The stage play by this same title was apparently a Broadway hit in 1936. It had 300 performances from March 24 to December of that year. Robert Sherwood wrote the play as well as the screenplay for this movie. But, I wonder if "Idiot's Delight" on stage was the same quirky production as it is on film. I suspect that on stage it was more of an anti-war political satire with just a touch of comedy and music. After all, the play received a Pulitzer Prize in 1936 for drama. But with more background in the beginning for the movie – provided by the same writer, and the treatment given it by Clark Gable and Norma Shearer, I think that the film is quite different.
The selection of characters from different countries – those likely to be major combatants in the war that was brewing, is intentional by the writer, which makes it clearly a satire of the time. Gable's Harry Van and his troupe of American girls parody America at the mid-1930s. They're not involved and the conflict shouldn't include them. Charles Coburn plays the German doctor, Hugo Waldersee, who lives for humanitarian research; but when his country is on one side of the conflict, he tosses the wellbeing of mankind aside in a blind loyalty to his country. That's a good parody of the German scientific community in general. The English couple, Jimmy and Mrs. Cherry, parody the British in sacrificing a honeymoon for duty to country. Burgess Meredith's character, Quillary, parodies France in that Paris continued its lifestyle of gaiety and didn't consider the threat of war at all serious. I'm not sure how Joseph Schildkraut's Capt. Kirvline parodies Italy.
The elements of a moral message about the looming war are there. And, when combat begins it lends to the seriousness of the plot and message. But wait a minute. We have fake Russian, Norma Shearer, playing Countess Irena. Her English-Russian accent is hilarious. I don't think there's ever been another movie made in which all the actors together rolled as many "R"s as Shearer does here in her dialog. She's great at it, and a veritable ham. That, along with her avowed changes in so many different stories of her escape from the Soviets, really puts this over as mainstream comedy. No doubt, Shearer and Gable turned up the ham quite a bit to overcome some horrible weaknesses of the film. The movie suffers overall from poor production qualities. The cinematography and direction are not very good. What special effects there are, are very weak and amateurish.
Then we're made to believe that there is a huge military airbase in the Alps. Where would they have sufficient flat ground and a huge valley to allow the aircraft to clear the peaks? The scenes we see of aircraft are amateurish. It was hard to believe that this was an MGM movie. Here's a studio that made lavish productions with grand sets, and all they could come up with for this film were cartoons and kindergarten drawings of toy aircraft. The people in the Hotel Monte Gabrielle look down – way down below, from their terrace and see the airfield that seems so tiny with rows and rows of planes streaming out of some sort of massive aerodrome. We're looking at dozens of little toy airplanes moving on a flat white surface surrounded by towering peaks. What a technical fiasco. And I can't believe MGM would be intentionally amateurish for the sake of comedy.
Others have described the give and take between Harry Van and Countess Irena. Harry remembers her as just plain Irene who performed in an acrobatic group 10 years before in Omaha. Between stories about her childhood in Russia and escapades of escaping the Soviets, Irena babbles some philosophical lines. But, these seem mostly gibberish, given her character and the rest of the dialog. Now the part of Harry and his troupe, "Les Blondes.," is straight song and dance – with humor. So, this is the entertainment that makes the movie a musical (along with some earlier snippets of Harry doing other song and dance routines).
I can see where this part of the play on stage would fit the message of a dramatic play. And, the Frenchman, Burgess Meredith's character, Quillary, calls this to everyone's attention. "How can we sit around and enjoy entertainment with all the atrocities going on around us and with the world headed for self-destruction?" But in the movie, Quillary comes across as more of a fanatical ideologue himself. What could a few stranded travelers do? And, we are enjoying the very good song and dance entertainment as a part of the story. Thus, we see the hammy performances of Shearer and Gable (his are often in his amusing and long quizzical looks at Shearer, that the camera focuses on for some time), as truly intended for comedy and entertainment. Oh, yes – there is also a touch of romance in the film.
