One Hour with You, based on the play by Lothar Schmidt - 8 out of 10

One Hour with You, based on the play by Lothar Schmidt
8 out of 10


One Hour with You has been included on The New York Times' Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list.

Furthermore, it was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture.
Classic it may well be, but this cinephile would not include it on his list of favorite films.

Granted, the sense of deja by is not just unfair, it is absurd.
Since this film was launched in 1932, it is other movies that have taken inspiration from it.

It is just a question of seeing it after so many others, that have not preceded it.
Maurice Chevalier is self assured, remarkable and a good singer in the role of Doctor Andre Bertier.

He is married to Colette and they seem to have a happy life ahead of them.
Furthermore, the doctor seems to be restrained and faithful, against type...well, at least contrary to the image that the French have or used to have.

When he is sharing a cab with an attractive woman, early in the plot, they both notice that nobody would believe that they just behaved decently.
He reads the paper, she looks out the window,but who would believe it...they both admit that no one would.

Hence she says they must act as everyone would expect and she is ready to kiss him.

Stop the car! Shouts the doctor 
He gets off, walks away and then returns to say:

You may think I am a coward, Madame...
Well, I am!

When Andre Bertier meets the best friend of his wife, he is asked...

Isn't she splendid? Don't you like her?
He does and says it.

Mitzi Olivier is the name of this woman and there would be trouble now that a complicated ménage a trois seems to be initiated.
Soon, this friend says she is ill and asks her maid to call the doctor.

Andre Bertier does not want to be involved, when his wife answers the call.
He would rather have this patient call someone else.

With hindsight, he had been rather prescient.
Adolph is a name that is anathema today, but may I remind you that this was produced before the monstrous Hitler became relevant.

And Adolph is the name of Mitzi's husband.
He would try to get close to Colette, in a strange game that goes beyond the ménage a trois and becomes a square of possible infidelities.

One Hour with You is pleasant and amusing, but this viewer still does not see it as one of The Best Films Ever Made.