Stepping Out

The main problem here is the plot. It has some good ideas, but even at a short running time of 73 minutes I found myself looking at my watch. This might have been a great two-reel comedy, but there simply is not enough plot to stretch over the allotted time.

The plot revolves around two couples - Tom and Eve (Reginald Denny and Leila Hyams) and Sally and Tubby (Charlotte Greenwood and Harry Stubbs). Both couples are well-off financially, and Tom and Tubby are currently producing a motion picture together. The wives, feeling somewhat displaced by their husbands busy work schedule, decide to go to Agua Caliente, a race track and resort in Tijuana that was a fashionable destination at the time. They hope to have fun for a few days and get their husbands to start missing them as well.

The problems begin when Tubby decides to invite two pretty young ladies over to Tom's house - where they are supposed to be working - based on the fact that the two girls claim to find Tubby wildly attractive. One look in the mirror should have convinced Tubby that these two girls couldn't be completely on the level. Then unexpectedly the wives return home because one of them forgot her luggage. Add to that the fact that Tom and Tubby's lawyer had them both put their money in their wives' names in case the picture bombed and lost money - and the girls find the papers that give them title - and you have all the elements of a marital farce with the fellows having big stakes in getting their wives to forgive them.

I'd recommend this one, because there are some genuinely funny moments and gags throughout, just realize this is not the sauciest or the snappiest little precode out there.

Of all the fine performers in this extended and leaden attempt at mixing slapstick with drawing room style wit, Charlotte Greenwood shines most consistently, though even she must fight the material at almost every turn. In the 75 minutes of running time there are perhaps 3 or 4 really funny, clever exchanges. Two examples: "Have you no conscience?" – "Sure, but I ignore it!" Or: (to paraphrase), Greenwood: "You're not very big." Cliff Edwards: "Let's go into the other room together and I might surprise you." Adapted from a hit Broadway comedy, the slender plot involves neglected Hollywood wives (Greenwood and Leila Hyams) who, after catching their wealthy husbands (Harry Stubbs and Reginald Denny) in the company of two voracious gold diggers (Lillian Bond and Merna Kennedy), run off together to a Mexican resort only to find themselves chased by a pair of male gold diggers (Cliff Edwards and Kane Richmond). The husbands pursue the wives, the female gold diggers pursue the husbands and they all get mixed up together in Caliente where they indulge in endless belabored farcical encounters. If one is a Greenwood fan, and she surely is something interesting to behold when compared to most of the Hollywood females of her time, this film is worth a look. Otherwise there is very little to recommend.

Accidentally started watching this film and I couldn't walk away. Humor still holds up, and so refreshing to see an adult themed film without pandering to the 14 and under crowd-unheard of these days unfortunately. The movie was made almost 90 years ago and I'm watching it for first time in 2019!

Leila Hyams and Charlotte Greenwood decide to take a few days at Agua Caliente to get a break from husbands Reginald Denny and Harry Stubbs, and to make them miss their wives. The men immediately invite a couple of girls over to discuss the independent movie they're financing and to swim -- no bathing suits. The wives walk back in, then walk out again to meet up with Cliff Edwards and Richard Tucker, only to have the husbands show up.

It's a pre-code situation comedy that is pretty much French Farce without slamming doors. There's some solid camerawork by Leonard Smith, William Gray edits at a brisk pace, and there are some well-delivered lines, particularly by Miss Greenwood. The result is a very glossy comedy that is amusing or better throughout.

Would have been better if the husbands weren't so goofy. I found myself hoping they really would divorce them! Still, a funny enough movie, worth a watch.