"Trouble for Two" is arguably one of the worst film adaptations of a literary classic to appear during the 1930's. It's true that the original story ("The Suicide Club" by Robert Louis Stevenson) was a novella in three parts that had to be condensed to fit the confines of a movie. And undoubtedly there was a need to pander to the tastes of the time by introducing elements of romance and comedy into the screenplay. But Hollywood chose to satisfy these conditions by combining several of the original characters, mutilating their personalities and the plot in the process, and introducing a silly prince-and-princess love story as a foreground element and motivator. To make matters worse, the film adds superfluous bit parts to create a spurious "Olde Englyshe" atmosphere that actually wastes time.
The original novella presented an adventure of Prince Florizel of Bohemia, an urbane, sophisticated sovereign of high moral purpose, who delighted in plunging into underworld escapades, chivalrously assisted by his friend and confidante Colonel Geraldine, a dashing and resourceful young cavalry officer. But in the movie, Florizel (Robert Montgomery) has become a trifling, light-headed fop, and Geraldine (Frank Morgan) a foggy, timid, middle-aged bumbler. Worse yet, the villain whom they meet, the President of the Suicide Club (played by Reginald Owen), has been changed from a corrupt genius of crime into a political fanatic and fused with another of the book's more entertaining characters, softening and weakening the film's spirit considerably. Events only go downhill from the first encounter of these three. And the scarcely-believable attendance of a lady (Rosalind Russell as Miss Vandeleur) at a Victorian gentleman's club undermines the plot's premise and credibility even further, if that's possible.
To their credit, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, and company play their caricatures tolerably well, though a depressingly wooden performance by Russell and the pointless disposal early on of the charming Louis Hayward contribute to the butchering of the story.
Anyone considering watching this movie would be well-advised to avoid it and save 75 precious minutes, and instead read the original novella (available for free online in Project Gutenberg's collection of Robert Louis Stevenson's works). It's a great but sadly neglected classic. Perhaps in future it will receive the film treatment it deserves, in all of its three-part glory, at the capable hands of the British film production companies that supply crime dramas to Masterpiece Theater.
The original novella presented an adventure of Prince Florizel of Bohemia, an urbane, sophisticated sovereign of high moral purpose, who delighted in plunging into underworld escapades, chivalrously assisted by his friend and confidante Colonel Geraldine, a dashing and resourceful young cavalry officer. But in the movie, Florizel (Robert Montgomery) has become a trifling, light-headed fop, and Geraldine (Frank Morgan) a foggy, timid, middle-aged bumbler. Worse yet, the villain whom they meet, the President of the Suicide Club (played by Reginald Owen), has been changed from a corrupt genius of crime into a political fanatic and fused with another of the book's more entertaining characters, softening and weakening the film's spirit considerably. Events only go downhill from the first encounter of these three. And the scarcely-believable attendance of a lady (Rosalind Russell as Miss Vandeleur) at a Victorian gentleman's club undermines the plot's premise and credibility even further, if that's possible.
To their credit, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, and company play their caricatures tolerably well, though a depressingly wooden performance by Russell and the pointless disposal early on of the charming Louis Hayward contribute to the butchering of the story.
Anyone considering watching this movie would be well-advised to avoid it and save 75 precious minutes, and instead read the original novella (available for free online in Project Gutenberg's collection of Robert Louis Stevenson's works). It's a great but sadly neglected classic. Perhaps in future it will receive the film treatment it deserves, in all of its three-part glory, at the capable hands of the British film production companies that supply crime dramas to Masterpiece Theater.