Finalmente una donna!

Dascom Dinsmore (Robert Montgomery) is a lonely telegraph operator in the frozen isolation of Eskimo Point, Labrador. He can't get a wife to live in such a remote place and it's been 2 years since he's seen a beautiful white woman. Sir James Felton (Reginald Owen) lands his plane in the snow with companion Irene Campion (Myrna Loy).

Dascom is not wrong. Myrna Loy is one beautiful white woman. I would do much of the same to keep her around. Only problem is that Dascom is all wrong. He shouldn't be trying for a proper Englishman. He should be a wild man of the north. In that way, he and Myrna Loy can have a clash of cultures comedy. I never got to the point of rooting for Dascom despite agreeing with him.

This 1936 picture was one of the three that Robert Montgomery did for the studio that year. "Petticoat Fever", directed by George Fitzmaurice, pairs Mr. Montgomery with another star, who was an excellent comedienne, as well as a dramatic actress, Myrna Loy.

The film is a typical movie of those innocent years where the viewer is asked to believe the small plane that crashes on the ice is only a minor inconvenience, as nothing happens to the two occupants of the aircraft. It also sets in motion a love triangle where Dascom Disnsmore gets in the middle of Irene and Sir James when he falls head over heels in love with the beautiful woman from the wreck.

Robert Montgomery did better films than this one, of course, but his chemistry with Myrna Loy is about the best thing going for the movie. Reginald Owen tries, but his character is not as well drawn as the others. Winifred Shotter puts in an appearance as the lovely Clara, who complicates things a bit for everyone.

"Petticoat Fever" offers a mild entertainment for viewers of these type of films.

Robert Montgomery is a fine actor with an impressive range in both comedy and drama. His default settings would have seemed to make him a sort of good-looking, dapper chump, usually a funny one, and he could have sailed through a fine career as well-dressed arm-candy, but he was far too talented to fall into any such persona. In comedy, he was at his sharpest playing dryer, edgier funnymen who were in on the joke. "Petticoat Fever" gives him the funniest character I've seen him play, and he energizes this oddly claustrophobic and icebound screwball sleeper in a way that is purely masterful.

Montgomery is a sour, mumbling radio operator stuck in a frozen isolation that is slowly grinding his nerves until Myrna Loy and her fiancé, Reginald Owen, are stranded in his rustic cabin by airplane trouble. Screwball comedies usually move rapidly from place to place, but the fun here is in Montgomery's scheming and manipulation to keep Loy within reach. His sparring with her and especially with a wonderfully over-the-top Owen- who knew he could be this funny?- is a case of a fine script made special in performance. The dialogue is terrific at times, and the pacing is briskly fun, but Montgomery's face tells the story in every scene- he's a clown on a mission and he brings this one home with a bang. There isn't a wasted moment. "Petticoat Fever" deserves to grow a reputation.

Robert Montgomery has fled England for Labrador, where he runs a radio shack with the aid of Inuit Otto Yamaoka. He hasn't seen a girl in two years -- the two Eskimo girls that Yamaoka brought in are kept discreetly out of sight in another building. In pop Myrna Loy and fiance Reginald Owen for some reason or other. Montgomery falls in love with Miss Loy instantly. It takes her the entire first act to concede. Matters are settled, when up pops Montgomery's fiancee, Winifred Shotter, and Act Two begins.

As always, Owen's presence is a mystery to me; his idea of express emotion is to half close his eyes and speak emphatically. His method of conveying disinterest is also to half close his eyes and speak emphatically. His idea of telling a joke is to half close his eyes and speak emphatically. If he was ever cast as a corpse, I'm sure he half closed his eyes and spoke emphatically. It's certainly a pleasure to see Miss Loy, of course, whose voice has come down on the British side of the Transatlantic accent, while Montgomery, being very English, speaks as he always does. George Fitzmaurice, having finally returned to the majors, directs this essentially one-set comedy for efficiency, and wraps the whole thing up in a brisk eighty minutes. More than good enough.

An atypical screwball film with two charming stars, Petticoat Fever is a fun popcorn flick, but don't expect a snowbound My Man Godfrey or anything.

It takes place in the arctic- we're meant to believe Labrador, but I'm Canadian and can tell you that our winters DO NOT look like what the M-G-M backlot want you to believe. That's the main problem with this film- you can tell it's an arctic backlot, and no amount of suspending disbelief will change that.

Myrna Loy and Robert Montgomery are good in roles that seem to be a bit underwritten- but this was one of those "Churn 'em out weekly!" flicks that M-G-M were so good at in the 1920s, 30s and early 40s. Myrna Loy's character is a bit overly stupid, to the point of groaning, but she's a good enough actress that you can (mostly) ignore it.

The actors that played the respective fiancé(e)s of Loy and Montgomery were cardboard people, so that it wouldn't be a two person show. The casual casting of Asian people as Eskimos (their words, not mine) is a bit cringey, but I can live with it. I'm not that sensitive.

The plot is threadbare and the screenplay is sub-par- but Robert Montgomery looks very handsome in his furs (and later, his three-piece dinner jacket). It's nice to see Loy playing a single woman instead of the perfect wife/mother.

All in all, good escapist M-G-M fluff. You won't be wanting to beat your brains out by the end.