Putting the finger on romance.
Mannecurist Carole Lombard realizes that it takes more than money for happiness when she befriends wheelchair bound millionaire Ralph Bellamy but falls for the broke Fred MacMurray who is himself in the process of learning the same lesson. Cheery Bellamy wins Lombard as a confidant, but not her love, while MacMurray realizes that a future with nasty socialite Astrid Allwyn will bring him nothing but misery with her obvious desire to control him and an attraction that is based more upon desire than love. Frankly, Bellamy's easy-going personality is much more appealing than MacMurray's overly chatty demeanor which includes a rather obnoxious impersonation of a Japanese houseboy that he is forced to overplay. Lombard, though, is extremely likable, and holds her own in a confrontation with the obnoxious Allwyn while retaining her femininity and integrity. She is hysterically funny in a scene posing as an overseas operator on a phone call between MacMurray and Allwyn which drives Allwyn to hysterical anger.This is a mixed bag of screwball comedy that is mainly saved by its leading lady and some fun supporting performances which includes wisecracking Ruth Donnelly, blowzy Marie Prevost and MacMurray's future "My Three Sons" co-star William Demarest as Prevost's love interest. Fairly smart dialog (mostly recited by Lombard, Bellamy and Donnelly) overshadows MacMurray's in-your-face performance during his first year in films which would fortunately not show up in most of his subsequent films. Directed by a future comedy master (Mitchell Leissen), this isn't the same quality as his future classics "Easy Living", "Midnight" and "Remember the Night", but a fairly enjoyable screwball comedy that one can enjoy in spite of some difficult moments to like.
score 6/10
mark.waltz 22 January 2013
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2741451/35636
Pages:
[1]