Time Out for Romance

When Claire Trevor discovers that the count she has just married was purchased for half a million dollars, she runs away. Her mother tells the papers she's insane and sets the cops on her. To try to get to her father on the coast, she joins a publicity caravan in this laugh-free comedy directed by Malcolm St. Clair.

This one is a puzzlement. It's got a script by writers that include Lou Breslow. It's got St. Clair directing. It's got lots of comedy professional, including William Demarest, Joan Davis, Chick Chandler, Inez Courtney, Fred Kelsey (playing a cop, naturally), but everyone plays it straight: even Joan Davis comes off as more addled than wacky, and Demarest is simply grouchy. What happened? Who decided to film this runaway heiress comedy as a straight drama?

I see the IMDb claims that Alan Dwan was an uncredited fill-in director. Mr. Dwan certainly knew how to direct comedy, but perhaps the difference in comedy styles between him and St. Clair cancelled all the humor; whatever happened, it's simply not funny.

Claire Trevor stars with Michael Whelen, Joan Davis, Douglas Fowley, and Benny Bartlett in "Time Out for Romance" a 1937 20th Century Fox film.

Madcap and problem heiresses were all the rage in Hollywood after It Happened One Night. In this story, Barbara Blanchard (Trevor) is getting ready to marry a Count! After the wedding, she receives a telegram, delivered too late, from her father. He has just learned that Barbara's mother made an agreement with the Count to pay him half a million dollars to marry Barbara.

Dad is livid and states that he will be in Los Angeles soon, and the equally livid Barbara grabs a coat and takes off, still wearing her wedding gown. Her desperate mother Vera (Georgia Kane) decides to call the police and say her daughter is insane and must be found immediately.

Barbara goes to a hairdresser friend where she has her hair dyed blond, borrows some clothes and some money, and takes off in an attempt to get to Los Angeles. She is able finally to get a ride from Bob Reynolds (Whalen) who is part of a caravan driving cars to Los Angeles. She has to hide so the caravan boss won't see her. At one point, she is caught and states that she and Reynolds are married.

Meanwhile, the cops are looking for her. What transpires is two cases of mistaken identity - both she and Reynolds are mistaken for more nefarious people, and at one point, the whole caravan takes off leaving the boss in a lurch. Her mother has sent a telegram to her father stating that Barbara is on her honeymoon to get him off the track.

This isn't a riotously funny screwball comedy, but Claire Trevor as always is wonderful. Fox did quite a few of these films, some more successful than others.

A different take on the Run away bride - and though the bones were same - the girl makes a mistake, runs away from the groom, meets the hero on the way, who against better judgment helps her, and the end is predictably same, with father's express blessing (only a few didn't manage this last one, in fact all managed, except the very first in this series that I have seen, the Jessie Matthews take of 1932 - from which probably the Night Ride was plagiarised, at least broadly) But in that skeleton, the flesh had been a bit different, some crime and robbery is added.

This one, as mentioned in the first review, despite a few comic characters, and their attempts, was not really a cemedy, it was much more of a Romantic Drama. To be a ComRom against RomCom - it is necessary that both the main leads should have comic flair, in this case none had, but that doesn't mean they were wooden, they were more of dramatic actors, and hence this couldn't reach the comedy level. In fact the attempts made were somewhat rankling. But even then the movie is quite watchable, despite poor print.