"Kiss and Make Up" had one chance and one chance only for it to be of any value: the other guy had to get the girl. The main guy was Dr. Maurice Lamar (Cary Grant). The other guy was Marcel Caron (Edward Everett Horton). The girl was Annie (Helen Mack).
Dr. Maurice Lamar (Cary Grant) was a handsome plastic surgeon that owned and operated Dr. Lamar's Temple of Beauty in Paris, France. He had women all over the world heeding his advice. He did a daily broadcast telling women what they could do to look more beautiful. Inuits in the frozen tundra and tribal African women in the plains of Africa were donning his face cream.
Unbeknownst to him, yet extremely predictably, his secretary Annie (Helen Mack) was in love with him. She was hypocritically in love with the doctor. She tried to make us believe that all the other women were in love with the beauty expert while she was in love with the man. That was impossible when he was nothing more than a shallow beauty expert twenty-four hours a day. The truth: she was in love with the same guy all the other women were in love with.
Dr. Maurice's masterpiece, Eve Caron (Genevieve Tobin), was infatuated with him. She was willing to cheat on her husband, Marcel Caron (Edward Everett Horton), with the doctor. Marcel didn't like the new Eve and as a result he left her. Dr. Maurice loved the new Eve, so he married her.
What Dr. Maurice loved in Eve was her newfound beauty--the beauty he bestowed upon her with surgery, ointments, creams, and whatever else. Maurice married Eve then divorced her in short order. He found that her beauty wasn't to be enjoyed except by the eyes. She spent so much time trying to remain beautiful that Maurice couldn't enjoy any part of her; even on their honeymoon.
Had her beauty been something that he could enjoy, then he would've remained married to her even though she was a vapid woman.
Left in the cold was plain ol' Annie until she met Marcel (Eve's ex-husband). Marcel loved natural beauty. He loved Annie just the way she was, and Annie at least liked Marcel for his appreciation of her natural beauty. They were all set to get married until Annie saw that Marcel wore a toupee. With that, she left Marcel and proclaimed her love for Dr. Maurice who was now single after leaving the vain monster he'd married.
Recap:
Marcel (Horton) divorced Eve (Tobin). Maurice (Grant) married Eve. Marcel hooked up with Annie (Mack). Maurice divorced Eve. Annie left Marcel right before their wedding to be with Maurice.
What would have been better is if Annie married Marcel. No, he wasn't the looker that Dr. Maurice was, but he also wasn't the shallow narcissist he was either. Sure, Dr. Maurice supposedly saw the error of his ways after marrying Eve, but hadn't Annie suffered enough watching Dr. Maurice slay one woman after the other? It was like she was begging to be one of his conquests as well.
The handsome protagonist getting the plain and principled girl is not always the best ending, and I don't think it was here either. In the end it was beauty that mattered most. Marcel, with his average looks and heartfelt sincerity couldn't compete with the Adonis that was Dr. Maurice. The fact that baldness was Marcel's undoing sends a powerful message. Good thing I got married when I did or else I may have also been single the rest of my life.
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Dr. Maurice Lamar (Cary Grant) was a handsome plastic surgeon that owned and operated Dr. Lamar's Temple of Beauty in Paris, France. He had women all over the world heeding his advice. He did a daily broadcast telling women what they could do to look more beautiful. Inuits in the frozen tundra and tribal African women in the plains of Africa were donning his face cream.
Unbeknownst to him, yet extremely predictably, his secretary Annie (Helen Mack) was in love with him. She was hypocritically in love with the doctor. She tried to make us believe that all the other women were in love with the beauty expert while she was in love with the man. That was impossible when he was nothing more than a shallow beauty expert twenty-four hours a day. The truth: she was in love with the same guy all the other women were in love with.
Dr. Maurice's masterpiece, Eve Caron (Genevieve Tobin), was infatuated with him. She was willing to cheat on her husband, Marcel Caron (Edward Everett Horton), with the doctor. Marcel didn't like the new Eve and as a result he left her. Dr. Maurice loved the new Eve, so he married her.
What Dr. Maurice loved in Eve was her newfound beauty--the beauty he bestowed upon her with surgery, ointments, creams, and whatever else. Maurice married Eve then divorced her in short order. He found that her beauty wasn't to be enjoyed except by the eyes. She spent so much time trying to remain beautiful that Maurice couldn't enjoy any part of her; even on their honeymoon.
Had her beauty been something that he could enjoy, then he would've remained married to her even though she was a vapid woman.
Left in the cold was plain ol' Annie until she met Marcel (Eve's ex-husband). Marcel loved natural beauty. He loved Annie just the way she was, and Annie at least liked Marcel for his appreciation of her natural beauty. They were all set to get married until Annie saw that Marcel wore a toupee. With that, she left Marcel and proclaimed her love for Dr. Maurice who was now single after leaving the vain monster he'd married.
Recap:
Marcel (Horton) divorced Eve (Tobin). Maurice (Grant) married Eve. Marcel hooked up with Annie (Mack). Maurice divorced Eve. Annie left Marcel right before their wedding to be with Maurice.
What would have been better is if Annie married Marcel. No, he wasn't the looker that Dr. Maurice was, but he also wasn't the shallow narcissist he was either. Sure, Dr. Maurice supposedly saw the error of his ways after marrying Eve, but hadn't Annie suffered enough watching Dr. Maurice slay one woman after the other? It was like she was begging to be one of his conquests as well.
The handsome protagonist getting the plain and principled girl is not always the best ending, and I don't think it was here either. In the end it was beauty that mattered most. Marcel, with his average looks and heartfelt sincerity couldn't compete with the Adonis that was Dr. Maurice. The fact that baldness was Marcel's undoing sends a powerful message. Good thing I got married when I did or else I may have also been single the rest of my life.
Free on YouTube.