Adolphe Menjou Movies
Debonair and sophisticated, Adolphe Menjou was an impeccably-dressed lead actor with a waxed black mustache. At age 21 he moved to New York with no intention of becoming an actor; three years later he drifted into films as an extra, then got some larger roles before serving as a captain in the Ambulance Corps for three years in World War I. Back in the U.S. Menjou returned to acting, playing supporting roles in a number of major productions. He became a star after playing the lead role in Charlie Chaplin's A Woman of Paris (1923), which established his screen persona: a dapper, suave man of the world. He went on to play this role in more than 100 films, at first as a leading man and later as a character actor. He made the transition to sound easily and received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his work in The Front Page (1931). He gained a reputation as one of the world's best-dressed men, a fact alluded to in the title of his autobiography, It Took Nine Tailors (1948). Active in politically conservative causes, in 1944 Menjou became a co-founder of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals; later he was a "friendly" witness in the 1947 hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee. From 1928-33 he was married to actress Kathryn Carver, and from 1934 on he was married to actress Verree Teasdale. ~ All Movie Guide
This first of four film versions of the Ben Hecht/Charlrd MacArthur Broadway hit stars Adolphe Menjou as explosive Chicago newspaper-editor Walter Burns and Pat O'Brien as his star reporter Hildy Johnson. Hildy is on the verge of getting married and retiring from Burns' dirty little tabloid, but he agrees to cover one last story: the politically motivated execution of convicted cop killer Earl Williams (George E. Stone). Thanks to the stupidity of the police, Williams manages to escape, and Johnson hides the wounded fugitive in a rolltop desk in the prison pressroom. Burns enters the scene, senses a swell story (and also a means of keeping Johnson on his payroll), and conspires with Johnson to keep Williams out of sight until they can secure an exclusive interview. Burns will do anything to keep Johnson on the scene, including having the reporter's future mother-in-law kidnapped. Complicating matters are Johnson's fiancée Peggy (Mary Brian), Williams' girlfriend Molly Malloy (Mae Clarke), and the corrupt mayor (James Gordon) and sheriff (Clarence C. Wilson), who have railroaded Williams to the death house in order to win votes and are now trying to suppress the news that the governor has commuted Williams' sentence. The Front Page was remade by Howard Hawks in 1939 as His Girl Friday, with the symbiotic relationship between Burns and Johnson changed to a sexual one by transforming Hildy Johnson into a woman (played by Rosalind Russell) with Cary Grant as her old flame Walter. It was again remade by Billy Wilder in 1974 with Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Carol Burnett, and a young Susan Sarandon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1930
Mon Gosse de Pere (My Childish Father) was based on a stage play by Leopold Lemarchand. The title character, played by Adolphe Menjou, is a lazy roue, recently married to a gorgeous young girl. Menjou's illegitimate son, now the blue-nosed owner of a prosperous soap factory, shows up to instill a bit of responsibility into the old man. But Menjou refuses to be "tamed" into respectability and heads out for a night on the town. Imagine his anger and jealousy when he sees his young bride flirting with his own son. Before this mess is finally cleared up, Menjou has learned to take life a bit more seriously, while his son has discovered that it isn't so bad to enjoy oneself once in a while. Mon Gosse de Pere was released in the U.S. as The Parisian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olga Valery, Alice Cocea, (more)
- 1930
In this romance, a disillusioned wife, learning that her husband has been unfaithful, divorces him and moves to Paris where she is changed from a frowsy hausfrau to a sexy, sophisticated lady. A wealthy dame asks her to help destroy the affair between her granddaughter and the woman's ex-husband. The woman agrees to do it and returns to the U.S. where she hosts a large party. Among the guests are her ex-husband and his lover--the granddaughter. The wife has become so lovely, that her former spouse does not at first recognize her. When at last he does, their romance begins anew. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Norma Shearer, Rod La Rocque, (more)
- 1930
