings for a couple minutes, also pretty painful, serious stuff. Should have left the musical numbers out. Such great actors in here... Script needed jazzing up. Fun to watch just for the actors in it. Story ain't no big thang.

Certainly in the 1930's, there were enough lady doctors, lawyers and businessmen, even film directors, and when the women go beyond being housewives, secretaries and chorus girls, the tides of the battle of the sexes certainly turn. Madeline Carroll is the vice president of a fashion company with her own independent ideas of about what a woman with a career should be like. She gets her fortune told, and tempting fate, takes that turn down the street she normally wouldn't go down, changing her life forever. Encountering macho Fred MacMurray in a ship shop (looking ship shape), she begins to learn a thing or two about what the average man really wants, and it isn't some hard-boiled career woman who works until 2:00 in the morning getting the advertising campaign right. Surrounded by like people hasn't moved her away from this way of thinking, so MacMurray's masculine attitudes are surprisingly refreshing to her."A woman carries around two things with her", old pal Helen Broderick says, adding "A first aide kit and a knife". Certainly, the acerbic Broderick knows her sex, being an old maid author who once looked for love but has ended up playing solitaire. When Carroll insults her single life at a dinner party attended by MacMurray and crooner Allan Jones, Broderick is truly hurt, storming out. But as comfortable as an old slipper, you know Broderick will be back, and apologies will be accepted. In the meantime, it is up to Carroll to learn about what she really wants, and this being pre-wartime Hollywood, it's pretty obvious that the macho man will win and the little wifey to be will give up her career and put on that apron before heading to where a woman of this era belongs: into the kitchen.Starting off like many of the screwball comedies of this time, this moves slowly into a dramatic second half which truly changes the structure of the film and the impact it makes. MacMurray's character lives in Bali and pops up in New York every so often for thrills and a change of pace. He encounters an old admirer (Osa Massen), takes in a little girl (Carolyn Lee) and makes it clear that he's determined to bring Carroll down to earth. But it's not without struggles between both of them, with Jones willing to kow-tow to Carroll's whims to marry but live alone, and Massen making it clear that she's determined to land MacMurray any way it takes.Massen's character becomes instantly unlikable, almost like her obnoxious, smug vixen from "A Woman's Face", showing a delight in her cruelty. As for Lee, perhaps it is her youth and inexperienced acting, but a lot of her dialog is very difficult to understand. By the time of the film "Virginia" (with almost the same cast) two years later, she was much more skilled and certainly less cloying. Her most touching moment here is when Carroll teaches her how to pray and is greatly touched by what Lee asks God for.The two stars do their best to make the split personality structure work, but they are only fairly successful in doing so. Allan Jones gets to sing a few songs, showing a singing telegram delivery boy how to do it, and Akim Tamiroff is very funny in his opening and closing sequence as a window washer working in both rain and snow storms peaking in on the luscious Carroll. However, it is Helen Broderick who wins acting honors here, being both funny and human, and reminding the audience that she was dropping quips long before Eve Arden came along to steal her territory. For some reason, the film was re-titled "My Love For Yours" for a re-issue which is listed on T.V. and DVD prints, the original title card presumably lost.

Since I watched her in the Hitchcock film, "The 39 Steps (1935), I have admired Madeleine for her cool blond, sophisticated skill as an actress. "Honeymoon in Bali" was a very enjoyable film which did not telegraph its ending until the final scene, a tribute to the intelligent screenplay and writer.In some ways the plot is modern despite it being over 70 years old.There are still many career girls working in New York who are bright, but are emotionally lonely and always on the lookout for "Mr Right", I worked for an American Bank and met quite a few bright American girls in our London office (and was even propositioned by one).Madeleine Carroll is her own boss and has a highly successful well paid career and is loath to surrender it all up for a mere man!She has the sophisticated NYK accent off pat and plays her bright, intelligent and attractive self.Love comes knocking in the shape of Fred MacMurray whom she meets in an expensive boat showroom in the heart of Manhattan.Madeleine has a best friend (Helen Broderick) who incautiously reminds her that her opera singing boyfriend (Allan Jones) has not put enough candles on the cake.The singing telegram scene is flat and without emotion despite Allan Jones giving an operatic version of "Happy Birthday".You sense Madeleine needs emotional fulfillment at this point.As to the candle discrepancy, in a bit of repartee worthy of Oscar Wilde, Madeleine retorts,"I always think one shouldn't have people around you know for too long".Fred is the legal guardian of a little girl and asks whether Madeleine would temporarily look after her, but Madeleine must put her career first.Fred has worked in Bali and has a platonic relationship with a foreign girl who is already contemplating marriage to him.A window cleaner played by Akim Tamiroff cleans Madeleine's office windows and appears something of a philosopher who rates Fred but not Allan Jones.Gradually Madeleine becomes emotionally attached to Fred's little girl and even treks to his home in Bali when she realises she really loves him.Although we cannot have a sad ending, in a denouement worthy of the great Jane Austen herself, the film ends leaving us with a feel-good factor, (although we are kept guessing right up to its end).A triumph for the great Madeleine Carroll sufficient to make Robert Donat really jealous!!

What a jewel to find! I bought a DVD for $1 to get a Cary Grant film, and this movie was included under the name "My Love for Yours." "Honeymoon in Bali" is a much better title. We watched it twice - the scene with the fortune teller is such fun when you know how the story line goes. Carolyn Lee as the little girl steals every scene she is in. For those of us who grew up with Fred MacMurray and "My Three Sons," this movie is a real surprise. MacMurray plays a wonderful romantic lead. The cameo appearance by Akim Tamiroff is a perfect bookend for the beginning and end of the film. The singing telegram boy is another classic moment. A film worth watching!