With a cast that included Marian Nixon, Kane Richmond and Inez Courtney in front of the camera, I expected some decent acting but not much else from this Poverty Row romantic comedy. The story is that Miss Nixon is a hotel stenographer, and Mr. Richmond a desk clerk. They're in love, but while he wants to get married, she's ambitious. A modeling contract to sell stockings as "The Girl With the Million-Dollar Legs" gets her some publicity, especially when the manufacturer's wife imagines an affair between her husband and Miss Nixon. She sues for divorce and the scandal hits the newspapers. Miss Nixon is figuring how to monetize this, when a studio contract drops into her lap, and elements of satire on movie-making enter the mix.
Unfortunately, the problems with the first half are immense, ruining my modest hopes. Director Bernard Ray seems unable to raise a decent line reading out of some professional actors; Miss Courtney, as the wise-cracking friend, seems mechanical, Mr. Richmond's character changes from moment to moment to suit the plot and the only consistently sympathetic character is William H. Strauss as the studio head (which seems to be a requirement in movies of this sort; doubtless it was the only way to get them to agree to make this sort of picture); his delivery of Yinglish malapropisms is weak. Several characters and subplots, including a process server and a writer whose understanding of colloquial English and how to write for performers seems non-existent, appear and disappear to suit the constraints of the 70-minute running time.
Many comedies are funny in the beginning but run out of steam in the last third, when getting ahead with the plot. In this one, the picture seems to settle down and the performances improve (except for John S. Peters as the pseudo-von Stroheim director, whose shaky German accent disappears, to be replaced by a monotone). By then I had lost interest in the movie.
Unfortunately, the problems with the first half are immense, ruining my modest hopes. Director Bernard Ray seems unable to raise a decent line reading out of some professional actors; Miss Courtney, as the wise-cracking friend, seems mechanical, Mr. Richmond's character changes from moment to moment to suit the plot and the only consistently sympathetic character is William H. Strauss as the studio head (which seems to be a requirement in movies of this sort; doubtless it was the only way to get them to agree to make this sort of picture); his delivery of Yinglish malapropisms is weak. Several characters and subplots, including a process server and a writer whose understanding of colloquial English and how to write for performers seems non-existent, appear and disappear to suit the constraints of the 70-minute running time.
Many comedies are funny in the beginning but run out of steam in the last third, when getting ahead with the plot. In this one, the picture seems to settle down and the performances improve (except for John S. Peters as the pseudo-von Stroheim director, whose shaky German accent disappears, to be replaced by a monotone). By then I had lost interest in the movie.