Metropolitan opera star Grace Moore's second movie vehicle was the 1930 adaptation of the Oscar Hammerstein II-Sigmund Romberg operetta New Moon. On this occasion, Moore was teamed with another "Met" alumnus, baritone Lawrence Tibbertt. The stars are cast respectively as Tanya Strogoff, a White Russian princess slated to marry a man she does not love, and Michael Petroff, the handsome lieutenant whom she does love. The jilted fiance, Governor Boris Brusiloff (Adolphe Menjou) vows revenge, leading to a bloody military engagement in which even comedy-relief character Potkin (Gus Shy) is killed. Nonetheless, both hero and heroine live to love and sing again. The fact that the original operetta was set in 18th-century New Orleans rather than pre-Revolutionary Russia did not stop the screenwriters from utilizing most of the plot devices from the 1928 stage version. Likewise left intact were many of the timeless Hammerstein-Romberg tunes, including Lover Come Back to Me and Stout-Hearted Men. Despite its Slavic setting, New Moon was retitled Parisian Belle for television, to avoid confusion with the 1940 Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald remake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lawrence Tibbett, Grace Moore, (more)
- 1930
L'Enigmatique Monsieur Parkes is the French-language version of the American romantic melodrama Slightly Scarlet. Replacing Evelyn Brent and Clive Brook, the stars of the original version, are Claudette Colbert and Adolphe Menjou. The story takes place on the French Riviera, where heroine Lucy (Colbert) successfully poses as a princess to mingle with the glitterati. To keep her low-born origins a secret, she is forced to serve as accomplice for a master jewel thief (Paul Lukas in the original, Emile Chautard in the French version). While pilfering the jewels of a wealthy American woman, Lucy is caught in the act by gentleman thief Monsieur Parkes (Menjou) -- and it's love at first sight, whereupon each crook promises to reform for the other's sake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emile Chautard, Adrienne D'Ambricourt, (more)
- 1930
Like so many campaigners before him, Gary Cooper joins the Foreign Legion to "forget." At a smoky cabaret in Morocco, Cooper meets café entertainer Marlene Dietrich (making her American film debut). A woman with a very checkered past, Dietrich toys with the callow Cooper, but eventually falls hopelessly in love with him, even to the extent of throwing over wealthy Adolphe Menjou. The now-famous final image of Morocco finds la Dietrich, decked out in her cabaret finery and wearing high heels, heading after Cooper's regiment across the desert with the rest of the "camp followers." There is considerably more to the story than that, but these bare-bones details should be enough to entice anyone familiar with the exotic eroticism of the Josef von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich vehicles. Should you need more enticement, let us inform you that Morocco is the film in which Marlene Dietrich, dressed in a man's tuxedo for her nightclub act, kisses a female patron squarely on the lips. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, (more)
- 1929
This romantic drama marks the first talking movie done by popular silent film star Adolph Menjou who plays a philandering concert pianist. After one concert, he meets a pretty lady and begins planning a weekend rendezvous in a mountain cottage. When his wife learns about it, she too, along with the other woman's husband, heads for the mountains. Romantic chaos ensues until everyone decides to stay with their allotted partner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Fay Compton, (more)
- 1929
Adolphe Menjou's final silent film was the imitation-Lubitsch Marquis Preferred. Characteristically dressed up like a million dollars (before taxes), Menjou is cast as the Marquis D'Argenville, a dapper but impoverished nobleman. Hoping for a quick financial turnover, the Marquis agrees to wed Gwendolyn Gruger (Lucille Powers), the daughter of a pair of title-chasing Americans. But the Marquis' heart will forever belong to Peggy Winton (Nora Lane), who does her best to hide her disappointment. Much to the delight of Peggy (and the moviegoers), our hero decides at the last minute that you can't put a price tag on true love. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Nora Lane, (more)
- 1929
