Following Cary Grant's star-making supporting turn alongside Katharine Hepburn in SYLVIA SCARLETT (1935), he returned to his native land – England – for this one film (based on a popular play that had already been adapted for the screen as a Silent in 1920), and which makes for curious viewing even after all these years.
Grant is always worth watching, and he's fresh and appealing in this harmless but dated Capraesque comedy – a wealthy young man is bored by his lifestyle and places a bet with a celebrated doctor that he can earn his living for a year – but, as was the case with the majority of British films at the time, technical quality is lacking when compared to the more polished Hollywood product.
Interestingly, the star's role – where Grant is forced to deceive the leading lady, whom he loves – would be expounded upon in subsequent films; here, however, the narrative is allowed to turn maudlin towards the end…and, in any case, the version I watched (under the misleading U.S. moniker, THE AMAZING ADVENTURE) has been trimmed to a little over an hour from the original length of 80 minutes!
Grant is always worth watching, and he's fresh and appealing in this harmless but dated Capraesque comedy – a wealthy young man is bored by his lifestyle and places a bet with a celebrated doctor that he can earn his living for a year – but, as was the case with the majority of British films at the time, technical quality is lacking when compared to the more polished Hollywood product.
Interestingly, the star's role – where Grant is forced to deceive the leading lady, whom he loves – would be expounded upon in subsequent films; here, however, the narrative is allowed to turn maudlin towards the end…and, in any case, the version I watched (under the misleading U.S. moniker, THE AMAZING ADVENTURE) has been trimmed to a little over an hour from the original length of 80 minutes!