Poverty row studios are known best for their cheap westerns, murder mysteries and espionage thrillers. What they were not experts at were comedies, although there are a few good ones among them. This is the little engine that could, a nice bit of screwball comedy obviously influenced by the 1934 John Barrymore/Carole Lombard version of the Broadway play "Twentieth Century". While the stars of this film were not huge box office draws like Barrymore and Lombard, they were well known enough as either A list character actors or B stars at the major studios, and add a nice touch of class to this. Evelyn Venable is a leading lady on a Broadway play who walks out on the rehearsals for her latest show to go out west to get married, and is followed by agent Victor Jory who pretends to be a valet in order to get aboard the train and convince her to fulfill her contract. Also aboard is a newly divorced man (Clay Clement) and his fiancee (Esther Ralston), followed by his ex-wife (Erin O'Brien-Moore). Confusion ensues regarding a stolen necklace which somehow Jory ends up with. A drunk (Ralph Forbes) and a father-to-be (Vince Barnett) add some dry humor as they interject themselves with the other characters.
At 70 minutes, this sophisticated looking screwball comedy doesn't appear to come from a studio on poverty row like Mascot. The train they are on is lavishly made up, and the costumes for the women are pretty glamorous as well. Jory's character gets some good laughs, but one sequence where he pulls on the ear of Venable's black maid (Libby Taylor), in order to get him to tell her where Venable is, is a bit disturbing. But there are some nice twists and turns, and a sequence where each of the passengers is searched for the missing piece of jewelry is cleverly staged. Barnett, a whispy looking man whose unseen wife is having the baby, looks unlike any father to be I've ever seen, and his plot device (his wife must give birth in California so he can receive an inheritance) is amusing with a clever twist at the end. All in all, not bad for a low budget poverty row comedy, reminding film historians that just because something didn't come with the benefits of a big studio behind it doesn't mean that it isn't worth looking at over 80 years later.
At 70 minutes, this sophisticated looking screwball comedy doesn't appear to come from a studio on poverty row like Mascot. The train they are on is lavishly made up, and the costumes for the women are pretty glamorous as well. Jory's character gets some good laughs, but one sequence where he pulls on the ear of Venable's black maid (Libby Taylor), in order to get him to tell her where Venable is, is a bit disturbing. But there are some nice twists and turns, and a sequence where each of the passengers is searched for the missing piece of jewelry is cleverly staged. Barnett, a whispy looking man whose unseen wife is having the baby, looks unlike any father to be I've ever seen, and his plot device (his wife must give birth in California so he can receive an inheritance) is amusing with a clever twist at the end. All in all, not bad for a low budget poverty row comedy, reminding film historians that just because something didn't come with the benefits of a big studio behind it doesn't mean that it isn't worth looking at over 80 years later.