Skip to content

by Frank Showalter

Once Upon a Honeymoon

D: 2 stars (out of 5)
1942 | United States | 117 min | More...
Reviewed Mar 31, 2008

In pre-WWII Europe, a reporter (Cary Grant) tries to convince a newlywed (Ginger Rogers) that her husband (Walter Slezak) is a Nazi.

Once Upon a Honeymoon does not age well. At all. It’s a long, unfunny, awkward and hokey mess highlighted only by the presences of Cary Grant and Walter Slezak.

The biggest problem, right from the outset, is that Ginger Rogers just isn’t funny. The opening scene featuring her on the phone with her mother is grating, and the film goes downhill from there.

Thankfully, Cary Grant soon makes his entrance, though with a character name like Pat O’Toole, you know it isn’t going to be pretty. He does his best with the material, but not even Grant’s considerable charm can gloss over the script’s rougher patches, like the scenario—proffered as comedy—where Grant and Rogers’ characters are mistaken for Jews!

Yeah, it’s that bad.

The only real bright spot during the almost two hour running time is Walter Slezak who plays a suitable smarmy, yet not totally one-dimensional, Nazi.

In the hands of someone like Billy Wilder, Once Upon a Honeymoon might have worked. His talents as a writer and his uncanny ability to balance drama and comedy might have saved this mess, but we’ll never know.

Viewing History

  • Watched on
    Mon, Mar 31, 2008