Look up "suave and sophisticated" in the dictionary, and one might very well find a picture of Adolphe Menjou. In His Private Life, Menjou is cast as Georges St. Germain, whose sexual peccadilloes are so frequent and plentiful that he is forced to bribe practically every civil servant in Paris to keep mum. At present, Georges is fascinated with virginal American tourist Eleanor Trent (Kathryn Carver), who is visiting Paris in the company of her more worldly friends Yvette and Henri Bergere (Margaret Livingston, Eugene Pallette). Our hero does his utmost to seduce Eleanor -- even engaging an entire section of a fancy restaurant for this purpose -- but she is not so easily won over. Ultimately, Georges does win the heroine, but only on her terms. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Kathryn Carver, (more)
- 1928
A Night of Mystery was based on Ferreol, the famous crime novel by Victorien Sardou. While visiting the apartment of ex-lover Gilberte (Evelyn Brent), Captain Ferreol (Menjou) witnesses a murder. The crafty killer persuades Ferreol not to report the crime, lest Gilberte's indiscretions be revealed to her husband. Ferreol discreetly leaves Paris and heads for Africa but returns when he learns that Gilberte's brother Jerome (William Collier Jr.) has been falsely accused of the murder. Still hoping to shield Gilberte from scandal, Ferreol confesses to the crime himself, but an inadvertent slip of the tongue clears both Ferreol and Jerome in one fell swoop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Nora Lane, (more)
- 1928
His Tiger Lady was adapted by Ernest Vajda from Super of the Gaiety, a play by Alfred Savoir. Adolphe Menjou stars as Henri, a "super," or extra, in a lavish Parisian musical revue. Falling in love with a beautiful but icy Duchess (Evelyn Brent), Henri tries to impress her by borrowing an exotic costume and posing as a rajah. This masquerade permits Henri access to the Duchess' boudoir, but before their romance can be consummated he confesses to his deception and walks out of her room. The next day, however, Henri is delighted to find the Duchess backstage at the Revue, dressed up as a chorus girl and with that "yes yes" look in her eyes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Evelyn Brent, (more)
- 1927
It stands to reason that the sartorially splendid Adolphe Menjou would star in a picture called Evening Clothes. At the beginning of the film, however,Menjou is crude, shabbily dressed French farmer Lucien D'Artois. Attracted by his wealth, avaricious Germaine (Virginia Valli) marries D'Artois, then leaves him for a more sophisticated man. D'Artois retaliates by moving to the city and learning the proper social graces. His new life style proves to be too expensive for him, and at the end he is left with nothing but one suit of evening clothes and his now contrite wife. The legendary Louise Brooks, sporting curls rather than her trademarked Dutch-bob hairstyle, has a lively secondary role as a Parisian flapper named Fox Trot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Virginia Valli, (more)
- 1927
The debonair Adolphe Menjou cannot chose between blonde Greta Nissen from Norway or brunette Arlette Marchal from France in this frothy comedy from Paramount. Nissen plays Fanny, the new wife of stolid Henri Martel (Menjou). Leaving on an important business trip, Henri foolishly leaves Fanny with the more worldly Blanche (Marchal), who teaches the girl to drink, smoke and do the Charleston. The returning Martel, who hates Jazz and everything that goes with it, promptly divorces this new and improved Fanny, only to marry Blanche. But Henri and Fanny are reunited in order to avoid breaking the heart of the latter's visiting grandmother (Mary Carr), discovering in the middle of the deception that they still love each other. Hailing from Paris, Arlette Marchal was brought to Hollywood in 1926 by Gloria Swanson. She returned almost immediately to her native soil when talkies arrived. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen, (more)
- 1927
Directed with his usual dry wit by the talented and underrated Harry D'Arrast, Gentleman of Paris was based on a short story by Roy Horniman. Adolphe Menjou stars as the Marquis de Marignan, an unabashed womanizer who spends the better part of his life escaping the wrath of outraged husbands. The Marquis is regularly rescued from disaster by Joseph (Nicholas Sousannin), his faithful valet. But when it appears as though his boss has been dallying with his own wife, the valet cooks up a scheme to publicly humiliate the Marquis by "exposing" him as a card cheat. The ruse works, but the wily Marquis manages to have the last laugh by faking his own suicide and returning to "haunt" the hapless valet into confessing his ruse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Shirley O'Hara, (more)
- 1927
