No "Thin Man" rip-off this one; It stars the very funny Edmund Lowe as a card shark with a past, about to be blasted his way out of the blue. In the second class of a luxury liner heading from Europe to New York, Lowe and girlfriend Claire Trevor sneak into first class to try to swindle the rich and idle out of some of their pesky cash. Along the way, they encounter the troubled Tom Brown, blackmailed by a sophisticated kleptomaniac (Adrienne Ames) into smuggling some jewels she stole onto shore. Mingling with Ames and Brown brings Lowe and Trevor to the realization that Brown is Lowe's son from a short-lived marriage. Lowe must rescue the son he never got to know without revealing his identity, and the result is a very funny film with an outstanding script.
Acting wise, it is Ames who scores here, a much married golddigger who steals simply out of excitement. Eugene Pallette gets some funny moments as the gregarious prankster, with Jed Prouty as another one of the card playing passengers and Herbert Mundin as a constantly drunk passenger whom Lowe keeps encountering with some smooth and funny double talk. Both big hearted and completely charming, this is the epitome of a "sleeper", a forgotten film so good that you find yourself drawn in immediately. It's sophisticated screwball comedy at its best, a film that may have slipped through the cracks in 1935, but one that could certainly be praised by film historians upon rediscovery.
Acting wise, it is Ames who scores here, a much married golddigger who steals simply out of excitement. Eugene Pallette gets some funny moments as the gregarious prankster, with Jed Prouty as another one of the card playing passengers and Herbert Mundin as a constantly drunk passenger whom Lowe keeps encountering with some smooth and funny double talk. Both big hearted and completely charming, this is the epitome of a "sleeper", a forgotten film so good that you find yourself drawn in immediately. It's sophisticated screwball comedy at its best, a film that may have slipped through the cracks in 1935, but one that could certainly be praised by film historians upon rediscovery.