Others have commented on Gable's song and dance. I agree that he is very good in all of the snippets in this move. His performance of "Puttin' on the Ritz," is so good it can be reason in itself to make this movie a part of one's film library. Overall, the movie has some historical value for its weak satire of the period and powers just before WWII. It has very good saving value in comedy, especially of Norma Shearer. And the vaudeville scenes of the various acts that Gable gets in are enjoyable. Top that off with Gable's "Puttin on the Ritz," and "Idiot's Delight" should entertain most viewers, regardless of who the idiots are.
The selection of characters from different countries – those likely to be major combatants in the war that was brewing, is intentional by the writer, which makes it clearly a satire of the time. Gable's Harry Van and his troupe of American girls parody America at the mid-1930s. They're not involved and the conflict shouldn't include them. Charles Coburn plays the German doctor, Hugo Waldersee, who lives for humanitarian research; but when his country is on one side of the conflict, he tosses the wellbeing of mankind aside in a blind loyalty to his country. That's a good parody of the German scientific community in general. The English couple, Jimmy and Mrs. Cherry, parody the British in sacrificing a honeymoon for duty to country. Burgess Meredith's character, Quillary, parodies France in that Paris continued its lifestyle of gaiety and didn't consider the threat of war at all serious. I'm not sure how Joseph Schildkraut's Capt. Kirvline parodies Italy.
The elements of a moral message about the looming war are there. And, when combat begins it lends to the seriousness of the plot and message. But wait a minute. We have fake Russian, Norma Shearer, playing Countess Irena. Her English-Russian accent is hilarious. I don't think there's ever been another movie made in which all the actors together rolled as many "R"s as Shearer does here in her dialog. She's great at it, and a veritable ham. That, along with her avowed changes in so many different stories of her escape from the Soviets, really puts this over as mainstream comedy. No doubt, Shearer and Gable turned up the ham quite a bit to overcome some horrible weaknesses of the film. The movie suffers overall from poor production qualities. The cinematography and direction are not very good. What special effects there are, are very weak and amateurish.
Then we're made to believe that there is a huge military airbase in the Alps. Where would they have sufficient flat ground and a huge valley to allow the aircraft to clear the peaks? The scenes we see of aircraft are amateurish. It was hard to believe that this was an MGM movie. Here's a studio that made lavish productions with grand sets, and all they could come up with for this film were cartoons and kindergarten drawings of toy aircraft. The people in the Hotel Monte Gabrielle look down – way down below, from their terrace and see the airfield that seems so tiny with rows and rows of planes streaming out of some sort of massive aerodrome. We're looking at dozens of little toy airplanes moving on a flat white surface surrounded by towering peaks. What a technical fiasco. And I can't believe MGM would be intentionally amateurish for the sake of comedy.
Others have described the give and take between Harry Van and Countess Irena. Harry remembers her as just plain Irene who performed in an acrobatic group 10 years before in Omaha. Between stories about her childhood in Russia and escapades of escaping the Soviets, Irena babbles some philosophical lines. But, these seem mostly gibberish, given her character and the rest of the dialog. Now the part of Harry and his troupe, "Les Blondes.," is straight song and dance – with humor. So, this is the entertainment that makes the movie a musical (along with some earlier snippets of Harry doing other song and dance routines).
I can see where this part of the play on stage would fit the message of a dramatic play. And, the Frenchman, Burgess Meredith's character, Quillary, calls this to everyone's attention. "How can we sit around and enjoy entertainment with all the atrocities going on around us and with the world headed for self-destruction?" But in the movie, Quillary comes across as more of a fanatical ideologue himself. What could a few stranded travelers do? And, we are enjoying the very good song and dance entertainment as a part of the story. Thus, we see the hammy performances of Shearer and Gable (his are often in his amusing and long quizzical looks at Shearer, that the camera focuses on for some time), as truly intended for comedy and entertainment. Oh, yes – there is also a touch of romance in the film.
Others have commented on Gable's song and dance. I agree that he is very good in all of the snippets in this move. His performance of "Puttin' on the Ritz," is so good it can be reason in itself to make this movie a part of one's film library. Overall, the movie has some historical value for its weak satire of the period and powers just before WWII. It has very good saving value in comedy, especially of Norma Shearer. And the vaudeville scenes of the various acts that Gable gets in are enjoyable. Top that off with Gable's "Puttin on the Ritz," and "Idiot's Delight" should entertain most viewers, regardless of who the idiots are.