She Knew All the Answers

Trust Funder John Hubbard wants to wed showgirl Joan Bennett -- the first shot of her is a cheesecake pose -- but his trustee threatens to cut him off. Miss Bennett is not precisely a gold digger, but thinks Hubbard is not suited to work, so she goes to get a job at the trustee's Wall Street firm to win the approval of the old fuddy-duddy. Who turns out to be Franchot Tone in pince-nez.

Everyone starts out in this movie at least mildly unlikable, except for Eve Arden, who is Miss Bennett's rapacious room mate. That's a problem; it's not fixable, and a lot of comedies start out with unlikable leads, from Buster Keaton to Goldie Hawn. Despite efforts, only Miss Bennett seems fully redeemed by the end. Still, there are some funny bits in this comedy, mostly lifted from movies written by Preston Sturges. With Thurston Hall, Grady Sutton, and Luis Alberni.

I watched this without great expectations and figured I'd comment on it here since there are no reviews available as of this writing. The story is rather simple; Joan Bennett is a chorus girl engaged to a rich playboy. The playboy is threatened with disinheritance if he marries her. In order to gain the playboy's guardian's approval, she starts to work for him as a secretary/telephone operator. The guardian happens to be Franchot Tone, and the rest, as they say, is history. It's predictable, but Eve Arden is fun (as always) as Bennett's best friend and room mate and Bennet and Tone have nice chemistry. Overall, it is not a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon.