... and I'm not sure what I'd title this film but I'd certainly not give this quirky little piece of film history such a bland title.
Walter Connolly plays Joe Quinn, a kingmaker/politician who is comically crooked versus seriously crooked. By that I mean the film never really says WHAT office he holds or how he got the power he has or mentions any specific graft. But, after all, this is a screwball comedy, not "All The King's Men".
Ida Lupino plays his grown daughter, Paula, who calls her dad by his first name - Joe. He calls her "red". Joe is trying to engineer a marriage between his daughter and the son of a society scion, George Willoughby, played by Reginald Denny. George is an affable but clueless guy, and Joe is helping George run for congressman. Paula, with her fierce Irish temper, is already friendly with Denny, and probably has him escort her to various functions and maybe even to the movies, but for her he's just a placeholder. Thus she is furious with her dad when she finds out he is trying to get her married to this empty suit so he can break into society. Paula is telling him off when a weather balloon contraption falls from the sky and hits her in the head. It has a tag saying "Return to Kirk Duncan". Oh for the days before anybody worried about being sued for stuff like this falling from the sky. Duncan is played by Ralph Bellamy, who is the self confident scientific type and works for the federal weather bureau.
So Paula and Kirk go back and forth trying to get/return the weather balloon - which turns out to be an invention of Kirk's he built with his own money - but they keep getting into heated arguments and the thing just never seems to get returned. But, of course, the heated arguments are just cover for sexual tension, which slowly the characters give into as they discover they actually like one another.
Meanwhile, Joe is having a hard time delivering the rural vote for George Willoughby's campaign. The rural kingmaker Joe is bargaining with wants two judgeships in return for the rural vote. But Joe realizes the rural vote won't turn out if it rains...and he realizes his daughter's new friend is in the business of forecasting the weather. Will Kirk sacrifice his professional integrity to help his new love's dad? Will he be insulted by the whole idea? Watch and find out.
I really loved this film. It got the best out of all three lead characters - Lupino, Bellamy, and Connolly. Lupino is at her fiery best, Bellamy really can play the kind of guy who can get the girl when given the chance, and Walter Connolly has you liking his character even though you know he is as crooked as - well - a politician! And what a weird premise - a weather balloon as phallic symbol. I have no idea why such an inventive film has such a banal title and why it is not better known. I highly recommend it.
