Line #44 Film/TheGayDivorcee


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/57ca3173e43405f99557470e087d50da.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Mimi wonders which of these men she's supposed to spend the night with.]]
3	A 1934 ScrewballComedy {{Musical}} movie starring Creator/FredAstaire, Creator/GingerRogers, Edward Everett Horton, and Alice Brady. Fred Astaire reprised his role from the stage play ''The [[HaveAGayOldTime Gay]] Divorce,'' as did Erik Rhodes, who played Tonetti, and Eric Blore, who played the waiter. Music for the play was by Music/ColePorter; for the movie, only the big hit of the show, "Night and Day," was retained, and several new songs by other composers were added.
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5	After spending some time in Paris, popular American dancer Guy Holden (Astaire) and his best friend, English lawyer Egbert Fitzgerald (Horton), land in London. While waiting at the London docks, Guy sees pretty American Mimi Glossop (Rogers) struggling with her dress, which is snagged in a trunk belonging to her aunt Hortense Ditherwell (Brady). [[LoveAtFirstSight Smitten,]] Guy offers his help, but in his haste to free Mimi, he pulls too hard and splits the back of the dress. Although furious at Guy, Mimi accepts his coat and calling card, then storms away without revealing her name or address.
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7	Mimi returns the coat anonymously through a hotel bellboy, further frustrating Guy and inspiring him to sing "A Needle in a Haystack" about his determination to find her again. The desperate Guy drives the streets of London in search of Mimi and finally by chance crashes into the back of her car. Mimi takes off, but Guy pursues and eventually corners her in a park. After he proposes to her, Mimi tells Guy she cannot see him again, but she does at least give him her name.
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9	Later, Hortense, who was once engaged to Egbert, brings the unhappily married Mimi to his office to discuss divorce proceedings. On learning that Mimi's neglectful husband Cyril, an English geologist, has refused to grant her a divorce, Egbert advises her to hire a professional co-respondent[[note]]i.e. a man who will pose as her lover so that adultery can be used as grounds for divorce[[/note]]. Unaware that Mimi is the object of Guy's obsession, Egbert then convinces his lovesick friend to accompany him to a seaside resort, where the co-respondent is to rendezvous with Mimi.
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11	At the hotel, Mimi [[DanceOfRomance finally starts to warm up to Guy after he dances with her]] to "Night and Day," but then due to a mix-up with the password, [[MistakenIdentity she mistakes him for the co-respondent]]. He is understandably confused when she first invites him to her hotel room and then treats him coldly once he gets there. Meanwhile, the real co-respondent--a cheerful, [[TheDandy dandified]] [[FunnyForeigner Italian]] named Rodolfo Tonetti--searches the hotel for his liaison, giving [[{{Malaproper}} increasingly mangled versions of the password]] to every woman he meets.
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13	This confusion is eventually sorted out, and Egbert and Hortense then rush back to London to secure the needed detectives. Defying Tonetti's orders to stay in the room, Mimi and Guy sneak off, using the shadows of paper dolls to make him believe that they are still there, and pursue their romance on the hotel dance floor. The ensuing dance number, "The Continental," was at the time the longest musical sequence on film at seventeen and a half minutes.
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15	The next morning, Hortense and Egbert, having been unable to find detectives, bring Cyril himself to the hotel. Although at first defiant and unyielding, Cyril gives in to Mimi's divorce demands when a hotel waiter unwittingly reveals to the group that he had met Cyril under a different name and with a different "wife" in tow. While Mimi and Guy celebrate her impending freedom, Hortense and Egbert announce that they were married on the way back from London.
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17	----
18	!!''The Gay Divorcee'' contains examples of:
19	* AdaptationNameChange: In the stage show, Guy's friend was named Teddy Egbert. In the movie, he's Egbert Fitzgerald.
20	* AnywhereButTheirLips: The lyrics of "The Continental" call for the dancers to kiss, as demonstrated by dozens of chorus members. When Guy and Mimi reach this point in their dance, he [[IKissYourHand kisses her hand]] instead.
21	* BetaCouple: Hortense's determined pursuit of the reluctant Egbert mirrors Guy's pursuit of the reluctant Mimi.
22	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: When Guy finally catches up with Mimi in the park, he pulls out a picnic basket and props it on the running board of her car.
23	-->'''Guy:''' Can I offer you anything? Frosted chocolate? Cointreau? Benedictine? Marriage?\
24	'''Mimi:''' [[RepeatWhatYouJustSaid What was that last one?]]\
25	'''Guy:''' Benedictine?\
26	'''Mimi:''' No, the one after that.\
27	'''Guy:''' Oh, marriage?
28	* BriefAccentImitation: After Guy has persuaded Mimi to take his phone number, another car tries to get through the roadblock he has set up. When the (British) driver asks if they can get through, Guy imitates his accent as he answers, "Oh, rather. Right you are. Cheerio."
29	* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: "The Continental."
30	* CrashIntoHello: Guy and Mimi's second meeting (with cars).
31	* CrazyPrepared: Guy drives around with a folding "Road Closed" sign just in case he needs to cut off Mimi's path of escape. Sure enough, it comes in handy when she tries to drive away from him.
32	-->'''Guy:''' ''[as he folds up the sign to allow another driver to pass]'' I got this at the sporting-goods store.
33	* DanceOfRomance: "Night and Day" serves as this for Mimi. Also a MatingDance thanks to the intensity of the mood.
34	* TheDandy: Tonetti.
35	* TheDitz: Hortense cannot properly remember the answer to any question asked of her or anything she needs to tell Egbert or Mimi, but has such a force of personality that she leaves other characters dizzy trying to keep up with her.
