L'héritière vagabonde

This is one of those films that somehow missed being placed in the Leonard Maltin guide--probably because many "small" films from the 30s and 40s have been omitted (mostly "B" films). And, while the only famous person in the film is Ann Sheridan, I was surprised that this little film STILL packed a lot of fun into it.

Sheridan plays a very spoiled rich young lady who constantly does things just to try to upset her father! Again and again, she's tried to elope but the father always seems to find out and put a stop to it. On the last occasion, the dad almost gets run over by a train but is rescued by a hobo who is "riding the rails". This hobo, it turns out, is a very helpful fella and inexplicably leaves the train to move in with the family to help set things straight--much like what occurred when William Powell followed Carole Lombard home in MY MAN GODFREY. Some of what follows is pretty easy to guess, but the way it goes about doing it is so unusual and the acting and characters so good that it is well worth seeing. It's a dandy little romantic-comedy that is surprisingly sweet and funny.

Spoiled hard-partying socialite Kay Allyn (Ann Sheridan) is 18 and determined to elope with Jack Pierson (William Hopper) for a silly bet. Her rich advertising tycoon father John C. Allyn (Hugh O'Connell) is offering a reward to stop her. Bruce 'Butch' Baeder (Craig Reynolds) is a hobo who intends to tame her.

This is a silly screwball comedy. Butch is not considered funny for today's world. He's playing the cad, but it wouldn't fly now. This is like The Taming of the Shrew and that play has become more and more dated over the years. To be fair, this premise still worked during its time. I would still tone down Butch. It works better for the comedy.

Ann Sheridan is making her fifth attempt at getting married. This time her father, Hugh O'Connell, stops her with the unexpected help of quickwitted drifter Craig Reynolds, who claims to be her husband. One thing follows another and soon Reynolds is helping O'Connell with his advertising firm.

This poor man's MY MAN GODFREY isn't terribly interesting. Miss Sheridan is a fine actress, but she has an air of practicality about her that does not suit the comedy, and the lines are not particularly funny. As he so often did, director William Clemens seems more intent on getting through the shoot quickly than in getting laughs. Not that there are many to get; RKO mined the madcap heiress theme thoroughly in the 1930s, usually with Ann Southern and Gene Raymond in some mediocre programmer, that it took something more to make it worthwhile than this one has.

He's the kind of figure that Indy Jones might have modeled his clothing and attitude on. This Depression era movie includes all the usuals--the educated hobos who find freedom on the road, the silly cops, the spoiled upper class, the heiress who needs to be taught a lesson, the hapless wealthy father worried about financial affairs while nobody else seems to have the slightest concern, the casual approach to marriage among the elite, the wonderful clothes and cars and homes, the use and abuse of publicity, the glib conversation, the hectic pace, ...so one might expect it to be the same old same old. But it held my interest, largely because of the hero whose smile lit up the screen and the unusual aspect of creating radio playlets that featured carbon. I wanted to see how it came out.

It also shows that the word capiche was used in the 30s and came into common parlance from comic books.

Footloose heiress -- When silly girl Kay Allyn (Sheridan) bets her friend that she can marry Jack Pierson before midnight, Dad hires a tramp (Craig Reynolds) to help stop the wedding. and Kay spends the rest of the film falling in and out of love with the tramp. some humor along the way, as the tramp loses his jacket in a crap game. and that jacket is more valuable than he knows! and some small town shenanigans when the justice of the peace goes fishin! fun shortie from Warner... just 59 minutes. Sheridan, Reynolds, and Hopper would all die young, of various causes. Directed by Bill Clemens, probably best known for making Nancy Drew films and the "Falcon" films. HE lived to a ripe old age of 74. this one is short but fun.