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.

Writer Sheridan Gibney (with Pierre Collings) won two Oscars for the The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), so it's surprising how glibly he - and producer-director Leo McCarey (The Awful Truth (1936))- handled this 'comedy' set against the backdrop of the Nazis' takeover of Europe. It isn't as if there weren't worthy war time comedies being made at that time: The Great Dictator (1940) and To Be or Not to Be (1942) are just two examples. However, Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942) is poorly done, not funny, and downright tasteless even though its director and cast - which includes Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, and Walter Slezak - were comedy veterans.Grant plays Patrick 'Pat' O'Toole, an American radio correspondent who's in Europe to report on Hitler Germany's takeover of country after country. Rogers plays a former American stripper Kathie O'Hara who's now a gold-digger that's just landed Baron Von Luber (Slezak) when she meets Grant's character. Patrick warns Kathie what she's gotten into and then follows Kathie to protect her. The two fall for one another and she eventually comes to realize her husband's role in Hitler's carnage. Rogers's character is then given a redemptive scene in which she facilitates freedom for her Jewish maid and two children.Albert Dekker plays an American, undercover as a French photographer, that convinces Kathie to return to her husband in order to undermine the Fuhrer's plans. This extends the 'drama' just as she and Patrick are about to escape the continent together. Albert Bassermann and Hans Conried (uncredited) also appear.From Rogers's awful accents and Grant's silly drunkenness, the comedy elements fall short. The scene with Rogers and Dekker imitating stereotypical American themes is the worst. There is but a single scene in which the seriousness of what is happening is conveyed: when Kathie and Patrick are mistaken for Jews and imprisoned, a plaintive wailing song is heard for an extended period before they are rescued by their ambassador. Otherwise, there are assassinations, bombings, executions and even an off-camera murder by one of the principals that should have been handled more deftly.As bad as this one is, it's thankfully forgettable; I actually watched it 9 years ago, which I didn't realize until I was recording it in my movielog.

Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942)Well, a Cary Grant movie I haven't seen! The movie is limited, for sure, but Cary Grant is at his funniest. Watch it for him.Oh, yes, Ginger Rogers is the female lead, and she's her likable self (minus the dancing). The overall plot is skewed (for good reason) by World War II. A trifle. But we have Nazi nonsense upsetting a hearty American romance in Europe. Including a clock where the hands are a swastika.This is the same period and historical truth as "Casablanca," which of course takes it all much further—better writing, better photography, more romantic. The backdrop of the war here is often quite tragic, but there is no tragedy for the leads, who are affected but keep going. There is even what looks like some real Hitler footage (not sure how they got it contemporaneously). The humor throughout is pointed but certainly floating above the real awfulness.The overall plot (the large arc) is an entertaining take with serious overtones on the war and the enemies we were facing, as well as the fate of Jews (already clear by 1942). The movie ends up being largely a series of little scenes and funny gags—many of which are so funny they make it worth it. But overall the movie deserves some slapping down for not trying very hard. And it deserves watching because it's so good and warm and funny in so many parts. Besides, it's a Cary Grant romance out of nowhere. Good!

"Once Upon a Honeymoon" is a very late entry into a late Hollywood offering of anti-Nazi films. It came out in November 1942. That was nearly a year after the U.S. entered World War II, and more than three years after the war had started in Europe. England and France declared war on Germany after it invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. This film gets by with its late "exposé" of Nazi tyranny by its nature as a combination adventure, comedy, drama and war film. It's more the first three intertwined in the early war events of 1939 and 1940. Thus, the plot takes us through the chronological conquests of Germany. From Austria it moves to Czechoslovakia, then to Poland, then Norway, then Holland, then Belgium, and then to France. This happens in choppy segments interspersed with war documentary film in the background. The story is a far-fetched one, about an American gold-digger, Ginger Rogers who plays Katie O'Hara under an assumed name of Katherine Butt-Smith, in order to marry an Austrian baron. Walter Slezak is Baron Franz Von Luber, who pretends to be an anti-Nazi but is in reality a shill for Hitler. He just happens to be in each country trying to promote peace when the country falls to Germany. Katherine seems naïve at first and could care less. But, once the Allies declare war on Germany, she comes around. Cary Grant is a newsman, reporter and broadcaster, Pat O'Toole, who is sent to try to expose the Baron. He uses shenanigans to get to see Miss Butt-Smith to get a story on their marriage. She insists that her last name is pronounced "Butte-Smith," and that becomes a repeated source of humor. The obvious happens when Katie and Pat fall for each other, she finds out that Franz is a Nazi bigwig, and the war leads them in different directions. The comedy is the best part of this film. That and the acting are strong enough to overcome an otherwise slipshod production and plot. Grant's character does some very funny stuff at the expense of the Baron and the Nazis. And he and Rogers have some wonderful repartee. All three main actors and a fine supporting cast give good performances. Grant and Rogers click nicely here. Slezak is particularly good in a role in which he seems to be amused by Grant and Rogers throughout. One of the funniest scenes in any film has Pat faking the person of a dresser. He shows up to take Katie's measurements for her new wardrobe. As he measures her with a metal tape measure, he pries her about her forthcoming marriage, in his French-accented English. This is a hilarious scene that probably took a few takes without either actor breaking into laughter. Another riotously funny scene happens when Pat alters his broadcast to build up the Baron in the Nazi hierarchy. I laughed long and hard and chuckle over that even now, as I write this. The film might be a history refresher for some about the early years of WWII, but it's value lies mostly in the humor and fine performances of a very good cast. It isn't a satire, coming as late as it was during the war. And, one wonders today, how American audiences responded to the humor then, when sons, brothers, husbands and fathers were being killed in war. The Brits, French and other Europeans had a few years of the war and treachery under their belts by November 1942, so the humor might likely have been welcomed by them for some relief.Here are some samples of funny dialog. Pat O'Toole, "You mean eliminate her? Put quick lime in her bath salts? A bomb in her boudoir?" Baron, "Mr. O'Toole, I want you to broadcast to America. Not only will you be extremely well paid, but you will be known as the voice of Europe. You will be famous. You'll probably turn out to be an authority on international affairs, and you might even write a book called "Inside" something."Pat, "I'd like to know what man was ever hero enough to say, 'I have but one wife to give to my country.' I'd like to know that."Elsa, the maid (played by Ferike Boros), to Pat, "Oh, you schvindler."Pat, "I don't mind doing the broadcasting, but I'll never forgive you for making a spy out of O'Hara. Boy! I've heard everything. Mata O'Hara. Mata O'Hara. She couldn't spy her way through a knothole."Gaston Le Blanc (played by Albert Dekker), "So now I'm a spy for Uncle Sam, posing as a Frenchman, being paid by the Germans and the comedy of it is, no income tax."Pat, "Beautiful, isn't she, Elsa?" Elsa, "Yes, she is. And you are beautiful too."Pat, rehearsing his broadcast for the Germans, "Hitler has nothing but admiration for America. Toward the nations of the New World, his friendship knows no bounds." Baron, "Huh uh. Huh uh." Other Nazi officers, "Nein! Nein!" Baron, "No use of bounds, boundaries." O'Toole, "Oh, I see. His friendship will stop at nothing." The Nazi officers go berserk. Baron, "No, you can't say that."