Dick Powell and Franchot Tone are the high-paid writers of a radio drama and sponsor Clarence Kolb is angry. The audience is vanishing because they've taken the lead character and involved her in so many improbable situations that the show has lost all connection to reality. He threatens to fire the writers unless they turn out better grounded material. Powell goes out and asks strangers questions in an effort to find out what people think, until he winds up in an outer borough. There, diner waitress Mary Martin thinks he's broke and takes him home to her family. Powell decides to redo the show based on the way the family behaves.
I had a lot of hope for this comedy. With Paul Jones producing, George Marshall directing, and a cast that includes Victor Moore, William Demarest, and Ernest Truex in the credited cast, and three songs by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael, there's too much going on. The movie falls prey to the same issues that the fictitious radio show suffers, the songs are, surprisingly, not that good, and both Powell and Tone seem to be giving rote performances. The result is a surprisingly unengaging and unamusing show.
I had a lot of hope for this comedy. With Paul Jones producing, George Marshall directing, and a cast that includes Victor Moore, William Demarest, and Ernest Truex in the credited cast, and three songs by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael, there's too much going on. The movie falls prey to the same issues that the fictitious radio show suffers, the songs are, surprisingly, not that good, and both Powell and Tone seem to be giving rote performances. The result is a surprisingly unengaging and unamusing show.