One Night in Lisbon (1941)

Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray were good actors....so you really cannot blame them for "One Night in Lisbon". Who I can blame are the writers, as the story and, especially, the characters simply make no sense at all.

When the story begins, Dwight (MacMurray) and Leonora (Carroll) are stuck in a bomb shelter together during the London blitz of 1940-41. Instead of acting like human beings, Dwight starts behaving oddly....as if he's got a massive head injury. Instead of either sticking to himself or striking up a conversation, he begins making duck calls. Who in the heck would ever do this?! Does this make sense?! No...nor do many of the pair's behaviors throughout the film. Dwight is just bizarre....and Leonora falling for him defies common sense. This continues throughout the film and ultimately leads to a supposedly funny time in Lisbon as the pair are chased about by Nazi agents.

The bottom line is that while I love old time Hollywood, I am not so in love with it that I won't call a movie out for bad writing. This one simply is a bad film....unbelievable and silly...but not in a pleasing way.