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Piccadilly Jim
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Piccadilly Jim is an amiable comedy with an ample supply of snappy dialogue and British droll wit. It is based on the book by humorist P. G. Wodehouse and directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Charles Brackett. James Crocker, Sr., (Frank Morgan) and James 'Jim' Crocker, Jr., (Robert Montgomery) are father and son, affluent but working members of the elite, who accidently find themselves wooing two women in the same wealthy family. The stage actor father is seeking the affection of Eugenia Willis (Billie Burke), but her sister Nesta (Cora Witherspoon) snootily detests actors and he's rejected by the obedient socialite. At a club party the cartoonist son is introduced to Ann Chester (Madge Evans) by his friend Macon, but she rejects him for Lord Frederick Priory (Ralph Forbes). He does not realize she's a niece of Eugenia, the woman who rejected his father, and she doesn't realize that he's a newspaper cartoonist working under the name of Piccadilly Jim.
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Based on the classic novel by the eternally humorous PG Wodehouse and adapted by Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), Piccadilly Jim is at once an ironic commentary on American and British cultures and a fun screwball comedy. Scandalous womanizer Jim Crocker (Sam Rockwell) lives in London with his father (Tom Wilkinson) and social climbing American stepmother (Allison Janney). Most of Jim's time is spent having parties, planning parties, and enjoying the company of various girls after parties. His exploits have earned him the nickname Piccadilly Jim. He continually embarrasses his stepmother who is determined to impress London society and show off for her competitive sister Nesta (Brenda Blethyn). No one is more surprised than Jim when he sees and immediately falls for Nesta's step-niece Ann (Frances O'Connor).
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Just because Piccadilly Jim is all over the place (in structure, mood, setting, and just about any way you could think of) doesn’t mean that it was doomed from the start. Wodehouse never wrote books that were all of a piece, they were usually just waif-thin plots that strung together his shtick of comically bored, lazy, and inept British aristocrats engaged in idle banter. But in director John McKay’s baffled hands, the film never quite manages to stay on its feet. Careening from full-throttle farce to light-hearted badinage to earnest romance, there’s no unified tone, and with the addition of pointless anachronisms (although the general look is the 1930s, there are some additions like modern automobiles and torch singers belting out new wave tunes) it just seems like a big old mess. In the midst of all this atonal turmoil, a good number of cast members are doing their game best to have a good time, and it shows. Rockwell, Wilkinson, and Janney are spot-on in their roles (they just mesh together, in a dysfunctional family sort of way), and would be an excellent cast were this book ever put on Broadway.
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The Piccadilly Jim that finally emerged from Fellowes's screenplay was an interpretation deeply at odds with Wodehouse humor, the result of the selection of a director, John McKay, who was mismatched with the story. Unlike Robert Altman's direction of Gosford Park, McKay found the concept of a period setting distracting and labored to undercut it in every way. McKay sought to avoid the world of Wodehouse television adaptations and their country-house weekends. In its stead, McKay asserts an equivalence between the 1930s, the 1960s, and the world of 2004, as all one and the same.
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After two years of scripting by at least nine writers, the new version of PICCADILLY JIM became overlong, finally clocking at 100 minutes. One-time screenwriter Benchley joined the cast. Rather than a musical, PICCADILLY JIM turned into a vehicle for Robert Montgomery. As the title character, he was aptly cast, one of the few Hollywood comedians who could simultaneously play an Englishman who combined intelligent and "silly ass" traits. Equally appropriate were Eric Blore as his valet, Frank Morgan as his father (the elder Jim Crocker, an unemployed ham actor), and many of the supporting players. However, leading lady Madge Evans brought no sense of comedy to her role.
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A handful of reviews that accompanied the release of Piccadilly Jim sum up the picture's appeal quite well. Although not overwhelmed by the movie, Variety admitted "Its function is to entertain in a snappy yet simple and innocuous manner, with interesting people as the characters." The New York Evening Journal praised its star with: "Give Bob Montgomery an impudent role and he goes to town." Montgomery certainly added to his credit another solid performance in the kind of role he did so well (and, to his dismay, so often) in the 1930s. But MGM had little faith in the picture and refused to promote it. Without sufficient word of mouth to save it, the film rather quickly faded at the box office.
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Piccadilly Jim