Classic Cast! Pat O'Brien, Adolphe Menjou, Rudy Vallee. From RKO, Pat O'Brien is Michael McBride. His wife, Connie is played by Ellen Drew. Something happens to Michael, and while he is away, his nemesis "Gordie" (Vallee) makes the moves on Connie. In a classic case of mistaken identity, Michael is taken for a crook, and must figure out who he is and where he belongs. Menjou is "Kismet", sailor on the steamboat where Michael ends up, and he helps Michael find his home again. For some reason, seances were big in the 1930s and 1940s, and they play a BIG part in this film. It's light and fun, but gets pretty silly, if you can stand it. Like an episode of Three's Company, it all could have been straightened out much earlier, but for some reason, it isn't. This one has a great cast, even if the plot is hokey. Even Carl Switzer (Alfafa !) has a bit part. Directed by Ray Enright. After serving in WW I, he worked with Mack Sennett in hollywood. Worth watching, if just to see Vallee, Menjou, and Switzer, some of the greats.
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ksf-29 November 2018
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SnoopyStyle20 September 2021Michael O'Flaherty 'Speed' McBride (Pat O'Brien) forgets about his wife Connie's birthday which causes friction in the marriage. It doesn't help with the arrival of Connie's old admirer Gordon Tolliver (Rudy Vallée). Speed gets drunk at a bar and lets another man drive his car. They drive off a pier. The other man is killed but Michael is mistakenly identified. He is instead rescued by a passing river showboat. The boat leader Kismet (Adolphe Menjou) convinces him to play dead and haunt his wife in an effort to save his marriage.
First, Speed is not that great of a husband. It would be helpful if the marriage is worth saving. I have no evidence either way. Second, the premise is ridiculous. A silly story is not the end of the world. I'm just never fully convinced with the first problem that all the silly screwball antics amount to nothing much. I don't find it funny. -
boblipton23 January 2024Pat O'Brien has been married to Ellen Drew since they graduated from college. When her previous boyfriend, Rudy Vallee shows up, O'Brien is jealous, goes out on a tear, and hooks up with perpetual drunk Jack Norton. Somehow they switch clothes, and Norton is killed and O'Brien winds up on Adolphe Menjou's showboat. When O'Brien is declared dead, Menjou persuades him into various shenanigans to reintroduce himself gradually to Miss Drew.
O'Brien drew this assignment as the first of his five-picture contract with RKO. He certainly seems willing enough to try anything, but his matter-of-fact delivery does not mix well with the increasing hysteria of the situations he gets into, as he impersonates a ghost, his uncle from Ireland, and eventually an amnesiac.
It's one of those comedies that doesn't bear much thinking about. Instead, the thing to do is to enjoy Menjou, his speed and grace as a confident confidence man, fast-talking O'Brien into these dumb ideas. In many ways the energy is that of the first screen version of The Front Page, in which Menjou played Walter Burns and O'Brien Hildy Johnson. -
hemisphere65-128 June 2021Did Connie (Ellen Drew) attend college as a newborn infant? Yet another preposterous casting job where the husband (Pat O'Brien) looks like the dad but they are supposed to be the same age, along with Gordie (Rudy Vallee). At least the two guys were close in age.
That's the least of the problems with this steaming pile of celluloid. The plot, dialogue, and acting are weak, especially O'Brien. He is so unconvincing that it seems like he never even met any of the other cast members before the scenes start.
Don't waste your time watching this forgettable trash. -
vandino16 January 2006Good set-up for a farce. O'Brien fights with wife who is conflicted by appearance of old college flame Vallee, O'Brien gets drunk with Norton (filmdom's once-famous drunk-comic) and they drive into the bay. Norton killed, but O'Brien alive (wearing Norton's jacket) and fished out by showboat proprietors, including ship hand Menjou. O'Brien wakes up thinking he's dead because Menjou is wearing devil's costume (for stage show) while stoking coal into the ship's furnace! When he tries to get back to his wife, O'Brien is urged by kibitzer Menjou to act as a ghost to find out if her love for him is real or if she's actually in love with Vallee. So far so good, and done with a fairly light touch, then the rest of the film devolves into a frantic hard-breathing comic muddle. Too bad the writers ran out of ideas. We even see Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer pop-up as the cross-eyed long-lost son of Norton, thinking O'Brien is his dad. But nothing works comically or romantically after the set-up.
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edwagreen24 December 2005I knew that something was amiss. Pat O'Brien, in a leading role? No gangsters? Not a police officer. Really!
Here he stars in this pure stinker as a husband who loves his wife but forgets her birthday. The wife, played by Ellen Drew, looked so much like Eve Arden in many scenes.
How coincidental that as he forgot her birthday, her divorced friend from college, enters the movie. Played by Rudy Valee, the guy wants Drew.
O'Brien storms out of the house and to the local bar. There he meets a poor drunkard chap, both get plastered, exchange clothes and papers and go on a drunken ride, ending in death for the other guy and total confusion for the rest of the film.
The film basically becomes slapstick. O'Brien lands on a riverboat and meets Adolph Menjou, who convinces him to act like a ghost.
