If You Could Only Cook
(1935)
70 or 72 mins | Comedy | 30 December 1935
Director:
William A. SeiterWriters:
Howard J. Green, Gertrude Purcell, F. Hugh HerbertCinematographer:
John StumarEditor:
Gene HavlickProduction Designer:
Stephen GoossonProduction Company:
Columbia Pictures Corp.According to Frank Capra's autobiography, this film was erroneously advertised during its London run as "a Frank Capra Production." In his autobiography, Capra stated that he had nothing to do with the film and that Columbia president Harry Cohn perpetrated the deception hoping to cash in on Capra's popularity in England following It Happened One Night . According to modern sources, Capra sued Columbia for libel, and it was not until Cohn promised to buy the rights to the play You Can't Take It With You (see below) that the incident was ... More Less
According to Frank Capra's autobiography, this film was erroneously advertised during its London run as "a Frank Capra Production." In his autobiography, Capra stated that he had nothing to do with the film and that Columbia president Harry Cohn perpetrated the deception hoping to cash in on Capra's popularity in England following It Happened One Night . According to modern sources, Capra sued Columbia for libel, and it was not until Cohn promised to buy the rights to the play You Can't Take It With You (see below) that the incident was resolved. More Less
Jim Buchanan, the head of a large automobile firm, decides to take a vacation when the firm's board of directors refuses to go along with his plans for a stylish new car design. Jim leaves and wanders into a park, where he meets unemployed Joan Hawthorne, the carefree daughter of a college professor, who is desperate for a job and assumes that he too is unemployed. They talk, and Jim agrees to go with Joan to apply for a job as a husband/wife team of butler and cook at the Rossini manor. Joan is a wonderful cook and Mike Rossini, a former bootlegger, hires them. However, Joan and Jim are given a room with only one bed, so Jim is forced to sleep on the back porch. Later, Jim sneaks out to receive serving lessons from his own butler, Jennings, even though Mike's uncouth gangster friends fail to notice his lack of experience. Mike's bodyguard, Flash, tells him that Jim sleeps on the porch, and Mike begins to pay a lot of attention to Joan, which causes Jim to become jealous and threaten to quit. Then, to impress Joan, Jim sneaks into his office to get his drawings, so that she may see his worth. Joan is impressed and tries to sell the plans to Balderson of the Atlas company. Balderson recognizes the drawings as belonging to Jim and has Joan arrested. Meanwhile, Jim becomes convinced that canceling his wedding to society gold digger Evelyn Fletcher would shake the stockholder's confidence in him. Jim leaves Joan a farewell note, but Mike and Flash find it first, and after bailing her out of ... + −
Jim Buchanan, the head of a large automobile firm, decides to take a vacation when the firm's board of directors refuses to go along with his plans for a stylish new car design. Jim leaves and wanders into a park, where he meets unemployed Joan Hawthorne, the carefree daughter of a college professor, who is desperate for a job and assumes that he too is unemployed. They talk, and Jim agrees to go with Joan to apply for a job as a husband/wife team of butler and cook at the Rossini manor. Joan is a wonderful cook and Mike Rossini, a former bootlegger, hires them. However, Joan and Jim are given a room with only one bed, so Jim is forced to sleep on the back porch. Later, Jim sneaks out to receive serving lessons from his own butler, Jennings, even though Mike's uncouth gangster friends fail to notice his lack of experience. Mike's bodyguard, Flash, tells him that Jim sleeps on the porch, and Mike begins to pay a lot of attention to Joan, which causes Jim to become jealous and threaten to quit. Then, to impress Joan, Jim sneaks into his office to get his drawings, so that she may see his worth. Joan is impressed and tries to sell the plans to Balderson of the Atlas company. Balderson recognizes the drawings as belonging to Jim and has Joan arrested. Meanwhile, Jim becomes convinced that canceling his wedding to society gold digger Evelyn Fletcher would shake the stockholder's confidence in him. Jim leaves Joan a farewell note, but Mike and Flash find it first, and after bailing her out of jail, agree to kidnap Jim. Jim is abducted from his wedding to Evelyn, and although Mike has a minister waiting, Joan refuses to go to the altar with him. Finally, Flash pretends to shoot Jim, and Joan realizes her love for him. + −
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