Based on the play by Ernest Vajda, Service for Ladies was directed by Harry D'Arrast, one of the wittiest and most talented of the would-be Lubitsches of the 1920s. Adolphe Menjou stars Albert Leroux, the handsome headwaiter of a posh French restaurant. Falling in love with aristocratic Elizabeth Foster (Kathryn Carver), Albert decides to pay court to her on her own high-society level. With the help of King Boris (Lawrence Grant), a friendly monarch who owes Albert several favors, our hero poses as a dashing European prince. But it's all for naught: Turns out that Elizabeth would have been in love with him no matter what his station in life. Service for Ladies was remade in 1931 with Leslie Howard in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Kathryn Carver, (more)
- 1927
Harry D'Abaddie D'Arrast, one of the busiest of Hollywood's Ernst Lubitsch imitators, warmed the director's chair for Serenade. Adolphe Menjou is cast as Franz Rossi, a brilliant composer blessed with a beautiful wife, Gretchen (Kathryn Carver). For reasons that defy explanation, Rossi insists upon "playing the field" with other women, and this is why he endeavors to keep Gretchen at home and away from his "work." Eventually, however, Gretchen finds out what her husband has been up to, whereupon she completely disappears from view. Following a thin (and carefully planted) trail of clues, Rossi catches up with his wife at a fancy hotel, where all evidence points to the possibility that Gretchen herself is enjoying the favors of a gentleman caller. What he doesn't know is that Gretchen has stage-managed a phony liaison to teach her errant husband a lesson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Kathryn Carver, (more)
- 1926
Though his career went into decline in the talkie era, director Mal St. Clair was responsible for some of the funniest, frothiest film fare of the 1920s. Based on a tried-and-true stage play by Alfred Savoir, The Grand Duchess and the Waiter stars Florence Vidor and Adolphe Menjou as the title characters. Menjou isn't really a waiter at all, but a Parisian millionaire in disguise. He poses as one of the hired help so as to come into close proximity with the love of his life, beautiful noblewoman Vidor. The stars work together as copacetically here as they did in another classic Mal St. Clair-directed silent, Are Parents People? (1925). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Florence Vidor, (more)
- 1926
Fascinating Youth was designed as a showcase for the winners of Paramount's Junior Star contest of 1926. Newcomer Charles "Buddy" Rogers heads the cast as Teddy Ward, the son of a wealthy hotelier (Ralph Lewis). Disturbed by Teddy's hedonistic lifestyle, Ward Sr. orders the boy to take over management of a winter resort hotel. With the help of talented sketch artist Jeanne King (Ivy Harris), Teddy mounts a big-time advertising campaign and transforms the dormant resort into a smashing success. Outside of Buddy Rogers and Ivy Harris, the other Junior Stars given a boost in Fascinating Youth include future cowboy hero Jack Luden and the delightful comedienne Thelma Todd. Also performing box-office duty in cameo roles are such established Paramount luminaries as Richard Dix, Adolphe Menjou, Clara Bow, Lois Wilson and Thomas Meighan, not to mention contract directors Lewis Milestone and Mal St. Clair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ivy Harris
- 1926
Though D.W. Griffith had given up his independent-filmmaker status by joining Paramount Pictures in 1926, he had lost none of his artistry, if this film is any indication. Based on a mystical novel by Marie Correlli, Adolphe Menjou stars as the elegant, sartorially splendid Prince Lucio de Rimanez--but you and I know that he's really the Prince of Darkness. When struggling writer Ricardo Cortez is moved to curse God for his misfortunes, Prince Lucio makes a sudden appearance, informing Cortez that he's inherited a fortune. The only proviso is that Cortez must place his fate entirely in the Prince's hands. As he ascends to the uppermost rungs of European society, Cortez is ordered by Lucio to marry Russian princess Lya DePutti, even though the writer still loves his pre-wealth sweetheart Carole Dempster. Eventually, Prince Lucio reveals his true satanic identity, but not before Lya has taken her own life. By rejecting the Devil and all his false promises, Cortez is permitted a happily-ever-after with Dempster. A tantalizing contemporary article describes how Sorrows of Satan was supposed to have opened with an impressive special-effects sequence, wherein we see Satan literally falling from grace; alas, this prologue was excised from the film and has been lost forever. If it is true that Griffith intensely disliked the Correlli novel upon which Sorrows of Satan was based, one would never know it from his masterful, sensitive direction. The film represented the final screen appearance of Griffith's protege (and reputed lover) Carole Dempster, who actually evinces some acting ability this time around. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Ricardo Cortez, (more)