The two return to the house just as the will is being read. When O'Brien told Drew to continue her life, Valee immediately proposes marriage. O'Brien acts as the ghost to "terrorize" Drew and mayhem and general wackiness ensues.
Rate this *1/2 and be off. -
Speed McBride (Pat O'Brien) is not happy with his wife, Connie. An old boyfriend (Rudy Vallee) is in town and she is gaga about the guy. What's worse, when Speed asks Connie, she says she isn't sure whether she's STILL in love with the old boyfriend or not! As a result, Speed goes off on a bender and through some impossible to believe circumstances, he's assumed to have been killed driving while drunk. However, he's completely alive. Instead of just revealing to everyone he's really alive, he lets a guy he just met (Adolph Menjou) convince him to pretend he's dead. What's more, although he doesn't know the guy at all, he then follows his wacky plan to return home as a ghost to teach his wife a lesson. If you think that this sounds like a bad sitcom plot...well, you are pretty much catching on to the plot. And, if you think it can't get much stupider...well, you're wrong!
This is a dumb movie. Enjoyable in a brainless sort of way but clearly a film that must have embarrassed the cast and which they sooner would have forgotten. Watchable but awful.
By the way, I noticed one reviewer seemed shocked that Pat O'Brien actually starred in this film--implying he was only a supporting actor. Well, he almost exclusively starred in films and generally was NOT a supporting actor...in case you were wondering. -
vincentlynch-moonoi24 January 2024I think that's the first time I've ever thought of using that word -- childish -- in summarizing the quality of a film. But as I sat watching this film, that word popped into my mind.
I have to admit, before going on, that I've never been particularly impressed with Pat O'Brien. Oh yes...an occasional role here and there...for example in 1940's "'Till We Meet Again"...pretty decent there. But mostly it always seemed as if he was just phoning it in...and that's the way I felt here.
It seems like a pretty weak cast to me. Adolphe Menjou seems very miscast here...but again, never a favorite of mine. Ellen Drew...who's Ellen Drew? Actually, she appeared in quite a few films, but I don't remember her at all. And of course, Rudy Vallee. Hmmmm. No great shakes as an actor, but he does 'okay' here.
As the film goes on, the plot just gets sillier and sillier. You might say that it sounds like a screwball comedy. It doesn't have the class of a screwball comedy. And some things that happen -- such as the husband (O'Brien) and Menjou walking around inside the house and never get caught...just inane.
But, I've seen worse pics. On occasion. -
net343121 April 2016Sure It's A Stretch! But it's still funny. It even has a pratfall.
Adolphe Menjou plays a mischievous rogue and Pat O'Brien plays himself as always. They meet after Pat's supposed death and Adolphe takes control of the situation with wacky results.
As Menjou says, "What a Magnificent Mess!" It starts out slow but it picks up with increasing momentum until you wish it could slow down. But it can't.
It's a house of card built upon shifting sands. Situations are extremely contrived but it makes for a delightfully wild ride.
I wanted to write this review because there were only 2 reviews, both somewhat negative. Pat O'Brien does not always have to play a cop. He may always be Pat O'Brien, but he fits into this role very plausibly. He is, after all, pulling a fast one, and no one can pull a fast one like Pat O'Brien.
In any case, Adolphe Menjou steals this movie away from him. Adolphe is a very versatile actor and he is one of the few that could pull of his role with any kind of believability. -
camille-0542429 October 2020There were only a very few that gave a review of this film. With the exception of 1 or 2 reviews; the rest were very negative about this film. Not all films need to be serious dramas. Within the comedy genre there are degrees of comedy. For me I generally don't seek out comedies at all. However, merely by accident I saw this movie and stopped to watch it and was not disappointed. Pat O'Brien and Adolphe Menjou, and even Ellen Drew did a fine job with a film that was just merely for fun. For this the cast did deliver.
A few reviews thought and were disappointed because O'Brien was not playing the role of a cop, etc. An actor is an actor and for the most part do not want to be locked in to a certain genre. In this film he was young enough to play this kind a role. If you are looking for a few laughs and some fine acting check this film out I don't think you will be disappointed. -
Michael_Elliott27 April 2016Man Alive (1945)
** (out of 4)
A husband (Pat O'Brien) gets into a fight with his wife (Ellen Drew) when her old flame (Rudy Vallee) comes for a visit. The husband storms off to get drunk and is later that night presumed killed when the car he was riding in crashes into the river. He's actually alive and with the help of a showboat operator (Adolphe Menjou) plans to spy on the wife and torture her because she's about to marry the flame.
MAN ALIVE is played for laughs, although a horror or film noir probably would have made it even better. As is, the film manages to have some mildly interesting moments thanks in large part to the cast but there's no doubt that in the end it's a missed opportunity. The biggest problem is the fact that for a "comedy" there just aren't enough laughs to make it work.
This can be blamed on the screenplay, which was obviously rushed so that they could get anything on the screen. Not only is there a lack of laughs but there are also some very big logical issues that I won't name to prevent spoiling the picture for people. If you're a fan of the cast you might want to check it out but others will probably find very little here to stay entertained on.