Movie Reviewed: The Baroness and the Butler, starring William Powell and Annabella

Movie Reviewed: The Baroness and the Butler, starring William Powell and Annabella

The epic adventures of butler Johann Porok

This is a romantic comedy starring William Powell and Annabella, a well-known French actress starring in her American debut. Although she was well received in this film but did not last long in Hollywood. The story is somewhat unorthodox in that Johann Porok (William Powell), a third-generation butler works for the Count Albert Sandor, the Prime Minister of Hungary. When Johann becomes a member of the parliament, in one of the parliamentary sessions, he attacks the Prime Minister for promising too much to the middle class and delivering nothing. This aggravates and enrages Sandor’s daughter Katrina (Annabella). The politics makes things difficult for Johann to continue working for Sandor and he is let go. Eventually he winds up with Annabelle with whom he is in love. The relationship starts in a complicated way since Katrina is already married but Johann wins at the end. In supporting roles are; Henry Stephenson as Count Albert Sandor; Joseph Schildkraut as Baron Georg Marissey, Katrina’s husband; and Lynn Bari as Klari, the maid attracted to Johann, all under the direction of Walter Lang have performed splendidly.

This movie was made at the height "great depression" in the life of William Powell. This was around the time when his fiancé Jean Harlow died suddenly at the age of 26 due to uremic poisoning. Powell still recuperating from his cancer treatment and the loss of Harlow requested his home studio MGM to let him do the movie at 20th Century Fox, and MGM Studios complied.