Synopsis
SHE GAVE UP HER PARK BENCH FOR HIM! HE GAVE UP MILLIONS FOR HER!
An auto engineer and a professor's daughter pose as married servants in a mobster's mansion.
If You Could Only Cook
1935 Directed by William A. Seiter
Cast
Herbert Marshall Jean Arthur Leo Carrillo Lionel Stander Alan Edwards Frieda Inescort Gene Morgan Ralf Harolde Matt McHugh Richard Powell Mariska Aldrich William Anderson John Ardell William Arnold Wyrley Birch Joan Blair Ralph Brooks Ann Bupp Michelette Burani Walter Byron Romaine Callender Mary Jane Carey Jack Cheatham James Conaty Edith Conrad Helen Conway Georgie Cooper Frank Hall Crane Lew Davis Show All…
Director
Producer
Writers
Editor
Cinematography
Art Direction
Costume Design
Studio
Country
Language
Alternative Titles
La Fiancée imprévue, Sarò tua, 夢の並木路, Kuchareczka i kamerdyner, Uma Tarde Num Jardim, Vägen till hans hjärta
Popular reviews
More-
Jean Arthur crying on a gangster's shoulder because a guy (Herb Marshall) broke her heart, then begging him not to kill the poor guy because he broke her heart, then not wanting to marry the guy (that the gangster arranges instead of a killing) because he broke her heart, then swinging open the door and rushing into the arms of the guy she loves who broke her heart when she hears gunshots and thinks the gangster and his crew shot the guy who broke her heart was my monthly dose of Jean Arthur adorableness drug and I'm getting addicted fast. I wonder when I'll need it daily.
-
me watching jean arthur movie after jean arthur movie because I just can’t get enough of her specific brand of gravel-voiced firecracker charisma: “actually, can I have five more of these little blonde bitches?”
-
This is your daily reminder that the lion's share of the Jean Arthur Collection expires from the Criterion Channel come Wednesday. You were warned. In other news, If You Could Only Cook is a perpetual smile of a movie. Hardly essential, but just nice. The characters are all inherently likeable and each actor is obviously having the time of their lives playing them. Hell, even the supposed bad guys are wholesome AF, with Lionel Stander reigning MVP (not an easy task when you’re up against the wily forces of Mrs. Arthur!) Conflict arises but only exists to set up more charming charades which of course, all turn out to be honest misunderstandings, so it’s a-okay. Like many Depression-Era comedies, this has that touch of custom-made escapism, something easy-breezy to take your mind off the real world anxieties for an hour and some change. And honestly, I just can’t hate on that at all. It’s nice!
-
-
I didn't like Herbert Marshall at all in Trouble in Paradise, finding him to be boring and drab. Funny enough, he was delightful, handsome, and funny in If You Could Only Cook! Perhaps it's a matter of casting, perhaps I need to give Trouble in Paradise a rewatch!
Anything with Jean Arthur, especially a romantic comedy with her, is going to be at least a little great. I wish she was more recognized by the mainstream, alongside Hepburn or Cary because she truly is the reigning queen of the screwball comedy!
If You Could Only Cook is a bit flawed when it comes to its look at class when not seen through the eyes of Depression-era viewers, who would be…
-
-
-
can I just say that Jean Arthur is the most adorable and funniest screwball comedian ever?? this film proves that yet again. She and Herbert Marshall's character meet cute in the park, after she mistakes him for being part of the struggling masses (In actuality, he is in charge of an automobile company). She gets him to apply with her as butler and cook, and they work as a couple for a mobster who's very particular when it comes to food. As is expected, Jean's character realizes he's actually a millionajre... and I won't spoil the ending. I love the wedding scene, and the ensuing chaos. Besides the leads, Lionel Stander is hilarious as the right hand man of a…
-
The two best things a movie can be: delightful and brief. Jean Arthur is great of course and Herbert Marshall gets the job done but for me the real stars are Leo Carrillo and Lionel Stander as the two most lovable gangsters possibly ever. I'm not sure of the political implications of such a benign view of organized crime in a picture like this in 1935, but it makes for great entertainment regardless.
-
Perfectly cozy, but also kind of wild how Lionel Stander as the live-in heavy for his nelly bachelor gangster boss very nearly steals the whole movie from both of its ostensible stars?
-
Far better than the middling reviews on here suggest. Yes, the plot is as thin as a light sauce, but the flavorful performances make it hearty and easily digestible. Sorry, I couldn't pass up the cooking references, and please don't let the title fool you - our leading lady, Jean Arthur, can cook! So, maybe the title should have been You Don't Put Garlic in the Sauce, or something like that. Anyways, I simply loved this, and by the time it reached its third act, where those lovable Mafia boys (Leo Carrillo and Lionel Stander) were acting like a pack of fairy godfathers, my heart was a'fluttering!
-
You put garlic in the sauce???
There’s so much going on in this masterpiece screwball (is that an oxymoron?) that it requires several viewings to catch every last quip and gleam. From Leo Carrillo’s rolling eyes to Jean Arthur’s poe face making crooks cry.
Herbert Marshall and Jean Arthur’s encounter in the mirror and their first (and only) kiss, are high romantic rib-splitting spectacles. Lionel Stander’s lips were here ideal.
“It wasn’t Lord Blithecoffen it was Lady Blithecoffen.”
A fantastic comedy with an entirely gifted cast led, as always, by Ms Arthur with Marshall surprisingly and Carrillo not surprisingly close behind.