The Church Mouse

By amazing coincidence, just two weeks ago I purchased some DVDs of vintage movies at a consignment shop. One of them was The Church Mouse (starring Laura La Plant.) Dated 1934, it is also based on the play. The dialogue is almost identical, but the characters have different names. I found myself enjoying Beauty and the Boss much more based on the actors/acting. Physically, the "attractive" secretary in CM (Jane Carr) was not nearly as striking as Mary Doran's character in B&B....or anywhere near as good an actress in this role. Marian Marsh, the lead in B&B, does a much more convincing physical transformation than La Plant, who never looked that unattractive (or I should say "different.") Ian Hunter (the male lead in CM) was very good, but Warren William was just great.

I haven't really done my homework on these two movies, but wanted to share my impressions. After I watched The Church Mouse, I was thinking I'd pass the DVD on, as I had no desire to re-watch. I caught Beauty and the Bosson TMC today and wish I had THAT DVD to watch at leisure.