Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Bereamic Awesome Movie

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

JohnHowardReid It's difficult to smoothly blend a suspenseful murder mystery with a light romantic comedy, but ace director William K. Howard achieves the almost impossible and does exactly this in Paramount's expansively produced and beautifully photographed (Ted Tetzlaff) shipboard thriller/romance. The stars, Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, are both in fine form. They need to be, for they are up against a remarkable array of professional scene stealers including Douglass Dumbrille, Alison Skipworth, Charles Barbier, Porter Hall and Sig Ruman. You'd expect a richly produced, smoothly directed (by William K. Howard), atmospherically photographed (by Ted Tetzlaff), ingratiatingly acted and most entertainingly scripted movie fare like this to receive hurrahs from all the critics, But that was not the case. Frank Nugent of The New York Times even gave the movie a negative review. In my opinion, the movie is a most entertaining blend of romance, thrills, mystery and comedy. Alas, it was during the filming of The Princess Comes Across that Howard unwittingly set the stage for his later rebuff by the Hollywood hierarchy when he ordered the movie's production supervisor off the set for too much interference.

MARIO GAUCI This is a delightful blend of zany comedy and murder mystery, almost completely set aboard ship and featuring a most excellent cast, though perhaps not quite a classic – mainly because the thriller element lacks the touch of sophistication associated with THE THIN MAN (1934), which was the prototype of this style at the time.Carole Lombard and Alison Skipworth are unemployed New York actors posing as Swedish royalty to attract a film contract (hence the title – with the star supplying a delicious parody of Greta Garbo); Fred MacMurray and William Frawley are a concertina player and his manager, respectively; George Barbier is the ship's captain; Porter Hall is a slimy blackmailer who preys on three of the ship's passengers (the fraudulent Lombard, MacMurray – with a spell in jail behind him – and another who's a murderer impersonating a missing passenger – though the stranger seen prowling about intermittently is eventually revealed as a red herring); conveniently on board is an international convention of detectives comprising Douglass Dumbrille (French), Sig Rumann (German), Mischa Auer (Russian), Lumsden Hare (British) and Tetsu Komai (Japanese).When Hall turns up dead (the shadowy lighting in this scene, courtesy of cinematographer Ted Tetzlaff, is actually rather striking) and a passenger list in his pocket bears a mark near Lombard and MacMurray's names, naturally they arouse the detectives' suspicion – despite Barbier's attempts to keep the Princess out of such indiscretions. Typically, MacMurray and Frawley carry out their own sleuthing – though Rumann is actually the first to get to the truth, but doesn't live long enough to reveal the identity of the killer to his associates! So, in an effort to distract the murderer's attention off Lombard, MacMurray – who, naturally, has fallen for the leading lady (even after he becomes aware of her less-than-regal/foreign-origins) – declares that he has solved the case, fully expecting a rendezvous with the guilty party but counting on pal Frawley to bail him out at the last minute.There are plenty of amusing situations throughout (notably the scene in which Frawley is derided by fellow passengers for wearing a French painter's cap) and witty repartee (particularly as delivered by Skipworth and Auer), but also some genuine tension at the climax (even if the final unmasking of the villain hardly proves a surprise) – not to mention a musical number from MacMurray!

bkoganbing Carole Lombard and Alison Skipworth are masquerading as a Swedish princess and her lady in waiting who are sailing to Hollywood to make a film. This is a bit of self ballyhoo that chorus girl Lombard from Brooklyn is giving for her film debut. Still band leader Fred MacMurray is intrigued by her.Of course slimy blackmailer Porter Hall tries a little touch on both MacMurray and Lombard, MacMurray having done a stretch in jail as a juvenile. Later when Hall winds up murdered in Lombard's cabin, MacMurray moves the body and searches for the real killer. His only clue is that Hall had told him he had a third blackmail prospect on board the ship.Easier said than done because also sailing on the ship are five police detectives from different countries on the way to a convention in California. When Hall's body does turn up, they all want to have a little competition as to who can crack the case first.Sounds like a serious plot, but in fact it's a pretty breezy comedy with MacMurray and Lombard at their sophisticated best. One thing that was fascinating in the plot was that Mischa Auer and Sig Ruman being from the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany are playing detectives from the NKVD and the Gestapo respectively though that's hardly mentioned. Both are without their usual methods of investigation on the American cruise ship as is Tetsuro Komei for the Japanese. British Scotland Yard man Lumsden Hare and Surete detective Douglass Dumbrille round out our quintet of sleuths.Best in the supporting cast is Hall as the blackmailer though. Also good is George Barbier as the ship's captain and William Frawley who a quarter of a century later would co-star with Fred MacMurray in My Three Sons is MacMurray's agent.This was the second of four films MacMurray and Lombard did for Paramount in the Thirties. They were a good team together and don't get as much recognition as they should. Despite the Thirties fashions and music, the film holds up very well today. It's Carole Lombard at her best.

theowinthrop Somehow, when thinking of movie couples in the golden age of film, Carole Lombard's partnership with Fred MacMurray gets overlooked. Not as glamorous as Tracy and Hepburn, Hepburn and Grant, Grant and Dunne, Eddy and MacDonald, MacDonald and Chevalier, Bogart and Bacall, it still got tremendous mileage in comedies (HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE, TRUE CONFESSIONS), comic thrillers (THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS), and straight drama (SWING HIGH, SWING LOW). Lombard had the ability to make the film's activities soar by her zaniness. MacMurray managed to anchor the film down by his normality (and in TRUE CONFESSIONS uses this normality against itself - by taking himself too seriously). THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS made fun of thrillers (although the dangers involved are not made funny), and of the culture of publicity that the public thrives on. Lombard has the looks and talents to make it in movies, but nobody cares. With the help of Alison Skipworth she pretends she is Princess Olga of Sweden and she wants to act in movies. Besides the spoofing of Garbo, Lombard is counting on the vast publicity from the media to get her the million dollar contract she wants. Oddly enough, the Swedish royal family does not seem to care that a fraud is being perpetrated by Lombard and Skipworth at their expense. But we have to make some concession to the plot.MacMurray is a well known musician (a concertina player of all things) and orchestra leader. He and his manager pal, William Frawley, are on the boat as well, and MacMurray is very interested in the beautiful, but snobbish Princess. However, he has another problem. MacMurray is an honest fellow, but he did one bad thing, and he is being pursued by an obnoxious little weasel (played superbly by Porter Hall) who is waiting for a big payoff from the musician. He also seems to know the truth about the Princess. MacMurray refuses to pay, and Hall promises him some problems. The ship has several internationally known detectives on board (among them are Mischa Auer, Sig Ruman, and Douglas Dumbrille), and Hall sees one of the detectives and we see him approach to talk to him. Shortly afterward Hall is found murdered. On top of this, there is word (sent to the ship) that an escaped murderer is thought to be aboard (shades of Dr. Crippen), and we do see a strange little stowaway from time to time. The film goes on to a second murder, a set of different rival detectives trying to solve the case, and MacMurray deciding to step in to clear himself and the Princess. The conclusion is quiet satisfactory.With it's cast of expert character actors supporting MacMurray and Lombard's performances, and the clever script, THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS is a first rate comic thriller. I rate it 9 out of 10.