Despite some heavyweight writing credits -- Avery Hopwood co-wrote the play, and Preston Sturges contributed dialogue to the movie -- and some fine performers -- Frank Morgan, Miriam Hopkins, Carole Lombard, and Ilka Chase in the best role in the movie -- I was not impressed. It starts out with Miss Hopkins engaged to David Hutcheson. It's a marriage of desire; he desires her family fortune, and Miss Hopkins' mother, played for the stage by Winnifred Harris, desires a title for her daughter. Meanwhile, Miss Hopkins' brother, played callowly by Henry Wadsworth, wants to marry Miss Lombard. This all falls apart when Miss Lombard spots Charles Starrett swimming in the moonlight. She pursues him, only to discover he's the auto mechanic daddy Morgan has hired. She wants him nonetheless, but he isn't going to marry her because she has too much money. Meanwhile, the parents find out, and start measures to end these unsuitable matches.
It all culminates in a very funny scene in a roadhouse, where Miss Chase steals everyone's thunder. But there's a long summing up, ending in the conclusion that too much unearned money is dead weight on the recipient's character. True enough, but this show fails by not following this line to its logical conclusion. In the end it's a romantic comedy that in a few years would have been a fine little screwball farce. It's pleasant enough in spots, but far too conventional.
It all culminates in a very funny scene in a roadhouse, where Miss Chase steals everyone's thunder. But there's a long summing up, ending in the conclusion that too much unearned money is dead weight on the recipient's character. True enough, but this show fails by not following this line to its logical conclusion. In the end it's a romantic comedy that in a few years would have been a fine little screwball farce. It's pleasant enough in spots, but far too conventional.