Say It in French (1938)

International sportsman Ray Milland returns home to New York, eager to introduce his family to Olympe Bradne, whom he has just married secretly. However, his father's shipbuilding business is nearly bankrupt, as is the family. If Milland's engagement to socialite Irene Hervey can be seen to be ongoing, the creditors can be held off long enough for good old dad to get a contract from William Collier Sr. In the meantime, Miss Bradne winds up as a ladies' maid to Milland's mother, because that's the story, and they're sticking to it.

Andrew Stone directed this French farce for Paramount, on his way to becoming a successful auteur. It doesn't work very well. Only a scene in which Milliand and miss Hervey are trying to talk Collier into a contract is funny, and it's very funny. Otherwise, it's all rather mechanical in its operation; good French farce should run like clockwork, but this one seems to be largely concerned with getting its plot to work. Some very fine farceurs are wasted, including Erik Rhodes -- no accent!