User Reviews

This "B" screwball comedy from RKO seems to take itself way too seriously, believing that gags can only be funnier if you expand them. It also seems to be two different movies, starting off as battle of the sexes between lovers (and rival reporters) Ann Sothern and Gene Raymond and moving into a murder mystery where the culprits are pretty obvious once they are introduced into the movie half way through. The opening is pretty promising, with Raymond a screwy reporter who invites a panhandler out for drinks with Sothern then makes the poor man he is a part of some death trap. Of course, it's a bit of a running gag, so when the poor tramp keeps showing up, the laughs return, but it's just another indication that the writers found their script too amusing without regards for subtly or tact.

Sothern is a total wildcat, tearing into her boss for plotting to keep her from marrying Raymond, as well as the four dumb lugs sent to basically kidnap her. When they find her in the shower, they send in a woman instead, and this poor unseen character ends up in the hospital, while a scratching and biting Sothern lets her rampage continue on the truly idiotic stooges of her boss (Gordon Oliver). Sothern then instantly changes her tune for a soft spoken worker at the newspaper whom she basically kills with kindness after he gives her news on Raymond's whereabouts. As fast as this plot seems to wrap up, both Raymond and Sothern are thrown into a murder which comes out of nowhere, and a certain character actor (always cast as a villain) is obviously the top suspect from the start. This leads to an unsurprising finale and the ultimate conclusion that while recycling sets from Astaire/Rogers films, what the producers and creators forgot was to get a story that really worked.

Six years after THE FRONT PAGE had made its way to movie screens, and three years before its remake HIS GIRL FRIDAY, in which one character's gender was changed to facilitate a love story, RKO produced this raucous romcom. Gene Raymond and Ann Sothern play rival reporters who have considerable trouble getting from I love you / I hate you to I do. The duo had already been paired up by the studio a few times, so they were very comfortable together on screen. The result is an even more playful collaboration that veers from thoughtful to joyously absurd.

Sothern would also star in another romcom at RKO in '37 called THERE GOES THE GROOM- that time she teamed up with Burgess Meredith. But her best work during this phase of her career was with Raymond. Though the two stars had plenty of musical talent, there are no musical offerings this time. The focus is strictly on the newspaper reporter plot, and the obstacles that seem to prevent them from getting hitched.

One of the obstacles is Sothern's boss, portrayed with wild glee by Richard Lane. He schemes and conspires with another reporter on his staff (Frank Jenks) to keep the lovebirds from marrying. In the film's uproarious opening sequence, we see how the couple's wedding is stopped by a phony shooting in which two actors hired by Lane disrupt the nuptials. The "killer" wife runs off and Sothern chases after her for the story. Raymond is not pleased that he's been jilted, and Sothern soon learns there was no real shooting.

When Sothern goes crawling back to Raymond, he wants nothing to do with her and has now taken up with an ethnic dancer. Beautiful Joan Woodbury is cast as the dancer, and during a sensational scene at a nightclub she performs a Toreador number.

Sothern shows up at the club to push her way back into Raymond's life, and here is when they get embroiled in another shooting that involves the club's owner (Bradley Page). The altercation is real. Page has offed his former business associate, and he intends to also murder the man's beautiful widow (Marla Shelton) who is due profits from the club.

A bit later, when Sothern shows up at Shelton's hotel room, Shelton has just been shot. Sothern is quickly mixed up in the situation and takes a bullet herself! Naturally, this is where Raymond realizes he still does love Sothern and still does want to marry her. However, Sothern's boss will try once again to break them up, but he does not succeed. After another misunderstanding, the pair reconcile and finally tie the knot.

Some of the hotel scenes in the last part of the story are elaborately staged. The camera follows characters down long hallways, out side doors, over balcony railings and in through French doors. The sets are beautifully constructed for this motion picture, and all the actors look quite beautiful.

RKO's finished product is as polished and aa good as anything MGM was turning out at this time. I did like how despite some of the seriousness of the crimes committed, the writer gave Raymond fun bits impersonating a Frenchman when trying to investigate who shot the two ladies. Gene Raymond was an underrated talent who deserves more credit as a leading man, musician and comedian.