6/10
great pairing of Rogers and Coleman
17 July 2013
Ginger Rogers and Ronald Coleman are "Lucky Partners" in this 1940 film, also starring Jack Carson and Spring Byington.

Rogers plays Jean, a young woman walking down the street when she passes Dave (Coleman), whom she doesn't know, and he wishes her "good luck." She delivers a box of books (her mother owns the book shop The Book Nook) to a client. The client is in the midst of getting a divorce and doesn't want a $200 dress chosen by her soon to be ex-husband. So her mother gives it to Jean.

Jean thinks back to Dave's "good luck" and wonders if he just might have something there. She goes to Nick & Nick's, a local store, and decides to buy a sweepstakes ticket with Dave, who's right across the alley. They introduce themselves to one another and after a lot of back and forth, they go in on the ticket.

Jean is engaged to an insurance man (Carson) and plans on moving to Poughkeepsie with him after they're married, with no honeymoon. The condition of Dave going in on the ticket with her is that, if they win, Dave will take her on a trip, platonically of course, before she settles down. This somewhat surprises her fiancée but he agrees to it.

They win, and it's one of those European sweepstakes where if you draw a horse, you either sell the ticket for $12,000, or bet that the horse will win, in which case you will win something like $150,000 American money. They gamble on the race and lose. However, Jean's fiancé, unbeknownst to her, has sold her half of the ticket for $6000. She gives Dave 3000, and he still wants to take her on the trip. She goes.

Ronald Coleman...Jack Carson...now, what do you think happens? This is a slight movie enlivened by the two wonderful stars, Coleman, so dashing and charming, and Rogers, a somewhat naive young woman with a hidden sense of adventure. Rogers always did well playing opposite classy men, Fred Astaire being an excellent example.

Some funny scenes, some sweet scenes. It's not earth-shattering, but I liked it.
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