The Perfect Specimen (1937)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Norman Reilly Raine (screenplay), Lawrence Riley (screenplay),

Stars:

Errol Flynn, Joan Blondell, Hugh Herbert

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Errol Flynn	...	Gerald Beresford Wicks
Joan Blondell	...	Mona Carter
Hugh Herbert	...	Killigrew Shaw
Edward Everett Horton	...	Mr. Grattan
Dick Foran	...	Jink Carter
Beverly Roberts	...	Alicia Brackett
May Robson	...	Mrs. Leona Wicks
Allen Jenkins	...	Pinky
Dennie Moore	...	Clarabelle
Hugh O'Connell	...	Hotel Clerk
James Burke	...	Constable Snodgrass
Granville Bates	...	Hooker - Garage Owner
Harry Davenport	...	Carl Carter
Tim Henning	...	Briggs
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Grace Bohanon

Storyline

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 February 1938 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

O Homem Perfeito

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Once frequently shown on local television, legal complications involving literary rights have kept this one off cable and prevented its DVD release for many years.

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Quotes

Gerald Beresford Wicks: I've never had so much fun in my life.

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Soundtracks

"As Sure As You're in Love"
(uncredited)
Music by M.K. Jerome

User Reviews

Beefcake galore

Gerald Wicks is being groomed by his dictatorial millionaire grandmother to be a responsible pater familias in total seclusion from the world, "a lily in a hothouse", he calls it. Then one day Mona, a tough-as-nails female reporter, comes crashing through the gates and before long Gerald takes off on his own to seek out his newfound friend and they set out to explore life together.

Admittedly, this is a very small film, and one that doesn't quite know how to hold itself together. The script is filled with loose ends and blind alleys, and a lot of the dialogue must have seemed dated even in 1937. Having said that, this movie boasts Joan Blondell and a very young Errol Flynn, and their easy banter is delightful. She never photographed this well ever again, and Flynn ... well, suffice it to say that the director makes the most of all his chances to have his strapping young star-to-be stripped to the waist, beefcake galore!

AND the movie has a handful of wonderfully quirky bit parts, not many of them exactly organically interwoven in the whole, but they are never less than entertaining.