The screwball comedy is very hard to take considering that Ida Lupino's character is written as a possibly violent female who rarely has a sweet disposition. that makes sense considering that her political bigwig father, Walter Connolly, is as hard-nosed and hot-tempered as she is. In fact, all they seem to do is fight, especially when he tries to set her up with the wealthy Reginald Denny who is extremely boring and would probably drive Lupino to violence simply out of making her fall asleep unintentionally. Somehow, Lupino ends up falling for struggling inventor Ralph Bellamy who seems to be enjoying the challenge but gets trapped when Lupino continues to set her determined eyes on him, getting gooey-eyed every now and then but resorts to her huntress like ways, mainly out of her determination to defy her father.
While Ida Lupino would go on to play a string of deadly females in film war in the 1940's and 50's, most of her early films cast her as a sweet ingenue. Every so often she would play a schemer, and in this one, she goes overboard thanks to the writing in creating a character that is difficult to like and to root for. The best thing about this screwball comedy is the banter between Connelly and his valet, Raymond Walburn, whom he seems to threaten to fire every day but obviously would never go through it. The irony of the film is seeing Bellamy play the opposite of characters that he would go on to play in other screwball comedies, the sap who gets dumped, here played by Reginald Denny. Mercifully short, this has a few funny moments but in retrospect, is surprisingly unpleasant.
While Ida Lupino would go on to play a string of deadly females in film war in the 1940's and 50's, most of her early films cast her as a sweet ingenue. Every so often she would play a schemer, and in this one, she goes overboard thanks to the writing in creating a character that is difficult to like and to root for. The best thing about this screwball comedy is the banter between Connelly and his valet, Raymond Walburn, whom he seems to threaten to fire every day but obviously would never go through it. The irony of the film is seeing Bellamy play the opposite of characters that he would go on to play in other screwball comedies, the sap who gets dumped, here played by Reginald Denny. Mercifully short, this has a few funny moments but in retrospect, is surprisingly unpleasant.