36	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: At the end of "Night and Day," while Mimi is still dazed from the MatingDance she's just been through, Guy [[SmokingHotSex offers her a cigarette]].
37	* DoggedNiceGuy: Guy (although a character who tried that "Road Closed" trick today would probably be called a StalkerWithACrush).
38	* FunnyForeigner: Tonetti.
39	* GoldDigger: Cyril appears to be a male example, since Mimi says she only sees him when he wants money. This is presumably why he refuses to divorce her, as well.
40	* HaveAGayOldTime:
41	** The title uses "gay" in the sense of "happy."
42	** In "Night and Day," which ends with the lines below, "making love" to someone meant "wooing":
43	--->''And my torment won't be through\
44	Till you let me spend the rest of my life making love to you\
45	Day and night, night and day!''
46	* HeadsOrTails: When Guy arrives at Mimi's hotel suite, he flips a coin, apparently deciding whether to leave or stay. He doesn't like the answer, so he flips it again and stays.
47	* IrrelevantActOpener: The opening sequence at the restaurant in Paris mainly serves as an excuse for some singing and dancing. The second "act" starts at the hotel, where a random cute girl (teenage Creator/BettyGrable) sings a SillySong to Egbert called "Let's K-nock K-nees," which doesn't have much to do with anything.
48	* LatinLover: Both invoked and amusingly subverted with Tonetti. Although he makes a living as "the lover" in divorce cases, he's actually a devoted family man whose motto is "Your wife is safe with Tonetti--he prefers spaghetti!"
49	* LiteralMetaphor: The title of "Let's K-nock K-nees" appears to be a sexual innuendo, as the song is filled with them. In the ensuing dance number, Egbert, the singer, and the chorus members repeatedly tap their knees against their partners'.
50	* LongList: At the hotel, Egbert calls over a waiter and then forgets what he was about to order. The waiter runs through a list of every possible menu item he can think of before Egbert remembers that he just wanted tea.
51	* LoveAtFirstSight: Guy for Mimi.
52	* {{Malaproper}}: Tonetti when he attempts to render his code phrase. "Chance is the fool's name for fate" goes through several versions, including "Chances are fate is foolish" and "Fate is a foolish thing to take chances with."
53	* MeetCute: Guy, Mimi, the trunk, and the torn dress.
54	* MistakenIdentity: Mimi's confusion about who her co-respondent is.
55	* NoGuyWantsToBeChased: Egbert previously got away from Hortense's pursuit by claiming he had to go on an elephant hunt in India.
56	* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Mimi and Guy discuss his profession a couple of times. All his answers could apply equally to a dancer or a gigolo.
57	-->'''Mimi:''' Don't think you fooled me for a moment. I knew what you were all along. I knew how you made your living.\
58	'''Guy:''' Oh, I'll admit I'm not proud of it, but I hope to do better someday. And in the meantime it does bring me in a decent income.\
59	'''Mimi:''' Some people will do anything for money.\
60	'''Guy:''' It's not as bad as all that. After all, I bring pleasure to thousands of people.\
61	'''Mimi:''' Thousands?\
62	'''Guy:''' Yes, tens of thousands. I bring romance to tens of thousands of shop girls, servant girls, stenographers...
63	* PedalToTheMetalShot: DoggedNiceGuy Guy Holden pursues his love interest Mimi in what amounts to a vehicular chase. As soon as she leaves London traffic and enters a forested area, Mimi stomps the accelerator to get away from Guy.
64	* PimpedOutDress: Mimi gets several, but her two dancing dresses deserve special mention--a foamy, ruffled number for "Night and Day" and another with a dramatically dyed skirt for "The Continental." Even her negligee is pimped out with ruffles and a sash (see picture).
65	* PoirotSpeak: Tonetti.
66	* SerenadeYourLover: "Night and Day" is one heck of a serenade song.
67	* SerialSpouse: Hortense has been married three times and is looking to make Egbert her fourth. (He was supposed to be her second, and [[NoGuyWantsToBeChased ran away on an "elephant hunt" to escape her]].)
68	--> '''Hortense:''' Let's see, I didn't marry in 1929 or '30. That was the year of the crash, and men didn't know whether they had money or not.
69	* SillySong: "Let's K-nock K-nees." Straitlaced lawyer Egbert is drawn into a dance number with a random girl at the beach resort.
70	* StealthInsult:
71	--> '''Tonetti:''' At home, my wife, he do not like me to sing.\
72	'''Egbert:''' Unquestionably a woman of great perspicacity.\
73	'''Tonetti:''' Oh, ''si, si, signor,'' you bet!
74	* SuperGullible: When Tonetti calls his wife from the hotel, he [[{{Cuckold}} hears a man's voice in the background]]. His wife tells him that their nine-year-old son's voice is already changing. Tonetti believes it and is delighted.
75	* TeacherStudentRomance: How Mimi met Cyril--he was one of her instructors at school.
76	* WeirdTradeUnion: When Guy tries to take Tonetti's place (for free) as the co-respondent in Mimi's divorce case, Tonetti indignantly asks, "Are you a union man?" Guy and Mimi give him identical looks of disbelief.
77	* WellDoneSonGuy: Egbert is thrilled that his father left him in charge of the law office. Despite strict instructions not to do anything, he's determined to handle Mimi's divorce successfully.
78	* WorkOffTheDebt: In the opening scene, Guy and Egbert are threatened with having to wash dishes at a Paris restaurant when they both forget their wallets. Guy eventually agrees to dance for his supper, only for Egbert to find his wallet after all just as the number finishes.

Context Film / TheGayDivorcee