As much as I want to like anything Jean Arthur is in, I have to admit that "If You Could Only Cook" is a rather drab attempt at a screwball comedy.Arthur and Herbert Marshall play an out-of-work girl and an auto executive, respectively, who pose as husband and wife in order to take a job as cook and butler in the home of a gangster (Leo Carillo). You might think this sets the stage for all manner of screwball antics, but no such antics ever really arise. The film treats the story lazily and perfunctorily. Arthur and Marshall of course fall in love, but more because the screenplay forces them to than because it seems natural for their characters. The two actors acquit themselves as well as they can, but the movie just sort of plods along around them.Fans of either Arthur or Marshall will probably want to give this film a look, but don't expect a screwball classic.Grade: B-

Entertaining, almost screwball-like, comedy about successful car designer, James Buchanan (Herbert Marshall), soon to be married in what seems like a "marriage of convenience" to a society woman he doesn't love. Well, he meets a pretty out-of-work blonde named Joan (Jean Arthur) on a park bench where she is busy reading the want ads. Finding an ad desiring a married couple for "cook and butler", they decide to pretend they are married and apply for the job (James agreeing to go along with the idea 'cause he "likes" her). Well, they get the job, the employers are a bunch of gangsters, and they end up living in the servants quarters above the garage with just one double bed!This is a very enjoyable film, much better than I was expecting. The plot is lots of fun, and features a couple of my favorite actors, Jean Arthur and Herbert Marshall, who are both great in this - they even seemed to have some chemistry together (even though the first kiss between them looked almost like a boy kissing his grandma). The actors who play the gangsters in this are quite funny, especially Lionel Stander as the main man's sidekick, a guy named Flash who seems like just another dumb mug, but is actually the one who immediately catches on, via snooping around, that James and Joan may not really be a married couple. A really good film that deserves to be more well known than it is.

TCM's star tribute to JEAN ARTHUR included a few of her early films, some of which are on the weak side, as is IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK. With a brief running time of an hour and ten minutes, it might have been ideal for the bottom half of a double feature back in the '30s, yet it opened as an A-film at New York's Roxy theater. But what can I tell you? Not every film TCM shows is really what we call a "classic".HERBERT MARSHALL is Jean's husband, who poses with Jean, as a servant in the home of a mobster. Marshall is a bored designer for an automobile manufacturer mistaken for being unemployed by Arthur who's job hunting and sees an ad for a husband and wife team. She talks Marshall into joining forces so they can find work.Marshall, who says he's "fishing for something better to do with his life" proves to be quite adept at light comedy rather than the heavier material usually associated with him. His scenes with Arthur have every bit as much sparkle as those she did with stars like William Powell or Cary Grant.Both stars are warm and appealing in roles that could have been written expressly for them. LIONEL STANDER and LEO CARILLO are amusing in supporting roles as the mobsters who hire the housekeeping team, with Stander suspicious of both of them from the start.JEAN ARTHUR, as the girl who has faith in Marshall's auto designs, was never one of my favorites but she's on good display here and HERBERT MARSHALL is much less stiff than usual. Basically a romantic comedy, it turns screwball for the frantic ending.Fans of the stars should find it an enjoyable romp that passes the time pleasantly.Summing up: Strictly fluff.

The Austin Film Society showed this entertaining old film last week on election night. The receptive audience found laughs in many lines that still seem current, especially about unemployment, the want ads and being broke.Jean Arthur looked lovely in this movie, and Herbert Marshall was perfect. What a wonderful voice that man had! My husband thinks that his walk may have inspired C3PO's formal motions, although the robot had a metal leg, not a wooden one like Mr. Marshall's.Lionel Stander was already in full bellow, many decades before 'Hart to Hart', and Leo Carillo was a treat as the gangster employer. It was a surprise to hear them use the term 'wise guy' for a prospective member - I didn't realize it was already being used back then.