Superb comedy starring two underrated comedy performers, Gene Raymond and Wendy Barrie. Helen Broderick, she of many a stalwart supporting comedy roles, especially at her best in the Astaire/Rogers musicals. And here. Like many comedies, it's a road picture. Raymond makes a bet with his rich Uncle that he can cross the country without any money, or clothes for that matter. One of the incidental, but prime, delights of the movie, is that it serves as treasure trove of all sorts of little bits of Americana--traveling highways before interstates and four-lanes, motor courts, homemade preserves, the apparel of the time, etc. The banter among the three principles is of a high order, Raymond's line readings are on par with the best--Gable in It Happened One Night; Powell in a number of thirties comedies like Libeled Lady, The Thin Man, and My Man Godfrey. He especially reminds me of McCrea in Woman Chases Man and The Richest Girl in the World. And Barrie keeps up with him all the way--in later collaborations with Raymond (as in Cross Country Romance) she was a little too strident, but here she's perfect. Raymond would also team with Ann Sothern in some like comedies, some of which are quite good, but this is the best one Raymond made. The plot of Love on a Bet is loose enough for the movie to seem improvised, almost leisurely at times, yet tight enough to create real tension, and to threaten our hope that everything works out. But of course it does.
Review of Love on a Bet