- 1926
Originally, Louise Brooks was only supposed to have a supporting role in this comedy-drama starring Adolphe Menjou. Partway through filming, however, Menjou's co-star Greta Nissen dropped out and Brooks' role was rewritten and expanded. It was only her third film. Menjou is Max Haber, a barber in a small town who works at the shop belonging to his father (a surprisingly unslapstick-y Chester Conklin). His sweetheart is Kitty Laverne, an ambitious manicurist (Brooks). She goes to New York in hopes that Max will follow. He does, and he manages to land a job at a big New York barber shop. Mrs. Jackson-Greer (Josephine Drake) convinces Max to pose as a French Count, and he is pursued by April King, a title-seeking young woman (Elsie Lawson). Eventually Max's fakery is unmasked and he happily returns to his small town, followed by Kitty. Unfortunately, no copies of this film seem to exist -- the last known print was lost in a fire at the Cinematheque Francais. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Louise Brooks, (more)
- 1926
Who better to play Ace of Cads than that charming reprobate Adolphe Menjou? This time, however, Menjou is reasonably honorable. A high-ranking military officer, he is discredited in the eyes of his fiancee by his military enemies. Driven from town in disgrace, Menjou returns years later to do the "Monte Cristo" bit. Ace of Cads was produced by William LeBaron and directed by Luther Reed, the creative team who'd later put the fledgling RKO Radio studios on its feet. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Alice Joyce, (more)
- 1925
The 1925 silent feature The Swan was the first of three film versions of Ferenc Molnar's play. The original plot was followed to the letter in all three productions: A beautiful young princess of a mythical country, promised in marriage to a much-older prince, falls in love with her handsome tutor. The princess' "arranged" husband-to-be, a decent sort, is obliged to court the young lady, who eventually--and tearfully--sends her beloved tutor on his way. Frances Howard, later the wife of producer Samuel Goldwyn, stars in the first version while Adolphe Menjou is seen as her future husband and Ricardo Cortez is cast as the unlucky "commoner" lover. The two future versions filmed in 1930 and 1955, respectively starred Lillian Gish and (who else?) Grace Kelly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frances Howard, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
- 1925
Although there was nothing really fresh about the story to this romantic comedy (based on the play The King, by Leo Ditrichstein), director Monta Bell and star Adolphe Menjou gave it a pleasantly sophisticated veneer. Serge IV (Menjou), King of Molvania, has come to the United States to secure a loan for his country. But first he finds love with American girl Gladys Humphreys (Bessie Love). The pair have a delightful romance, with the king allowing himself to behave like a real, down-to-earth fellow for once in his life. He even gets to visit Coney Island. Millionaire Arthur Trent (Joseph Kilgour) wants Serge to sign a lease for some Molvania oil fields. When he finds him on a balcony with Gladys, he locks the both of them out for the night. In order to save Gladys' reputation, the king signs the lease the next morning. In the interests of protocol and his country, Serge returns to Molvania and marries the proper princess, while Gladys finds herself an American husband. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Bessie Love, (more)
- 1925
Frederick Lonsdale's witty 1924 play Aren't We All was turned into a vehicle for the debonair Adolphe Menjou by Paramount the following year. Menjou played Walter Grenham, a confirmed boulevardier stranded in Havana with his best friend's (Kenneth MacKenna) flirtatious wife (Lillian Rich). Nothing untoward happens -- Menjou is more attracted to sophisticated Aileen Pringle) -- but MacKenna, in desperation, begins an affair with a show girl (Kitty Kelly in her only silent film). Bedroom doors are slammed and a suspicious pair of gloves keep reappearing at every inconvenient moment but, in typical Lonsdale fashion, everything is straightened out in the end. Although Broadway dancer made a welcomed cameo, most critic found the comedy too much Menjou and too little Lonsdale. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adolphe Menjou, Aileen Pringle, (more)
