SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

blanche-2 "If You Could Only Cook" is a small film apparently credited to Frank Capra at one point but actually not by Capra, made in 1935, and it stars Herbert Marshall, Jean Arthur, Lionel Stander and Leo Carillo. Carillo was the Cisco Kid's sidekick Pancho on the TV series that boomers may remember; and Lionel Stander's unmistakable voice will be remembered from the Robert Wagner TV show "Hart to Hart." This is a film made during the Depression, and it concerns a wealthy auto executive named Jim Buchanan (Herbert Marshall) who is about to be married to the right kind of woman and is dreading it. While sitting on a park bench trying to escape his board of directors and his fiancé, he meets a down to earth young woman (Jean Arthur) who is desperately looking for a job and can't find anything. Plus, she's just lost her room. She finds a job that pays well, but it's for a couple. She talks Jim into applying for it with her -- he's the butler and she's the cook in the home of a gangster (Carillo). Thanks to her sauce, she is hired. Thus begins Buchanan's double life. You can guess the rest.A very charming movie with a delightful performance by Arthur and a good one by Marshall. It's always hard to believe that Herbert Marshall was ever a leading man given the roles he had later on, but he was a type that went out of style -- very formal, well spoken, a little stuffy, modeled on the British. Films in the '30s were often based on plays, and the plays of that era dealt with class differences.Capra initiated a lawsuit against Columbia for crediting him with this film in England, where he was very popular, but Harry Cohn purchased "You Can't Take It With You" for him in exchange for dropping the suit. So a little film, never seen by Capra, paid him a big dividend.

Maddyclassicfilms If You Could Only Cook is an easy and undemanding underrated little film. Set during the Great Depression of the 1930's it tells the story of car giant owner Jim Buchanan(Herbert Marshall)who is due to be married to an upper class lady who he isn't really sure he truly loves. So a couple of days before the wedding he takes himself off for a while to really think about his decision.Sitting on a park bench he meets the kind outgoing and unemployed Joan Hawthorne(Jean Arthur),she assumes that he is out of work as well and they look through the jobs section of the newspaper. Jim decides to play along and pretend he needs a job and they both go for a double vacancy of butler and cook.Thanks to Joans cooking talent the wealthy Mike Rossini(Leo Carrillo)hires them.With the help of his own butler Jim learns how to be convincing and helps Joan with household duties all the while realizing he is falling in love with her.He is torn about if he should tell Joan the truth about who he really is or continue to be "Jim Burns" hardworking dedicated butler. Although not the best film of all time this is well made and enjoyable if you don't expect much from it. Herbert is superb as the upper class man who learns about life and love and is able to do things for himself so he can enjoy them and not do things that others think he'll enjoy.He and Jean Arthur have a great chemistry and their characters are very likable and this is just a fun film that'll cheer you up as you wait to see if they can get together and get married.Worth watching.

Neil Doyle TCM's star tribute to JEAN ARTHUR included a few of her early films, some of which are on the weak side, as is IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK. With a brief running time of an hour and ten minutes, it might have been ideal for the bottom half of a double feature back in the '30s, yet it opened as an A-film at New York's Roxy theater. But what can I tell you? Not every film TCM shows is really what we call a "classic".HERBERT MARSHALL is Jean's husband, who poses with Jean, as a servant in the home of a mobster. Marshall is a bored designer for an automobile manufacturer mistaken for being unemployed by Arthur who's job hunting and sees an ad for a husband and wife team. She talks Marshall into joining forces so they can find work.Marshall, who says he's "fishing for something better to do with his life" proves to be quite adept at light comedy rather than the heavier material usually associated with him. His scenes with Arthur have every bit as much sparkle as those she did with stars like William Powell or Cary Grant.Both stars are warm and appealing in roles that could have been written expressly for them. LIONEL STANDER and LEO CARILLO are amusing in supporting roles as the mobsters who hire the housekeeping team, with Stander suspicious of both of them from the start.JEAN ARTHUR, as the girl who has faith in Marshall's auto designs, was never one of my favorites but she's on good display here and HERBERT MARSHALL is much less stiff than usual. Basically a romantic comedy, it turns screwball for the frantic ending.Fans of the stars should find it an enjoyable romp that passes the time pleasantly.Summing up: Strictly fluff.

AustinKatAnne The Austin Film Society showed this entertaining old film last week on election night. The receptive audience found laughs in many lines that still seem current, especially about unemployment, the want ads and being broke.Jean Arthur looked lovely in this movie, and Herbert Marshall was perfect. What a wonderful voice that man had! My husband thinks that his walk may have inspired C3PO's formal motions, although the robot had a metal leg, not a wooden one like Mr. Marshall's.Lionel Stander was already in full bellow, many decades before 'Hart to Hart', and Leo Carillo was a treat as the gangster employer. It was a surprise to hear them use the term 'wise guy' for a prospective member - I didn't realize it was already being used back then.