The Girl Downstairs (1938)

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Harold Goldman (writer)
Sándor Hunyady (story)

Release Date:

23 December 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid falling in love with him.

Plot Keywords:

Taxicab | Berne Switzerland | Deception | Maid | Opera

Cast

Franciska Gaal	...	Katerina Linz
Franchot Tone	...	Paul Wagner
Walter Connolly	...	Mr. Brown
Reginald Gardiner	...	Willie
Rita Johnson	...	Rosalind Brown
Reginald Owen	...	Charlie Grump
Franklin Pangborn	...	Adolf Pumpfel
Robert Coote	...	Karl, Paul's Butler
Barnett Parker	...	Hugo, the Butler
James B. Carson	...	Rudolph
Billy Gilbert	...	Garage Proprietor

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16

Company:

Loew's

Soundtrack:

When You're in Love

A watchable, but unbelievable romantic comedy with some cute twists.

This film plays almost like a fairy tale with illiterate scullery maid Franciska Gaal, in her third and last starring role, getting involved with playboy Franchot Tone, who pretends to be a chauffeur just to get into her house and woo her boss' daughter, Rita Johnson. I enjoyed some of the comedy, with the best sequence being the taxicab Gaal buys Tone thinking he lost his job. Billy Gilbert sells her a dilapidated car that looked like it came out of a Laurel and Hardy Film - it falls apart as they drive! And it's so slow a kid on a bike grabs hold of it, not to have it pull him along, but to help pull it along. A very funny sequence. The pacing of the film is just right, but many of the comics in the supporting cast (Reginald Gardiner, Franklin Pangborn and Robert Coote) were wasted. However, Walter Connolly does his exasperated father routine perfectly. Gaal has a down-to-earth naive quality which endeared her to me, so I enjoyed the film. I wondered why she just quit making films altogether after this film.