MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Lawson Perhaps they took this movie and improved on it and came up with the classic My Man Godfrey, which was released a year later. Both tell a story of a rich man who pretends to be a butler so as to get close to a woman he's infatuated with. It's the sort of story I love, I have to admit, so I was quite disappointed that this movie wasn't as well-written as Godfrey, and that Herbert Marshall is not nearly as charming as William Powell. It's a bit silly that Jean Arthur's employer (she's a cook), who runs a bootlegging gang, would arrive at Marshall's wedding guns-ablazing to bring him back to her when in the first place he wanted her as his mistress. It's only because I love Jean Arthur that I'm giving this movie a marginal thumbs-up.

Maddyclassicfilms If You Could Only Cook is an easy and undemanding underrated little film. Set during the Great Depression of the 1930's it tells the story of car giant owner Jim Buchanan(Herbert Marshall)who is due to be married to an upper class lady who he isn't really sure he truly loves. So a couple of days before the wedding he takes himself off for a while to really think about his decision.Sitting on a park bench he meets the kind outgoing and unemployed Joan Hawthorne(Jean Arthur),she assumes that he is out of work as well and they look through the jobs section of the newspaper. Jim decides to play along and pretend he needs a job and they both go for a double vacancy of butler and cook.Thanks to Joans cooking talent the wealthy Mike Rossini(Leo Carrillo)hires them.With the help of his own butler Jim learns how to be convincing and helps Joan with household duties all the while realizing he is falling in love with her.He is torn about if he should tell Joan the truth about who he really is or continue to be "Jim Burns" hardworking dedicated butler. Although not the best film of all time this is well made and enjoyable if you don't expect much from it. Herbert is superb as the upper class man who learns about life and love and is able to do things for himself so he can enjoy them and not do things that others think he'll enjoy.He and Jean Arthur have a great chemistry and their characters are very likable and this is just a fun film that'll cheer you up as you wait to see if they can get together and get married.Worth watching.

movingpicturegal Entertaining, almost screwball-like, comedy about successful car designer, James Buchanan (Herbert Marshall), soon to be married in what seems like a "marriage of convenience" to a society woman he doesn't love. Well, he meets a pretty out-of-work blonde named Joan (Jean Arthur) on a park bench where she is busy reading the want ads. Finding an ad desiring a married couple for "cook and butler", they decide to pretend they are married and apply for the job (James agreeing to go along with the idea 'cause he "likes" her). Well, they get the job, the employers are a bunch of gangsters, and they end up living in the servants quarters above the garage with just one double bed!This is a very enjoyable film, much better than I was expecting. The plot is lots of fun, and features a couple of my favorite actors, Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall, who are both great in this - they even seemed to have some chemistry together (even though the first kiss between them looked almost like a boy kissing his grandma). The actors who play the gangsters in this are quite funny, especially Lionel Stander as the main man's sidekick, a guy named Flash who seems like just another dumb mug, but is actually the one who immediately catches on, via snooping around, that James and Joan may not really be a married couple. A really good film that deserves to be more well known than it is.

AustinKatAnne The Austin Film Society showed this entertaining old film last week on election night. The receptive audience found laughs in many lines that still seem current, especially about unemployment, the want ads and being broke.Jean Arthur looked lovely in this movie, and Herbert Marshall was perfect. What a wonderful voice that man had! My husband thinks that his walk may have inspired C3PO's formal motions, although the robot had a metal leg, not a wooden one like Mr. Marshall's.Lionel Stander was already in full bellow, many decades before 'Hart to Hart', and Leo Carillo was a treat as the gangster employer. It was a surprise to hear them use the term 'wise guy' for a prospective member - I didn't realize it was already being used back then.