| Trouble for Two | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | J. Walter Ruben |
| Produced by | Louis D. Lighton |
| Written by | Robert Louis Stevenson (story) Edward E. Paramore Jr. Manuel Seff |
| Starring | Robert Montgomery Rosalind Russell |
| Studio | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | May 29, 1936 |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Trouble for Two is a 1936 film starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell. It is based on The Suicide Club, a short story collection by Robert Louis Stevenson. A European prince, unhappy over an impending arranged marriage, finds intrigue at an unusual London club.
Prince Florizel of Carovia (Robert Montgomery) is unpleasantly surprised to learn that negotiations for his marriage to Princess Brenda of Irania are far advanced. He has not seen his intended bride since they were children, and at the time, he was not impressed. Luckily for him, Brenda is equally unwilling to marry a "pig in a poke". However, his father, the King (E. E. Clive), reminds him of his duty and their somewhat precarious position; only three years earlier, a revolution was suppressed, and the ringleaders are still at large. The King sends his son to London to think things over, accompanied by Colonel Geraldine (Frank Morgan).
Traveling incognito, Florizel meets a mysterious woman, Miss Vandeleur (Rosalind Russell) aboard the ship bound for London. She asks him to keep an envelope and return it to her after they arrive. Intrigued, he saves her from a menacing man who demands the papers, but waits in vain for her at the dock. When Geraldine opens the envelope, they find only blank paper.
In London, they are dining at a restaurant when a young man (Louis Hayward) enters with a servant bearing a tray of cream tarts and asks a woman patron to eat one. Suspicious, she refuses, so he consumes it himself. When the man asks Florizel, the prince not only accepts, he splits up the remaining ten tarts with the man and Geraldine, and asks to hear his story. The man, Cecil Barnley, confesses to having frivolously squandered his fortune and has embarked on one last silly lark before ending his life at the Suicide Club, which arranges deaths in such a manner as to avoid embarrassing its members or their families. Florizel, disbelieving but curious, pretends that both he and Geraldine also want to commit suicide, and get Barnley to take them to the club.
They are scrutinized before being admitted by its president (Reginald Owen). Inside, Florizel (going under the name of Theopholus Godall) is surprised to find Miss Vandeleur, the sole woman in a roomful of men. The president then deals each person a card: the one who gets the ace of spades is to be killed by the one dealt the ace of clubs. On this night, it is determined that Barnley is to be dispatched by Miss Vandeleur following the instructions of the president.
The morning newspaper reports Barnley's death. The next night, the procedure is repeated. This time, Miss Vandeleur is to do away with Florizel. She takes him to the zoo, where he is to be torn apart by a lion. However, she is unable to go through with it. She confesses that she convinced Barnley to keep on living and gave him some money to go to Paris. She reveals that she ran away to avoid marrying a "pig in a poke". Florizel then realizes that Miss Vandeleur is really Princess Brenda. She recognized him aboard the ship.
The next day, Florizel is lured to a meeting. It turns out that the club president is Dr. Franz Noel, a Carovian exiled for treason. Noel sentences Florizel to death by hanging. He is rescued by Geraldine, but Noel gets away with Geraldine as his captive.
Noel offers to spare his prisoner's life if Florizel will agree to a duel to the death. Florizel accepts, but takes the precaution of bringing along some others; a wise decision, as Noel had intended to simply hang Florizel. Instead, the prince kills Noel in a fair fight.