On This Day...Once Upon A Honeymoon (1942)

On this day in 1942, Cary Grant released his 42nd full length film, Once Upon a Honeymoon. His first of two films with Ginger Rogers.

Synopsis:

At the start of WWII, Katie O'Hara (Ginger Rogers), an American burlesque girl intent on social climbing, marries Austrian Baron Von Luber (Walter Slezak). Pat O'Toole (Cary Grant), an American radio reporter, sees this as a chance to investigate Von Luber, who is suspected of having Nazi ties. 

As country after country falls to the Nazis, O'Tool follows O'Hara across Europe. At first he is after a story, but he gradually falls in love with her. When she learns that her husband is indeed a Nazi, O'Hara fakes her death and runs off with O'Toole. In Paris, she is recruited to spy for the allies; he uses a radio broadcast to make Von Luber and the Nazis look like fools.

"Cary Grant is quite believable as the radio news analyst who turns on his French and German dialects and Irish charm with equal facility." - Philip T. Hartung, The Commonweal.

With Ginger Rogers.

Did You Know?

Berlin-born Natasha Lytess, who appears in the small role as the Jewish hotel maid, was Marilyn Monroe's acting coach and friend for many years.

Cary Grant thought the screenplay was rubbish, but agreed to do the film because he had been condemned for allegedly dodging the draft in both the UK and the US.

The question of top billing was resolved by having half of the prints with Cary Grant listed first, and the other half with Ginger Rogers listed first. The TCM print lists Grant first, but the programs distributed for the world premiere at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City listed Rogers first.

O'Toole ends his coerced radio broadcast with the phrase, "Tell it to the Marines." In the English usage of that day, the retort "Tell it to the Marines" meant, "Everything you just said is total bull, and cannot be believed for one minute." So by ending the speech that way, he was telling his American listeners that everything he had just said in the broadcast was untrue. Presumably his Nazi captors did not get the nuance, but the moviegoing audience would have.

With Albert Bassermann.

Cast:

 Cary Grant ... Patrick O'Toole
 Ginger Rogers ... Kathie O'Hara
 Walter Slezak ... Baron Franz Von Luber
 Albert Dekker ... Gaston Le Blanc
 Albert Bassermann ... Gen. Borelski
 Ferike Boros ... Elsa
 John Banner ... German Capt. Von Kleinoch
 Harry Shannon ... Ed Cumberland
 Natasha Lytess ... Anna

Lobby Cards:

Press Stills:

International Posters:

"There Was a Honeymoon" (Spanish)

Directed by Leo McCarey.

Produced by RKO Radio.

Running time: 116 minutes.