One Rainy Afternoon: A very old, very silly mistake

Is it worth the watch?

Honestly, you probably only want to sit through One Rainy Afternoon if you’re already deep into the 1930s screwball rabbit hole. If you’re a fan of old-school slapstick and people shouting in courtrooms, you’ll have a decent time. If you prefer your movies to have, you know, actual stakes or logical human behavior, you should probably skip it. It’s light, fluffy, and a little bit exhausting by the end.

The whole thing kicks off because Philippe can’t find his seat in the dark. It’s the kind of premise that would have been solved by a flashlight, but then we wouldn't have a movie. He kisses the wrong woman, the lights come up, and suddenly everyone is screaming. It’s peak absurdity.

Francis Lederer plays Philippe with that specific kind of frantic energy that feels like he’s trying to win a marathon while sitting down. He’s charming, sure, but sometimes I just wanted him to take a breath. The way he gets dragged into this public scandal feels almost like a nightmare sequence. Everyone in town seems to have nothing better to do than obsess over this one theater incident.

There’s a moment in the courtroom scene that just goes on forever. It feels like the director decided that if one person yelling is funny, then twenty people yelling must be a masterpiece. The extras in the background have this look of genuine confusion that I suspect wasn't actually acting. They looked like they just wanted to go home and eat lunch.

It definitely lacks the sharp wit of something like The Man Upstairs, though it tries hard to keep the momentum going. Sometimes the pacing feels like a car stuck in a muddy ditch—lots of spinning wheels, not much movement forward. Then suddenly, it zooms off again for no reason.

Odd little observations:

• The theater seats look wildly uncomfortable. My back ached just watching them.
• The lighting in the "dark" theater is bright enough to read a newspaper, which makes the whole mistake seem even more ridiculous.
• Ida Lupino is in this, and honestly, she’s the only one who seems to know what movie she’s actually in.
• There’s a hat in the third act that deserves its own credit. It’s huge.

It’s not a film that stays with you. It’s more like a bag of potato chips—you eat them, they’re gone, and you don’t really remember the flavor five minutes later. But for a rainy afternoon? Maybe it fits the title perfectly. It’s fine. It’s just fine. 🌧️

I found myself comparing the chaos here to the strange, quiet energy of Broken Lullaby, though they are obviously totally different beasts. One is a scream, the other is a whisper. I think I prefer the whisper.