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Sadly Over-hyped

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The Baroness and the Butler" is a film set in Hungary. However, the accents by the various actors are confusing to say the least! None of the cast was Hungarian and most of the actors sounded like Americans--with the exception of Joseph Schildkraut (an Austrian) and Annabella (A Frenchwoman, though her accent is bizarre and difficult to understand). I really wish the film was close captioned...it needed it! I also wish the director had re-shot many of Annabella's scenes as she needed to be clearer and easier to understand. She might have been a lovely person in real life--but she was a terrible actress in English language films.The story is utterly ridiculous--so just be prepared to suspend disbelief and watch. The story is set in the home of the Baron (who is also the Prime Minister) and his privileged family. Their head butler is perfect and efficient (William Powell) and this sense of perfection is thrown for a loop when they learn that this butler was just elected to Parliament--as the opposition leader! How could the butler run for Parliament and NO ONE realize it until he's elected?! Again...you must turn off your brain and just accept this. What you also must not question is the notion that the butler will CONTINUE to be the butler AND lead the opposition at the same time!! It's all completely ludicrous and the only aspect of this silly plot I liked is how it showed just how completely clueless these nobles and their families were. After all, they act as if the butler and all their staff were 100% happy robots! What follows is a strange and even more unbelievable romance that blossoms from out of nowhere-- nowhere except the strange mind of the writer.So we have a ridiculous story and a leading lady who needs closed captioning. What did I like about the film? Well, as usual, William Powell is impressive even if the script isn't. As usual, he's polished, likable and makes his acting seem natural. He manages to make a crappy script work...kind of.So how could this have worked well? The butler could have instead come forward about running for office and then the fireworks could have exploded. Then, after winning, the film could have worked just fine. This would have at least taken care of that problem with the script. As for the romance....well, it was simply doomed and shouldn't have been in the film at all.

"The Baroness and the Butler" is a 1938 film starring William Powell and the French star signed by 20th Century Fox, Annabella, who got the big star buildup from Fox. Little did Darryl F. Zanuck know that she was more interested in matters of the heart than career. When she met and fell in love with Tyrone Power on her next film, "Suez," Zanuck tried to get rid of her by offering her films in Europe. She refused to leave Power (and who could blame her) and the two married, becoming the Brangelina of their era. Zanuck blacklisted her, and there went the star buildup and the big film career.This is a charming film set in Hungary, about a butler, Johann Porok (Powell) who works for the Prime Minister (Henry Stephenson). The prime minister and his family, particularly his daughter Katrina (Annabella) are shocked when Johann is elected to Parliament - by the opposition party. What's more, he wants to stay on as butler. Meanwhile, Katrina's philandering husband (Josef Schildkraut) has a few political ambitions of his own.Powell does a smooth job in this film as the elegant butler who is known for his brilliant speeches in Parliament. Stephenson is great as his amused boss, and Schildkraut, who played so many slimeballs, is terrific as usual. Annabella was a wonderful actress, and when her film career took a nosedive thanks to Zanuck, she and Power did radio shows together. Annabella also had a great success on Broadway, did "Liliom" with her husband in Westport Connecticut, and worked tirelessly for the war effort before returning to France when she and Power divorced."The Baroness and the Butler" isn't a great film, but it has good performances and a breeziness about it. Enjoyable if predictable.

To introduce French film star Annabella to American audiences, 20th Century Fox got a European type product as a fitting vehicle for her. And to play the butler who goes to Parliament, Darryl Zanuck obtained the services of William Powell from MGM.Like that other favorite butler role that Powell essayed in My Man Godfrey, Powell is a butler with a social conscience, a fact he keeps hidden from his employers Henry Stephenson, Helen Westley and their daughter Annabella. How he kept secret the fact that his left wing party has nominated him for a seat in the Hungarian Parliament is beyond me. Nevertheless on election eve the family learns that Stephenson will be returned as Prime Minister and Powell will be occupying a seat on the back bench.The Baroness And The Butler is the kind of film that would have been made in any number of European countries, a delightful bit of Frou-Frou that definitely did not have any relation to Hungary in 1938 with Admiral Miklos Horthy running things as a fascist learning military dictator. Those parliamentary elections have about as much relevance as those that were still going on in Nazi Germany where Reichstag elections were dutifully held with only one party being allowed to participate.Still Powell and Annabella are nothing less than charming and capable players and they pull this film through and you can actually enjoy it if you'll completely suspend disbelief. Of course Powell and Annabella are in love, but she's unhappily married to a philandering Joseph Schildkraut. And Schildkraut like Captain O'Shea in Ireland is going to make the scandal make his career. As usual Schildkraut is letter perfect playing the part of an unscrupulous schemer, characteristics he patented at the height of his career.If you're a fan of the stars you'll enjoy The Baroness And The Butler.

A charming movie, in particular for those whose film tastes are simple, requiring clean, wholesome entertainment, certainly something rare on the screen in the 21st Century. Powell was Powell, articulate, debonair, and likable. But this was my first view of Annabella; what a lovely creature; more accurately, stunningly beautiful, at least to me. The cast did well depicting the almost unbelievable etiquette that those of us born in or after WW II just do not understand. I guess this was the objective in the simplistic plots of the time--to bring only a sense of peace and pleasure to audiences in a time (WW II) when such peace and pleasures were thought to probably never exist again. I cannot find a lot of information on Annabella, but she apparently had a long and distinguished film career. Too bad I didn't know about her in my youth. The film is certainly another 'feather in the hat' of a time in films that many of us remember and enjoyed.